RICHII is one of the most promising young talents on the Lebanese Pop scene today.
Richard Abicair, known as RICHII, is a 20 year old Lebanese-Australian singer born on the 17th of August 1989. He is currently working on his debut album which will feature his hit singles ‘Dayeb Wehyatik’, ‘Ana Lubnaniyyoun’ and ‘Valentine’, in addition to new songs like “Insane” and “Eternity”.
Richard Abicair went to school in Melbourne Australia, before returning to Lebanon in 2009 to focus on his music career, with the help of his manager Hadi Sharara. He is currently studying architecture at the Lebanese American University – LAU.
RICHII hasn’t got such a “Rich” portfolio yet, but surely has a bright future ahead of him. He would have definitely gotten much more attention if he were to work from the USA or Europe; the Lebanese Justin Bieber perhaps? The Media doesn’t seem to be helping all that much, and his songs are seldom played on the Lebanese radios, which mostly run Arabic Sha’abi tracks (most of which paid for of course). Still he has managed to take part in a few music festivals in Lebanon, including at Jbeil and Dhour El Choueir.
RICHII has opted for an international style, mixing kitsch pop sounds and electro-synths to Oriental melodies. He also mixes English and Arabic (Lebanese dialect) lyrics.
His new single ‘Eternity’, an electronic dance hit soon to be aired on the radios, will hopefully give him yet more exposure this summer.
Our personal favorite is the very catchy dance track ‘Ana Lubnaniyyoun’, which plays on the patriotic sense of the Lebanese without being too morose and depressive like similar songs on the market. Quite a rarity in Arabic pop culture! It became a great hit in clubs and somehow reminded us of Yuri Mrakadi’s hit song “Arabiyoun Ana”. Similarly, for a short while it also became the official club anthem of Beirut’s Nightlife.
So far, RICHII has shot only one music video ‘Dayeb Wehyatik’, which is set in the “mecanique” premises (mandatory annual car inspection check up garage in Lebanon). And you ask who is responsible for those long waiting queues?! RICHII, you have some explaining to do kid! Some criticized it for being too cheesy, and pointed out the aggressiveness of the models that seemed to overwhelm the artist… but we have seen so much worse. So it was a good attempt despite all that.
We would like to wish RICHII good luck and hope he gets the success he deserves. Normally we would have also advised him to work harder on his voice and improve the poor lyrics in some of his songs, but then again these were never really success factors in pop music! RICHII is surely on the right track, so we are crossing our fingers.
In August 2010, Fanoos.com had an exclusive Interview with Richard Abicair, to get to know him better.