NileFM radio station team sings Mariah Carey's 'All I Want for Christmas,' in the 2014 video posted on YouTube. (Photo: still from the video)
For the second consecutive year, Egypt’s popular English language radio station Nile FM have released their take on a popular Christmas song.
Last year, the whole team sang Mariah Carey's All I Want For Christmas, airing it repeatedly for a few weeks, during different programmes. This year the choice fell on Wham’s Last Christmas.
The song comes as an outburst of festive enthusiasm, rather than a musically correct presentation of one of the best known compositions of past decades.
While premiering the song during the morning show of 17 December, presenters Mark Somers and Sally Sampson explained that their take resembles a Karaoke version or a song one might hear at the end of the late party when no one can sing in tune. Somers added even jokingly that they managed to “massacre” Wham’s hit.
Listeners are indeed offered a product that is mostly out of tune and devoid of the sentiment the original song aims to deliver.
NileFM's Last Christmas has already received mixed reviews.
Somers and Sampson read on air some of the messages received by the station that comment on the song. Some listeners applauded the effort and praised the joyful spirit. The station posted a few Tweets complementing the musical exercise.
Another Twitter user said they made the song their "mobile ringtone."
Others listeners were puzzled or expressed crtiticism:
Twitter user @leimolavida posted a photo of his surprised face commenting: "This is how I looked like listening into the Christmas song from @NileFM"
Somers and Sampson quoted a few messages sent to them stating “you might be in harmony on air programmes, but not in music,” or "nice try but do not do it again."
Meanwhile, one of NileFM's presenters, Shoukry, expressed jokingly on his Twitter: "Oh dear Lord, what have we done ..."
The station is expected to air the song repeatedly in the upcoming weeks, with listeners free to provide feedback.
Established in 2003, NileFM 104.2 is an Egyptian English language radio station operating under the Nile Radio Productions (NRP), focusing on international music chart toppers.
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