
Lebanese icon Fairuz bids farewell to her son Ziad Rahbani
Iconic Lebanese singer Fairuz arrived Monday at the Church of the Dormition in Bikfaya to bid farewell to her son, composer and playwright Ziad Rahbani, according to local media reports. Dressed in black and wearing dark sunglasses, Fairuz stepped out of her car to the applause of mourners gathered outside the church.
Lebanon's veteran singer Fairuz (Fayrouz) receives condolences during the funeral of her son, musician and composer Ziad Rahbani, at Mhaidseh's Greek Orthodox Church of Dormition in Bikfaya in Mount Lebanon, north east of Beirut, on July 28, 2025. --AFP photos
She was accompanied by her daughter Rima Rahbani and Member of Parliament Elias Bou Saab, and was greeted at the entrance by Lebanon's First Lady. According to media reports, the church was cleared to allow Fairuz a private moment to mourn near the casket of her son, whose death has stirred a wave of public grief across Lebanon and the Arab world. — Agencies

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Arab Times
11 hours ago
- Arab Times
'Made in Kuwait' expo puts local gaming talent in the spotlight
KUWAIT CITY, Aug 2: A large number of visitors flocked to The Avenues Mall on Friday for the launch of the 'Made in Kuwait' Electronic Games Expo, where the creativity and technical talent of Kuwaiti youth took center stage. The event, part of the 17th Cultural Summer Festival organized by the National Council for Culture, Arts and Letters (NCCAL), aims to highlight local innovation in the rapidly growing gaming industry. The three-day exhibition features a selection of video games developed by young Kuwaiti creators. These projects incorporate Arab identity and cultural values through original design and storytelling. Visitors were given the opportunity to interact with the games, offer feedback, and engage directly with the developers, in an effort to promote user-driven improvement and cultural engagement in the digital sphere. Omaima Al-Saad, founder and director of electronic game industry programs at NCCAL, explained in a press statement that the showcased games are the result of prior seasonal game development competitions. These tournaments, hosted by the Council as part of a national cultural initiative, brought together a diverse range of Kuwaiti talents — including developers, musicians, visual artists, writers, and designers — to form creative teams. Over the course of 72 hours, these teams collaborated to produce fully functional video games. 'The current exhibition presents the outcomes of these challenges to the public,' Al-Saad said, 'demonstrating the innovative potential and digital skills of Kuwaiti youth in this vital and growing industry.' She noted that most of the games on display are still under development, which allows for direct audience interaction and feedback, strengthening the connection between creators and users. Al-Saad also announced an upcoming initiative: the "Programming Camp for Electronic Game Creation", scheduled to take place later this month at the Kuwait National Library. The camp will feature eight intensive training programs designed to teach participants the fundamentals of game development, with guidance from specialized trainers in the field. In a related statement, Dalal Al-Fadhli, Director of the Culture Department at NCCAL, emphasized that the Expo is aligned with the goals of the Cultural Summer 17 festival. 'We aim to provide culturally rich, non-violent, and entertaining content that enhances technological awareness and national digital culture,' she said. Al-Fadhli added that the electronic games challenge ran over two consecutive seasons and saw strong engagement from Kuwaiti youth. 'The games exhibited today are a direct outcome of these successful competitions and reflect the advanced level achieved by local programmers and designers,' she stated. She described the exhibition as an important platform to spotlight emerging Kuwaiti talent in a globally booming sector, while reaffirming the potential of Kuwait's youth to produce meaningful digital content that expresses their heritage and values.

Kuwait Times
2 days ago
- Kuwait Times
Sarajevo street art marks out brighter future
Bullet holes still pockmark many Sarajevo buildings; others threaten collapse under disrepair, but street artists in the Bosnian capital are using their work to reshape a city steeped in history. A half-pipe of technicolour snakes its way through the verdant Mount Trebevic, once an Olympic bobsled route - now layered in ever-changing art. 'It's a really good place for artists to come here to paint, because you can paint here freely,' Kerim Musanovic told AFP, spraycan in hand as he repaired his work on the former site of the 1984 Sarajevo Games. Retouching his mural of a dragon, his painting's gallery is this street art hotspot between the pines. Like most of his work, he paints the fantastic, as far removed from the divisive political slogans that stain walls elsewhere in the Balkan nation. 'I want to be like a positive view. When you see my murals or my artworks, I don't want people to think too much about it. 'It's for everyone.' During the Bosnian war, 1992-1995, Sarajevo endured the longest siege in modern conflict, as Bosnian Serb forces encircled and bombarded the city for 44 months. Attacks on the city left over 11,500 people dead, injured 50,000 and forced tens of thousands to flee. But in the wake of a difficult peace, that divided the country into two autonomous entities, Bosnia's economy continues to struggle leaving the physical scars of war still evident around the city almost three decades on. Bosnian street artist and rapper Adnan Hamidovic (aka Frenkie) poses during an exhibition showcasing his tag artworks at a gallery in Sarajevo. Bosnian street artist Benjamin Cengic sits next to his signature 'Flower Graffitti' in his creative space. A photo shows the facades of old buildings renovated with murals by Bosnian street artist Benjamin Cengic and his creative team in Sarajevo. A photo shows the facades of old buildings renovated with murals by Bosnian street artist Benjamin Cengic and his creative team in Sarajevo. A photo shows the facades of old buildings renovated with murals by Bosnian street artist Benjamin Cengic and his creative team. Bosnian street artist Kerim Musanovic puts the finishing touches to his painting on the former Olympic bobsleigh track on Mount Trebevic, near Sarajevo, on May 26, 2025. (Photo by ELVIS BARUKCIC / AFP) Young Bosnian street artist paints on the half-pipe wall of former Olympic bob-sleigh track, on Mount Trebevic. 'A form of therapy' 'After the war, segregation, politics, and nationalism were very strong, but graffiti and hip-hop broke down all those walls and built new bridges between generations,' local muralist Adnan Hamidovic, also known as rapper Frenkie, said. Frenkie vividly remembers being caught by police early in his career, while tagging trains bound for Croatia in the northwest Bosnian town of Tuzla. The 43-year-old said the situation was still tense then, with police suspecting he was doing 'something political'. For the young artist, only one thing mattered: 'Making the city your own'. Graffiti was a part of Sarajevo life even during the war, from signs warning of sniper fire to a bulletproof barrier emblazoned with the words 'Pink Floyd' - a nod to the band's 1979 album The Wall. Sarajevo Roses - fatal mortar impact craters filled with red resin - remain on pavements and roads around the city as a memorial to those killed in the strikes. When he was young, Frenkie said the thrill of illegally painting gripped him, but it soon became 'a form of therapy' combined with a desire to do something significant in a country still recovering from war. 'Sarajevo, after the war, you can imagine, it was a very, very dark place,' he said at Manifesto gallery where he exhibited earlier this year. 'Graffiti brought life into the city and also colour.' 'A way of resisting' Sarajevo's annual Fasada festival, first launched in 2021, has helped promote the city's muralists while also repairing buildings, according to artist and founder Benjamin Cengic. 'We look for overlooked neighborhoods, rundown facades,' Cengic said. His team fixes the buildings that will also act as the festival's canvas, sometimes installing insulation and preserving badly damaged homes in the area. The aim is to 'really work on creating bonds between local people, between artists'. Mostar, a city in southern Bosnia, will also host the 14th edition of its annual street art festival in August. With unemployment nearing 30 percent in Bosnia, street art also offers an important springboard to young artists, University of Sarajevo sociology professor Sarina Bakic said. 'The social context for young people is very difficult,' Bakic said. Ljiljana Radosevic, a researcher at Finland's Jyvaskyla University, said graffiti allowed youth to shake off any 'nationalist narrative or imposed identity'. 'It's a way of resisting,' Radosevic said. — AFP

