Merry Christmas Again and Again :)

I love how we got two Christmases in Egypt :)
Merry Christmas to all Orthodox Christians especially Egyptian Orthodox Christians that saw a lot last year. God knows all Egyptians from North to South , from East to West saw a lot.
Anyhow to celebrate Christmas this year I would like share this amazing mix of classical music , Islamic inshad, Egyptian Coptic hymns and Christian hymns from Mozart in Egypt 2 album. 
It is called "Al Maghfera" - The Pardon. The one who sings the Islamic part is late Sheikh Mohamed El Helbawy who was one of the most famous Monshadeen in Egypt.
This amazing piece of art makes me cry from its beauty.

Again Merry Christmas everybody

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In case you do not know Rim is like Assaf

Last Sunday Avichay Adraee , the IDF spokesperson for Arab Media expressed his admiration with the voice of Palestinian Mohamed Assaf, the popular contestant in Arab Idol 2013 as well his anger from Hamas and how it is allegedly fighting this rising star.

 

Hamas is still meddling in the Gazans’ affairs and is still imposing its provoking and ugly restrictions on them. The best example is how the movement demanded the rising star “Mohamed Assaf” to withdraw from Arab Idol TV show to return back to the sector in a threatening message sent to him and to his family. Hamas also gave its orders to remove the photos of Assaf from cars and shops imposing fines on those breaking its orders. According to estimations and given data Mohamed Assaf is in good position in the TV show and there is high hopes that he will be “Arab Idol”
Personally I watch the show from from time to time , I am not a fan of a certain contestant but after what happened with him... "Bad Arabic structure" his voice is great or like what Ahlam had said “his voice is like diamonds”. That voice makes those who refuse creativity and other opinion angry. I say you are amazing amazing amazing Mohamed Assad

Strangely as far as I know Hamas denied that it ordered Mohamed Assef to withdraw from the popular TV show , in fact it denied those rumors from long time. Assaf himself had to speak and published a comment denying what Adraee claimed.

I had to visit your ugly page that is full of lies because of what you had said. I had already

denied on my Facebook page all those rumors. Nobody asked me to withdraw from Arab Idol TV show. No one has threatened me or threatened my family. My photos are everywhere in Gaza as an evidence on your lies. What it will be more than great and amazing is to stop the murder of our children and to end your occupation to our land so my people can found its independent state so Mohamed Assaf can sing to our children in order to hear the sound of love and peace instead of hearing the sound of bombs.

I wonder if Adraee will continue to hear Assaf. Anyhow it is good that the IDF spokesperson speak about arts and listens to Arab Music but why he did not speak about Palestinian singer and activist Rim Banna and how she was summoned to the Shin Bet because of her humanitarian visit to Syria !?
Last Monday in early morning a police force went to her house in Nazareth to inform her that she was summoned for investigation at the Shin Bet Tuesday morning.

Israeli police speaking to Rim

It turned out that the Shin Bet wanted to interrogate her regarding her humanitarian visit to Syria with a group of Arab activists including Egyptian activists last month. I remember this visit very well as it included Egyptian activists like Abdel Rahman Mansour and former MP Mostafa Al Naggar. They accused her of dealing with suspicious NGOs and travelling to an enemy state !!
Ironically I remember that Adraee used to speak from time to time on how poor the Syrian people are and so on.
Rim went to the interrogation and in the end she said the following on her Facebook page.

They were dwarfs and they will continue to be dwarfs,not higher than a Palestinian girl’s shoe.I am the one who ended the interrogation of Shin Bet officer by telling him one sentence : I do not care how you are worried about me , all your security and the security of the world do not scare and will not stop me from supporting freedom and human causes. I am released on a bail and accused of a national security charge which is visiting an enemy state. I was informed and warned. My answer was that I have been informed and the decision is up to me now.

This is why I love Rim Banna besides her amazing voice and beautiful song
Anyhow good luck to Assaf and really wish to hear him in a duo with Rim Banna, the original Arab Palestinian idol.

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The Kurdish who Made it to Arab Idol Quarter Finals

I do not think for one second that anyone has ever thought that a young lady from Kurdistan would be popular in the Arab world through a Reality TV show.
Parwas Hussein was the only Kurdish Iraqi Contestant that made it to MBC’s Arab Idol “Pop Idol Arabic version” when she does not speak Arabic fluently. She made to the quarter finals in Arab Idol and lost. “Tough to compete with other contestants with their strong voices in that stage”

Singing in Beirut while wearing Kurdish traditional dress

Of course it was a clever thing from the Arab Idol producers and the MBC to accept Parwas , they did not have to accept someone who is not fluent in Arabic to become the Arab Idol but for sure politics play a role here. This year was the first time Arab Idol would include Kurdistan.
The young wife and mother made it and earned the love of the viewers all over the Arab world and she had to. Her voice is nice and young with beautiful young face. She had a cheerful charisma that made viewers like her despite the language and cultural barriers as well political conflicts.
Hussein made it regularly for the viewers in the Arab world to listen to Kurdish language and even to hear Kurdish songs in the beginning of the show. I do not think that she made to that stage with the votes of the Iraqis and Kurds only when I think about it.
Here was Prawas singing some Kurdish folk song while wearing a Kurdish traditional dress.

Singing in Kurdish

Another thing I liked about her during the show was her attempts to sing in Arabic. Of course I think it was bold thing from her to do. She even sang for Um Kulthum , a thing that not so many people can do in a live show.

P sings a Thuma song

I am not a reality TV show fan but I love how through this show Arabs knew that the Kurds are normal people and not villains and how Kurds watched the show and listened to the Arab songs to support their representative.
This is how things should be and how ethnic minorities should be invited to be included in the society. What I liked about P was how she celebrated her nation’s culture in pride in one of the most watched reality TV shows in the Arab world. We should not be afraid from including ethnic’s cultures in to our mainstream cultures whether our Arabic cultures or our nations’ cultures. I believe these sub cultures and ethnic cultures actually enriches our Arab/National culture and make it stronger with its diversity.
I do not know if the producers of MBC’s Arab Idol understand what they have done or not but they managed to break the ice for real through Kurdistan and the Arabs through Parwas Hussein. I just wish that after breaking the ice , there will be bridges to mend the gap made from a very long time ago. This is the true soft public diplomacy.
Amazingly from what I see the foreign media was focusing on Mohamed Assaf, the popular Arab Idol Contestant from Palestine and did not pay to attention to that young lady from Kurdistan.
Parwas Hussein did not lose , in fact I believe she won a lot of popularity whether in the Arab world or Iraq or Kurdistan. She also made something politicians failed and it is more significant than being the Arab idol.
Here is the official Parwas’ official FB page.

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