Moroccan Singer Samira Said

Samira Said was born and raised in Rabat, the capital of Morocco. She began singing at the age of 9 and she was discovered on a music program on Royal Moroccan TV, “Mawaheb,” alongside another popular singer, Aziza Jalal, when she was 13. She was quickly recognized as a young prodigy. She began singing professionally, encouraged by her family and backed up by important people in the Moroccan music scene like Al Rashdi and others.

Samira represented the Kingdom of Morocco in the Eurovision Song Contest singing ‘Bitaqat Khub’, a song that was a messenger of peace in the midst of Arab-Israeli tensions in their heyday. But this song didn’t win. Thriving in the Moroccan music scene, Samira decided to turn her past failure into a constructive experience. Already an authority in the Moroccan music scene and with good personal savings, Samira Bensaid traveled to Egypt, the epicentre of art and Arab songs in the pre-oil era. There, she started another chapter of her singing and artistic career.

Samira connected with the Arab singer Abdul Halim Hafez and Abdul Wahhab, to finally meet Baligh Hamdi. Her financial status also made her transition to Egypt a smooth one. In Egypt, she could chose the right composers for her songs. But her transition to Egypt was welcomed with some unease amongst the Moroccan public. She stayed a regular visitor to Moroccan music festivals and sung fully in Egyptian.

Source: eArabGirls

Young and Cute Moroccan Singer and Dancer Asma Bassite

Asma Bassite is a beautiful young singer and dancer of Morocco.  She was born in Morocoo in 1991, She joined Star Academy five at the age of 16. She is the youngest member of Star Academy 5. Asma Bassite is very mature, She knows how to sing and play the Oud. She also loves to Dance.

Beautiful Lebanese Model Pricilla Abou Mrad

Here is a handsome collection of  stunning pictures of Pricilla Abou Mrad, a beautiful Lebanese model. In addition to modeling she love dancing and shopping. Pricilla take part in a some beauty contestants and modeled for some Lebanese agencies.

  

  

  

  

  

Ramadan series fever hits Arab families

With the start of every Ramadan many Arab families start planning their time around the Ramadan TV series. Arabic TV channels compete to attract the largest number of viewers by showing the best TV series available. TV Channels began advertising these series two months before Ramadan. The streets and malls were plastered with huge ads for big-budget Ramadan shows.

Many years ago, Egyptian TV series dominated the field. In the past few years, Syrian drama, with many historical series showing the life of old Syrian society, holding sway. One of the best TV Series to be aired in the past four years is Bab Al-Hara. This year, Bab Al-Hara will enter its final season.

Viewers are hoping for some interesting TV series this Ramadan. The Egyptians came up with ‘A Queen in Exile’ featuring Queen Nazli, the mother of King Farouk; it is expected to attract large numbers of viewers especially following the great success of the King Farouk series. Another famous series this year is ‘Memories in the Flesh’ and the Egyptian comedy series ‘Zuhra and Her Five Husbands’.

After Iftar, the streets are generally empty. Saudi and Arab families gathering around the TV to watch their favorite TV series. Watching these series have become an obsession to a level where people discuss developments during family visits or over the phone.

“In Ramadan, people are hungry to watch the best TV series,” said Hind Al-Arifi, a Saudi housewife aged 40 and mother of seven children. She added, “In the past we used to listen to stories told by ‘Hakawati’, narrators, in public locations. Men tend to meet in traditional coffeehouses to hear stories from the ‘Hakawati’. Women also gathered to narrate stories at home.” She added that nowadays television has replaced the ‘Hakawati’ and become a very popular medium of entertainment.

Nuha Al-Shaher, a Palestinian housewife, said, “It is during the month of Ramadan that people tend to stay at home more. Some stay at home because of traffic jams outside. The majority of them stay home because of the TV series presented during this month. There are new TV series every hour until after midnight.”

Arab viewers are divided between Egyptian and Syrian TV series. Many families favor Syrian drama because it focuses on family values, relationships between a father and his children, a mother and her children and relations between siblings. Egyptian TV series are still popular among Arab viewers and manage to attract a fair section of viewers.

Dania Al-Radi, a sociology expert, said that Arab families missed old traditions. She added, “For example, the majority of people missing strong family ties and old values favored the Bab Al-Hara series. People love the parts where children and men show great respect to their parents, elders of the neighborhood and society in general.” She said that TV in Ramadan brings families together. TV series and special programs in Ramadan are the ideal way to get together and share quality time. According to Al-Radi, some parents find the series the ideal way to boost their children’s knowledge and introduce new culture to them.

“A new kind of literary and biographical series appeared recently to narrate the life story of famous people in the Arab World such as the Syrian singer Asmahan, the Egyptian actress Layla Mourad and the last king of Egypt King Farouk. These biographies attracted a large audience from different cultural and age groups. Arab families realize that the presentation of such biographical series can boost their children’s knowledge and enrich their culture in place of the school subjects. This year there will be two biographies. The first one is about Cleopatra and the other about Queen Nazli,” said Al-Radi.

