Dounia Batma | |
|---|---|
دنيا بطمة | |
 Batma in 2012 | |
| Born | 1 April 1991 |
| Occupation(s) | actress, singer |
| Musical career | |
| Genres | Arab pop, Arabic music, Moroccan music, Moroccan pop, Middle Eastern music, Raï |
| Labels | Al-Turk Production |
Dounia Batma (Arabic: دنيا بطمة) (born 1 April 1991) is a Moroccan singer and actress who rose to popularity around the world as the runner-up of the first season of Arab Idol (the Arabic version of Pop Idol) on MBC. She lost the title against Egyptian contestant Carmen Suleiman. She married Mohamed Al Turk, the father of Bahraini singer Hala Al Turk.
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".[1] She studied tourism after high-school, without stopping to dream about a musical career.[2] In 2010, at the age of 18, inspired by her already-famous older cousin Khansa Batma (Mohamed Batma's daughter), she took part in a Moroccan musical competition, called Studio 2M, broadcast on 2M TV, in the Oriental category.[3] 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" (Why are you hiding?) 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.