Lebanese singer takes to stage despite chorus of opposition from Islamist MPs

Manama: Sporting a floor length Gulf dress but with a spaghetti strap, Lebanese singer Haifa Wehbe withheld the onslaught of conservative MPs and performed to hundreds of Bahraini and Gulf fans on Wednesday night.

The concert, the first by the controversial singer in Bahrain, was held in a local hotel about 30 hours after the MPs in the Islamists-dominated lower house asked the government to ban the performance on the grounds that Haifa, 32, had no respect for traditional and religious values.

The concert location was about 200 metres from the parliament house where the MPs on Tuesday launched a vitriolic attack against the singer, warning that she was a terrible role model for the younger generations.

A publicity stunt on Tuesday in which Haifa was photographed with some handicapped children with promises to assist them was blasted by Ebrahim Bou Sandal, an MP for Al Asala, the Salafi Society that spearheaded the opposition to the concert.

"The so-called Haifa is not a good example for our children, and in fact, she is the symbol of nudity and anti-Islamic attitudes. Bahrain as a Muslim country should not allow this woman who exposes her body in the name of art to meet our children and convey to them her distorted notion of success and achievement," he said in a press statement.

Depravity

"She and other symbols of nudity are one of the causes of the depravity of our young men and women and their immersion in lust. We are shocked by those who follow programmes such as Star Academy and Super Star and by their behaviour on and off stage. The nation has plummeted to record depths," he said.

The MP said that his society deplored the lack of cooperation from the government and its resistance to the wish of parliament to fight decadence.

Haifa's detractors believe she reached her star status due to her looks, and not because of how she sounds.

At 16, she won the title of Miss South Lebanon and three years later she was a runner-up in the Miss Lebanon competition. In 1996 her modelling career took off and she was on the cover of dozens of Arabic magazines. Support from a music company and fans prompted her to release an album that took her to new heights of stardom, appearing with Omar Sharif at the Cannes Festival.