Kuwait Times
2 days ago
- Kuwait Times
Honkytonk Kenya: Africa's home of country music
The party is in Kenya, but the vibe is distinctly Americana: a sea of cowboy hats and boots with a soundtrack soaked tales about heartbreak and good ol' boys. Kenya has become the unlikely home of a growing country music scene, possibly the biggest in Africa, as testified by the thousands line-dancing in a field in the capital Nairobi this weekend for International Cowboys and Cowgirls Day. The festival crowd went wild for the king of the local country scene, 'Sir Elvis' Otieno, as his deep baritone belted out classics like 'Take Me Home, Country Roads' mixed with newer hits like 'Down to the Honkytonk'. Sir Elvis's parents named him after another musical monarch who died a few months before he was born in 1977, and then raised him on a diet of country legends like Jim Reeves and Alan Jackson. 'When I started out it was a very tiny genre' in Kenya, he told AFP at the festival. 'It's a dream come true to see a crowd like this today.' There are links, he said, to local traditions, particularly the story-telling music of the Kikuyu tribe known as Mugithi. 'Kikuyu folk music has the same kind of language, they draw from each other quite a bit,' said Sir Elvis. 'It's really crazy -- so many thousands of miles apart, but the messaging is the same.' Kenyan Country DJ Rom Ace (left) and a reveller pose for a photo during the International Cowboy Day. Revellers line dance during the International Cowboy Day. Kenyan Country artist Savannah Cowgirl poses for a photo during the International Cowboy Day. Kenyan Country artist Savannah Cowgirl poses for a photo during the International Cowboy Day. Ythera the Cowgirl (left) performs during the International Cowboy Day. Sheriff Knight (center), the dancing Cowboy, leads the line dance during the International Cowboy Day. A group of fans watch unseen Kenyan Country artist Sir Elvis perform. A crowd gathers as Kenyan Country artist Sir Elvis and the Urban Cowboys perform. Kenyan Country artist Pharry-K poses for a portrait. Kenyan Country artist Sir Elvis (center) and the Urban Cowboys perform. 'Life, love, hate, forgiveness' Anne Anene, 26, still remembers the song that turned her into a country music fan: Dolly Parton's 'Do I Ever Cross Your Mind?'. 'Her songs always speak to me because they always have deep messages, and they usually tell a story of what I go through,' said Anene, a customer service representative for a health insurance firm. 'I've always hoped to go to Texas or Nashville one day,' she added. 'I'd like to visit the ranches, I like horse riding, I like the ranch kind of life -- the quiet, the calm.' The clothes are also a big part of the appeal. The festival was organized by Reja Manyeki, who runs a clothing and events company called Cowboys and Cowgirls. It was still pretty niche when he opened in 2018 but 'now people love country music. It touches all corners (of society). 'We do cowboy-themed events, birthdays, weddings, end-of-year parties... Now everyone comes, even schools.' Big farming and Christian communities also make Kenya fertile ground for country and gospel music. First to perform at the festival was Samson Maombe who's picked up millions of streams for his Swahili-language takes on Christian country tunes. But for 'King George' Gustavo, lead MC of the festival, it's the tales of everyday life that keep him hooked and ensures he listens to Alan Jackson 'every single day'. 'The lyrics speak to life, love, hate, forgiveness, cheating, drinking...' he said. 'You identify with that, and then obviously there's a bit of dancing.' Anene, the Dolly Parton fan, says country music is also an escape. 'In this world full of confusion, full of drama, country music is the only thing that makes sense to me. It has made me find peace.'- AFP