Pretty lady. Such a shame to hide that beauty behind a veil...
Posted on 06/03/2008 11:50:28 AM PDT by rightwingintelligentsia
Abir Sabri, celebrated for her alabaster skin, ebony hair, pouting lips and full figure, used to star in racy Egyptian TV shows and movies. Then, at the peak of her career a few years ago, she disappeared—at least her face did. She began performing on Saudi-owned religious TV channels, with her face covered, chanting verses from the Qur'an. Conservative Saudi Arabian financiers promised her plenty of work, she says, as long as she cleaned up her act. "It's the Wahhabi investors," she says, referring to the strict form of Sunni Islam prevalent in Saudi Arabia. "Before, they invested in terrorism—and now they put their money in culture and the arts."
Egyptians deplore what they call the Saudization of their culture. Egypt has long dominated the performing arts from Morocco to Iraq, but now petrodollar-flush Saudi investors are buying up the contracts of singers and actors, reshaping the TV and film industries and setting a media agenda rooted more in strict Saudi values than in those of freewheeling Egypt. "As far as I'm concerned, this is the biggest problem in the Middle East right now," says mobile-phone billionaire Naquib Sawiris. "Egypt was always very liberal, very secular and very modern. Now ..." He gestures from the window of his 26th-floor Cairo office: "I'm looking at my country, and it's not my country any longer. I feel like an alien here."
(Excerpt) Read more at newsweek.com ...
ping - thought you might find this interesting...
ping!
I’m living vicariously through the article. Belly dancing has been something that I always wanted to do.
Now, at 42, well, not so much....
Takes an Egyptian to tell the truth, while the USA has mollycoddled the saudi scumbags.
Inshallah.
LOL—I wanted to try belly dancing once myself, but I didn’t have the belly for it.
I have Egyptian (Christian) friends who tell me that until only recently a night in Egypt was as exciting as in the most “swinging” Western City, plus there was the belly dancing.
No longer, I guess.
(ahem)
Egypt has fallen into the dark ages. Goodbye.
Bellydancing is alive here, a friend sent me a link to a new You Tube title, “Siobhan at Cozmic Pizza” (cozmic with a z) of a girl bellydancing with spinx-like wings. Dance like an Egyptian. Like an Egyptian used too.
Muslims. Can’t live with them, can live without them!
Conservative Saudi Arabian financiers promised her plenty of work, she says, as long as she cleaned up her act. "It's the Wahhabi investors," she says, referring to the strict form of Sunni Islam prevalent in Saudi Arabia. "Before, they invested in terrorism—and now they put their money in culture and the arts."
The Saudis are rank hypocrites. One can only imagine the debauchery that takes place in the palaces of the many thousands of Saudi princes...
There isn’t an age restriction.
All the really good belly dancers now are westerners.
There are a flock of belly dance video’s on UTube.
Pretty lady. Such a shame to hide that beauty behind a veil...
Don’t be shy to try it! There’s no age requirement for belly dancing & no inappropriate showing of skin has to be involved. :)
Hmmm,
Odd but Dina, Naqua (I think), Mona al Said (I THINK), Lucy etc are still dancing a the hotels. Amani is Lebanese but very classic Egyptian and very busy. Nour is Russian but passes as Egyptian.
And then there is Alhan wa Sahlan in Cairo that Raqia hosts..... with 100’s of dancers from all over the world attending. I will admit though the Americans now dance better.
I’ll re-read the article cuz I missed something.
Heck, my style is ‘Egyptian’ as well as Cassandra, Morroco, Aziza Nawal to name a few (though they are lightyears better).
From birth to death, it’s the dance of all women :) (and a few men).
Go for it!
I’ve been thinking about getting my Wife into pole dancing.
(just for me of course)
Yep :)
Yeh that’s it! Just like that! LOL!
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