The organizing committee of the Fifth Doha Song Festival has suddenly decided to call off the participation of Lebanese announcer Razan Al Moughrabi as the official host of the festival. The committee did not specify to Razan why they cancelled her participation and simply told her she is more than welcome to remain as a guest.
The committee had also cancelled the participation of presenter Mahmoud Al Saed from hosting the festival leading the two to wonder what were the reasons behind this sudden change of decisions. Razan and Mahmoud refused to make any public comments regarding their elimination and closed their mobile phones. The two made reservations for the first flights leaving from Doha and left the country.
According to the London based daily, Al Sharq Al Awsat, Razan revealed that she did not know why the committee had removed her from taking part in the festival saying that they had previously agreed on all the details. She added that she had prepared herself for hosting the festival and in fact had 9 different dresses designed for the occasion.
The committee had previously chose Razan to be the official presenter of the event. Razan was to be responsible for holding interviews with the participating singers and give complete coverage of press conferences that will take place on a daily basis throughout the festival.
Recently, Lebanese singer Ragheb Alama denied circulating rumors that he will be singing a trio with Razan and Spanish international singer Julio Iglesias Junior. Ragheb stressed that he is not willing to hold any sort of trio or even a duet with anyone unless he finds the right voice that matches his and will add to his career.
Rumors had it that Ragheb, Razan and Julio were holding extensive work sessions to choose the words for a new trio they will hold together. The new song will be a combination of English, French, and Arabic, and is scheduled to be out by early January 2004. Razan had revealed that the song would be featured in her upcoming first album, which she has completed choosing most of the songs for. The new album consists of mainly rap songs.
Despite allegedly turning down her fist offer to be an actress, Razan has agreed on making a second attempt to appear in front of a camera. Razan has initially accepted an offer to star in a new film “Shaiateen Al Jama’a” (University Devils).
The leading role is by actor Hani Salamah, who was able to convince Razan to be in the movie after she turned down his first offer to participate in the movie “Halet Hob” (A Dose of Love), saying that she felt the time has not come for her to go into an acting career preferring to dedicate her time solely to being a TV broadcaster.
The new movie that Razan is taking part in alongside Hani is in more ways than one a return to the seventies era of movies, that used to star Egyptian actors Moh’d Awad, Nour El Sherif, Yousef Fakhereldin, and Hassan Yousef.
The question remains, has Razan accepted the role in the second movie just to prove that she was the one to turn down the offer for the first one and therefore proving that she has got what it takes to be a good actress? A question that can only be answered when the new film is released and people can judge based on their opinions. - Albawaba.com
© 2004 Al Bawaba (www.albawaba.com)
