CNN featured clips of the Sanaa Music Festival videos on its monthly show iReport, along with a chat with Mira on the growing hip hop trend among the urban youth in Yemen. Mira’s blog, The Bohemian and The Bulbul, got a mention as well. (Click to watch the CNN spot.)
CNN International is showing clips of the Sanaa Music Festival videos and an interview with Mira on its iReport show this week at these times. Not to be missed!
If you watched MTV in the late 1980s, you might remember her in the music video as Ofra Haza (1957 – 2000), the Israeli pop singer who gained international fame during that decade. But even if this doesn’t ring a bell, chances are you may have heard her hit “Im nin’ alu” (Should They Be Closed) playing in a Yemeni taxi.
“It’s a Yemeni Jewish song,” a taxi driver once explained.
Shabazi’s poetry was characterized by mystical themes and the new strophic form that broke away from the traditional Andalusian poetic style which had been dominant for five centuries. One study argues that this shift in poetic style could have been due to the influence of the humayni muwashah poems of Yemeni Sufis.
CNN iReport has picked up videos of last month’s Sanaa Music Festival (Click to watch on CNN online).
WEB EXCLUSIVE
The bohemian sat on a cliff contemplating the interlocking craggy mountains west of Sana’a; the road to Hodeida snaked downward along their sides. Their magnificence reduced man and woman to a speck. Crows paraglided above on the soft, cool air. The silence was only occasionally interrupted by the birds’ calls and the infrequent traffic. She couldn’t resist the spirituality.
A Jeep of Yemenis parked nearby on the cliff. The family of three men – one old – and an elderly woman walked unto the side of the road. One of the men, the younger one, stepped on a protruding volcanic rock leaning dangerously forward. He crouched, like an eagle about to fly.
Yemeni artist Mazher Nizar stopped by the Bab al-Yemen art exhibition by European artists for a chat. He talked about his unique style, particularly his colorful portrayal of women. The paintings are on display in the Sheba Hotel, Sanaa. (Click to watch the interview with the artist.)
