The second Arab Video Oscar Festival will take place in Alexandria next Thursday with the participation of 35 singers from 18 countries, including Palestine, according to the Egyptian daily Al Massa.
Palestinian singers will participate with songs about the Al Aqsa Intifada, including Jamal Al Najjar with the song Ya Quds Ya Habibati (Jerusalem, My Love), Mahdi Serdaneh with Shaabi Samed (My People Resist) and Wael Al Yazji with Al Thar Ya Quds (Revenge, Jerusalem).
The festival will honor four pioneers in the field of Arab music, including the late Sayyed Darwish and Suaad Hussni. The honorees will also include current the generation’s pioneers, like Samir Sabri and Abdulah Al Rweished.
The opening ceremony will start with an operetta entitled Yalla Bina (Let’s Go) written by Mohammed Hamzeh and composed by Hani Shnudah, in addition to a documentary film honoring the late Egyptian actress Suad Hussni, a pioneer in making videos.
Many Arab signers will take part in the festival, including Kuwaiti singer Abdulla Al Rrweished, Amr Diab, Mohammed Fuad, Maha Al Badri from Egypt, Waled Tawfiq, Nawal Al Zughbi from Lebanon, Warda and Amal Wahbi from Algeria, Samira Said from Morocco and Ahmed Fathi from Yemen.
Egyptian actor Mahmoud Yassin, the head of the fest’s higher committee, stated that the event would be part of Alexandria’s national day celebrations. He added that the festival would award prizes for best production, video recording, director, singing, editing and composing.
The festival will include two seminars entitled Youth Songs and Videos from a Film Perspective – Albawaba.com
