DOWN TO 6 FINALISTS . . .
`Assyrian Superstar'
`Idol'-style contest spotlights music for a new generation
By Robert K. Elder
Tribune staff reporter
Published April 21, 2006
Yousip Bet Rasho has never seen "American Idol."
The Chicago-based singing competition "Assyrian Superstar"
that he executive produces was inspired by "Lebanese Superstar,"
which he saw during a visit to Beirut in 2004.
For years, Rasho -- director of Chicago's Assyrian Media
Center -- has promoted local musicians but had difficulty cultivating
a new generation of Assyrian singers.
"This is going to solve the problem," Rasho says
he thought after visiting Beirut. "We had to push the singers
to do something new."
Or, at least, something tried and true.
Like Britain's "Pop Idol" and its across-the-pond
sister, "American Idol," "Assyrian Superstar"
pits contestants against one another in front of voting audiences
and three judges. All the songs are performed in Assyrian, a
modern version of Aramaic, the language scholars say Jesus of
Nazareth spoke.
For Assyrians -- predominantly Christians from modern-day
Iran, Iraq and Syria -- Chicago is "Hollywood," says
"Superstar" executive producer Ather Daniel Yokany.
Rasho says there's even an Assyrian saying: "If a singer
can't make it in Chicago, he can't make it anywhere else -- not
even back home in Iraq."
Though 14,000 Cook County residents checked "Assyrian/Chaldean/Syriac"
on the 2000 Census, community leaders estimate the population
to be as high as 100,000.
Chicago has produced some of the most famous Assyrian singers,
including Sargon Gabriel, often called "the Assyrian Elvis
Presley."
The finals, being held Friday at the Assyrian National Council
in Skokie, will narrow the field to one superstar, who will have
a CD produced and pressed by Prestige International Recording.
The winner will be announced at a grand finale May 27.
"The Assyrian Superstar Committee was founded really
to preserve and protect the Assyrian culture worldwide,"
Yokany says. "The Assyrian song contains our music, poems,
the unique rhythms . . . and we're losing that."
- - -
Finals
When: 7 p.m. Friday
Where: Assyrian National Council at 9131 Niles Center Rd.,
Skokie
Tickets: $20 at the door
On TV: Satellite customers can find "Assyrian Superstar"
on Ashur Television. The winner will be announced at a final
show May 27, at the Donald E. Stephens Convention Center in Rosemont.
For more information: www.assyriansuperstar.com and www.ashurtv.org.
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