Dounia Batma is a Moroccan singer who rose to popularity around the world as the runner-up of the first season of Arab Idol on MBC. She lost the title against Egyptian contestant Carmen Suleiman. She married Mohamed Al Turk the father of Bahrain's famous singer Hala Al Turke Batma was born and raised in Hay Mohammadi, in the Ain Sebaa-Hay Mohammedi district of Casablanca, Morocco. Her father Hamid Batma played for different bands including Mesnawa and Nass El Ghiwane, and her uncle, Laarbi Batma, is the leader of Moroccan fusion group Nass El Ghiwane, considered by Martin Scorsese as "Africa's Rolling Stones". She studied tourism after high-school, without stopping to dream about a musical career. In 2010, at the age of 18, inspired by her already-famous older cousin Khansa Batma, she took part in a Moroccan musical competition, called Studio 2M, broadcast on 2M TV, in the Oriental category. She sang various songs of both Moroccan and Middle-Eastern repertoires, and reached the semi-finals. Even if she didn't reach the final, she managed to release a single "Aalash Tgheeb" in Moroccan Arabic which didn't become very successful. But she realized that she would need to go further to get the career she was expecting and Arab Idol was a great venue to reach the Arab World heart.
Breakthrough
On September 8, 2011, Batma auditioned for the Arabic music competition Arab Idol. The show is the pan-Arab version of Pop Idol and a rebirth of Future TV's show Super Star. The winner of the competition should win a contract with recording label Platinum Records and Chevrolet Corvette as well as an important advertisement campaign with Pepsi. She auditioned in Casablanca, and performed La Tfaker in front of the jury composed by Lebanesepop singerRagheb Alama, Emirati diva Ahlam and Egyptian music producer and musician Hassan Shaf'ei. They invited her to join in, which introduce her to the Arab audience. She was selected in the top 10 against contestants from Tunisia, Syria, Jordan, Saudi Arabia, Iraq and Egypt. Batma's vocal abilities amazed the members of the jury and made her among the favorites since the very first prime, where she performed Talal Maddah's "Magadir". Her performance was so strong and so intense that it made Ahlam cry out of emotion. She then excelled in various dialects and various styles from classic Egyptian songs, to Arabic pop music and Gulf music. Among her most notable performances were her rendition of Umm Kulthum's Darrat El Ayam, for which she received unanimous praises from the jury and her singing of Ahlam's Akhtar Men Awal Ahebak, for which Ahlam said : "It is an honor that you sung this for me". On March 24, she lost the title against the Egyptian contestant Carmen Suleiman. During a press conference, Batma seized the chance to clarify that her try in the Middle East is due to the opportunities that can be offered there, and added that "the launch of my artistic career from the East won't affect my contribution to the promotion of Moroccan art, and won't also affect my pride of my mother tongue". Many viewers noticed that Batma didn't use her Moroccan Arabic whenever she was speaking in front of the audiences and switched to another Arabic dialect as most Moroccan artists usually do when they travel to the Middle East. She considers Asma Lamnawar and Hoda Saad as role models. After the show, the CEO of Saudi Platinum Records, Rashed Al-Majed, signed her to the label, saying that her voice was "rare".
