Lebanese singer and songwriter Melhem Barakat confirmed to ArabsToday that the recent rumors concerning problems of withheld payment were true. Allegedly, Barakat did not receive payment for an America tour he did alongside Najwa Karam because of the concerts’ contractor. He explained, “the contractor suffered for years until he was able to grant Visas of Entry into the US for us, as sometimes we would get the Visa and the three members in Najwa’s band wouldn’t get theirs causing a lot of confusion and problems which resulted in claims that some individuals were deliberately trying to impede our travel. In addition we had to pay a lot of money until we were able to travel and we were obliged to commit to the contract we’ve signed otherwise we would have been refused entry into the US.” Artist Ragheb Alama was also involved and previously stated that Barak refused to act as a “middle man” and try and get the contractor to pay off Ragheb’s fees, to which Barakat responded that the contractor refused to pay their hotel bills, having an argument with another contractors in Detroit. He added, “I don’t like talking about this and if this had happened to me in the beginning of my career I would have quit singing altogether.” We asked him how true it is that he causes problems between himself and other artists in order to appear on TV shows and get paid to talk about it. Barakat responded that he has never before charged anyone to appear on their show. As for the disagreement between him and Melhem Zain in Qatar and with Ragheb Alama upon his return from the US he said, “I’ve had nothing to do with the argument between Melhem Zain and journalist Jamal Fayad, I was trying to get them to reconcile and as they say ‘the one who tries to fix the problem gets two thirds of its troubles.’” He continued: “all I can say to them is that I hope God forgives them; as I was sitting on a different table to them when Fayad came over to my table and sat down, that’s when the disagreement happened. I stood between the two of them and that’s when Melhem should have explained what was wrong so I really don’t know why they’re saying this is my fault.” But he did confess to us that: “as for the sound engineering problem in the Qatar Festival I admit that it was my mistake, I caused a problem but eventually it turned out that I was right in what I did, and artists who were there can confirm that I was right.” However he said that he did not call Melhem Zain ‘arrogant;’ he told him to be modest instead and he said it in a way of reprimand because he loves and respects Zain. Barakat said that he blames reporters who were present at the time as they took to their phones and contacted the agencies they work for to report the incident as soon as it happened instead of trying to help with solving the problem between the two parties involved. He said: “I wish we could be like Egyptian artists who worry and care about one another, us Lebanese are the complete opposite; we have no talents or respect as they feel happy and gloat when Melhem or other artists are humiliated.” As for the disagreement with Ragheb Alameh, Barakat said that the America tour was a challenge for both him and Najwa Karam because of the large number of people in attendance (the concert in Detroit was attended by 1700 people). He said, “I would have been very upset if a concert of a big Lebanese star failed. Alama said that each person is entitled to their fees, but this isn’t about fees, he doesn’t need them, he had another concert in the same night, which he should have either postponed or held before our concert was due, but not on the same night and not in a place that’s only three blocks away. Maybe it was my fault for talking about this in the first place, but I talk about it to warn those sponsors who cause problems between artists, and in this case it just happened to be Alama. Although I respect him as a star I think he should have responded to this differently.” Barakat continued, “as for those who say that Najwa is the only reason I do live concerts as I wouldn’t otherwise; well my concerts with Najwa in particular are always unsuccessful, therefore that’s illogical talking.” Barakat pointed out that he was not impressed by the Murex D’or awards this year as they are the same as every other year; same artists, same lighting, and same style of directing. He commented, “whoever won an award this year did not deserve it as there were new more talented artists in the music scene this year like Fares Karam and Mohamed Iskandar whose music spread like fire all over the place so why didn’t they get awarded?” As for the songs that he did actually like he said, “I love Najwa Karam’s know song titled “No sleep” as the lyrics are beautiful and it’s a new idea; she really cares about her work. I’ve worked with Najwa before and was exhausted by how her energy, she doesn’t sleep at night because she spends it listening to songs from which she wants to choose one from to record. Also, she doesn’t only work with big names; she likes working with new songwriters and composers; that’s the secret to her success.”