Assi El Helani of The Voice talks about Mourad Bouriki and returning for a second season

The Voice coach Assi Helani is excited to find the next big Arab star.

After coaching the winner of the first season of The Voice, Mourad Bouriki, the Lebanese singer Assi El Helani says he is ready to discover more untapped talent. Fethi Belaid / AFP

How do you feel about returning to The Voice?

I am happy to be back for the second season with Kadim Al Sahir, Sherine and Saber Al Rebai. We had a great time working on the first season and to see so many great talents from the Arab world, people like the winner Mourad Bouriki and others. I am just confident the second season will also reveal some new stars.

Congratulations on winning the first season with your contestant Bouriki. Your artistic bond continued after the season, with both of you performing together in festivals and you co-writing the song Ashqeen Sahari Layal for him.

For me, Mourad has no limits and I love working with him. To illustrate that to you, I already wrote Ashqeen Sahari Layal for him and it was ready for him to record immediately after the show. But because of his record contract, he had to first release his first single Ya Sayidati with the producer RedOne. Now, I didn’t mind that because I respect his contract. But at the same time, I hope the contract allows him the space to move quickly because that’s the way I like to work. I don’t like working at a slow pace.

Looking back, are you still adamant that Bouriki was the deserving winner of the competition?

If you notice Mourad’s journey from the first episode to the final, he evolved steadily. To be totally honest with you, at the beginning he didn’t make an impression and the spotlight was on the other performers. But I felt from the beginning he had the best voice in the competition and I remember telling him that “you will be my weapon in this competition”. I focused on him intently because he is like dough – he can be moulded with some of my experience to deliver powerful performances.

Does Bouriki still seek you out for advice?

Well, Mourad has his own team, but we always keep in contact. Technically, after season one of The Voice, my role as mentor is finished, but we continued to speak and I am always there to give him advice. Some young artists can be belligerent and not listen, but Mourad is not like that. He is able to take criticism and he asks my advice on certain songs he is working on. But that said, the final songs that he chooses to release are made by him and his record company.

Your 15-year-old daughter Marita El Helani made her debut this March at a charity concert and was praised for her performance. Would you allow your daughter to join a talent show?

No, I wouldn’t. She is still focusing on school and she performs in some benefit concerts, and I don’t think it has been discussed for her to be a professional artist. But this is not due to me disliking talent shows; it’s the opposite, because these shows have been exposing new talents to all regions of the Arab world. The best thing about it is that they don’t even have to win it. Everybody has now heard of [The Voice finalists] Farid Ghanam and I also love the voice of Lamia Zaidi. While at the end of it all there is one winner, such shows give opportunities for many others to start their careers.

Earlier this year you moved away from your traditional Lebanese balladry to release an Iraqi song called Mousiba. How did that come about?

Mousiba is an old Iraqi song that I chose to do after the success I had with my previous Iraqi folk song Ya Teir. That was received really well by my fans in Iraq and there has been a big demand for another such song. Also, I love Iraqi songs and I have been singing them throughout the 1990s to about 2002. So I feel like I am coming back to this sound because it is a style that resonates with me with its beautiful melodies and lyrics.

• The Voice returns on December 28 at 10pm on MBC 1 and MBC Masr, after which it will be broadcast the following Friday and Saturday at 10pm. Visit www.mbc.net

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