Who’s that Face

Ragaa

Rotana’s X Factor

Ragaa, is the winner of the XFactor for 2006, Rotana’s competition. She has a strong voice and is very promising. She released her first album recently. DG was fascinated with her new album and wanted to know more about her.

The Beginning

I loved singing since my childhood. I always listened to my sisters Iman and Sofia singing to famous singers such as Om Kolthoum, AbdEl Halim Hafez, Fairouz, Warda and many others. I used to sing too in family gatherings and in school parties. However my parents focused more on my education than developing my talent. I have always dealt with singing as a talent only until I graduated from the Faculty of Business Administration and Economics.

XFactor

When Rotana Company started its campaign for its new program the “XFactor” I decided to apply for the competition. My parents and family supported my desire to apply.

The “XFactor” is a singing competition for those who have a singing talent. The ages which participate in this competition, started from 16 to 50 years old. I have traveled to Tunis for a casting since there was no casting in Morocco. The casting committee included the multi talented star Nelly, the singer Khaled El Shiekh and Michel Alfarides.

In the early stages of the competition all the winners including myself moved to Beirut to continue the other stages. Out of 7000 person who applied for the competition, only 300 were chosen for the first stage of the competition, which included 3 categories. Then the second stage included 150 for all 3 categories, the elimination process kept going on until we reached only 3 candidates for each category, and those who appeared on the TV for the voting process.

Through out the competition I was very stressed, tensed and in fear of losing. Since my childhood I loved music and singing but I was not sure enough I had a strong voice. Therefore when I participated in the competition and received positive comments on my voice I started to exert more effort in training my voice to be up to the competition’s standard. The other thing which was stressing me is the diversity in the competitors and the different age groups.

During the competition, the screening process depended not only on the strength of the voice, but also on the looks and appearance. Since looks have proved to be an important aspect in the success of any singer.

The Finale

The finale period was the most difficult at all. It was in March just after my birthday. I have reached with two others the final round and the voting statistics was presented every day.

When the singer Hussien El Gasmy announced that I was the winner. I jumped out of the excitement and happiness although I am a very shy person; I was acting just like a child.

The Success

The feeling of success is something wonderful, can not be described. I was lucky enough all through out the competition, since my fear was turned into a driving force to train my voice better and exert more efforts. 

Haal El Donia

My first album is titled Haal el Donia, consisting of 8 songs, 6 in the Egyptian dialect and 2 in the Lebanese dialect. I worked with several poets and composers in this album, and the music arrangement was all done by Adel Aish whom I consider as my arty consultant for this album.

Rotana

It is an honor to have such a well known and big company to release my first album. During the time I was preparing for the album, I was very thrilled with their experience and knowledge in this field to guide me for the best and success.  They were very flexible and consulted me in all the details concerning the album. I am very happy with my choice of songs especially that we have completed the album in a very short time in spite of all the political disturbances in Lebanon.