Despite the recent commotion caused in Egypt over Lebanese singer Haifa Wahbi, and that led to her banning, the singer has resumed her activities in Egypt and has been going to Cairo on a regular basis to prepare for her upcoming album. The ban that was placed on the singer has been lifted after officials viewed the episode of “For Those Who Dare Only”, which was aired on the Lebanese Broadcasting Company (LBC), in which the singer was accused of insulting Egyptians.
Officials at the Egyptian Musician Association realized that the singer had not made any direct insults to Egypt or its people and felt that there is no reason to ban her from entering the country. According to the London based daily, Alsharq Al Awsat, Haifa has begun holding extensive work sessions with Egyptian composers and poets to chose the right songs for the new album.
Wahbi has announced that she is innocent of all recent allegations made by some Egyptian newspapers that she had publicly insulted Egyptians on the and stressed that the rumors are complete lies. She pleaded to the head of the Egyptian Musician Association, who after watching the episode agreed that the singer did not insult Egyptians in any way.
Haifa revealed that during the episode she said what had to be said without crossing the line of appropriateness, but some individuals had twisted her comments to create some commotion to create disputes between her and the Egyptian media, and thankfully they were proven wrong.
Recently, the Egyptian daily newspaper Al Wafid demanded the banning of Haifa from Egypt claiming that she had publicly insulted Egypt and its people. The paper called on the head of the Egyptian Musician Association, Hassan Abu Al So’oud, to take a stance against the singer and work on forbidding her from entering the country, as is the case with many Egyptian singers who are banned from Lebanon for unknown reasons.
The paper stressed there are legitimate reasons for forbidding Haifa, which is insulting Egypt, and she should not be given a permit by the association to hold any performances on Egyptian soil. Haifa’s remarks on the show had caused an outrage to breakout in Egypt.
© 2005 Al Bawaba (www.albawaba.com)