Hanan Al-Desawi, an Egyptian teacher at a private school, said, “I prefer such biographical series where my children will obtain historical information. As I am living in Saudi Arabia, my son has little knowledge of Pharaonic civilization and Egyptian history. This year he will watch both Cleopatra and Queen Nazli in order to obtain more information about Egyptian history.”

Source: ArabNews

Beautiful Lebanese Singer and Model Mirva Kadi

Mirva Kadi also known as Mirva Al Qadi is a famous Lebanese Female Model. Mirva was born in cannes 8th September 1986. She is the eldest of her two brothers. Her Father Walid Al Kadi is from north, Lebanon and her mother Carole Castanio is from Nice, a city in France. Mirva began modelling at the age of fourteen and was elected Model of the Year in 2001. She pursued the modelling career till the year 2007.

Afterwards she began studying Audio-Visual Arts at the American University of Technology and while performing a few singing she found her passion and decided to make it a profession. She took regular classes in vocalizing and practiced the piano. She released her first single at the age of 20; it was “khatak Mashghoul”. And on December 2008 she released another new single “ Kol Dakika” that was directed by Caroline Labaky, written by Haitham Shaaban, composed by Haitham Zayad and arranged by Tony Saba. Recently she has released another new single called “Natertak”.

Mirva has always been full of excitement and awaiting new opportunities but she is seeking a great success in the music industry and believes that singing is “not based looks” but on “real skills!” “ I would like to thank all those who are standing by me and supporting me every step of the way from family, friends, fans to God. I pray my music reaches everyone in their daily lives and help them in their relationships and life. Thank you.” quotes Mirva.

Source: eArabGirls

I’m Miss USA, not Miss Religion USA’

Rima Fakih, the Lebanese-American, ‘liberal Muslim’ Miss USA from Michigan, has a fascinating interview at the religion site Patheos  revealing that she is surprise pretty much like most 24-year-old on the spiritual front. She’s a mash-up and she’s proud of it: “I’m Miss USA, not Miss Religion USA.”

Fakih says in her interview that “Yes, we’re a Muslim family, but we’re also very cultured and we have a mixture of different religions. For example, my brother-in-law is Catholic, and my sister converted and my nephews are baptized. I have an uncle who just graduated and currently he’s a priest. He’s going to be transferred from Ohio to New York shortly, so I can’t wait to see him and my cousins… I even have two cousins here in New York City who are Jewish. As you can see, my family is just an amazing melting pot of wonderful religions and faiths.”

A graduate of a Catholic high school, she says, they celebrate Christmas, Easter and Ramadan at home. She may not be Miss Religion, but she and her family certainly cover the cultural/spiritual sense of “religion” exemplified by many Americans today: Inter-married and unconcerned with doctrinal divides. I would hold off, however, on equating this with being “cultured” as if that had to be set apart from being Muslim.

Source: eArabGirls

First Muslim Arab American Rima Fakih Wins Miss USA 2010 Title

Lebanese American Rima Fakih made history when she became the newest titleholder of Miss Michigan USA. She is the first Arab American Muslim woman to hold such a title. Fifty-one contestants from every state and the District of Columbia took to the stage Sunday at Las Vegas’ Planet Hollywood Resort & Casino to compete for the title of Miss USA and the opportunity for a place in the Miss Universe pageant.

Fakih, of Lebanese descent, is believed to be the first Arab American, immigrant and Muslim to become Miss USA. She told pageant organizers her family celebrates both Muslim and Christian faiths. She moved to the United States as a baby and was raised in New York. Here she is competing in the bathing suit portion of the competition. The winner, Rima Fakih of Michigan, will represent the United States in the Miss Universe 2010 competition.

Source: eArabGirls

Hot Egyptian Actress Yasmin Abdel Aziz

Yasmin Abdel Aziz known as most beautiful women in the Arab World. Yasmin is basically from Egypt. Yasmin Abdel Aziz has appeared in a number of egyptian movies since the mid 2000. Haha Wa Tofaha, is one of the movies in which Yasmine played a major role, the movie got a lot of criticism since its launch.

Beautiful Morrocan Musician and Entertainer Sofia Marikh

Sofia Marikh is beautiful Morrocan musician and entertainer from Casablanca, Morocco. ofia grew in Casablanca and primary school and secondary school was in Casablanca. She joined Star Academy to improve her singing abilities and out of curiosity. She is good at playing the guitar and composing French lyrics. She has her own style of a coquette; a sweet, cute, quiet girl. During the first weeks of Star Academy she fell from 4,5m and injured her back in the sports class at the academy. This injury left her unable to move freely for few weeks.

Sofia started singing at family parties and gatherings. Later, Sofia Marikh appeared on several Moroccan and French commercials and then in the French film “Soleil” alongside legendary Sophia Lauren and a Moroccan movie “Wa Baad” starring Rasheed al Wali. One year later, Sofia had her first contract with a French-speaking Moroccan singer about a collaborative album – a deal which never took effect. Sofia Marikh’s first album is “Kelmet Hob” released in 2007. The album head song was shot in the same year and followed by a music video of “Bahib Fik”. Another hit song from the album was “Bzzaf Bzzaf”.

Source: eArabGirls