For the first time since she started singing with an Egyptian accent, Lebanese artist Marwa took off her jellabiya, the national dress of women in Egyptian villages. Rest assured, sexy and provocative Marwa was wearing some clothes under her jellabiya and if she took it off it was for purposes of her new video clip.
In fact, the Melody channel started broadcasting the song under the English title Don't do This, Don't do That, composed by Issa Ghandour.
In the video clip, directed by Dia Ghazzaoui, provocative Marwa is wearing, depending on the sequences, a pair of shorts with leather tight boots or a very light white dress.
Hear this!
Amal Hijazi, who spent the final days of 2007 in Cairo taking part in a huge event as part of of Television Nights, celebrated New Year's Eve in Jordan where she sang at the Radisson SAS hotel along with Lebanese star Walid Toufic.
Amal is now back to Lebanon. She is putting the final touches to her album to be released at the end of January and which contains ten new songs bearing the signatures of important poets and musicians such as Mahmoud Khiami, Nader Nour, Jean Saliba, Nasser Assaad, Tony Saba and Tarek Tawkel.
This is the first time since her debut that Amal hasn't collaborated with poet Elias Nasser. But she had no choice: Elias Nasser has faced very rough times lately with the death of his brother after a serious illness and the sudden death of his long-time friend, artist Azar Habib.
Elias Nasser signed the lyrics of Amal's best songs such as Zaman (Time) and Baya el-Ward (The Florist).
Father of twins
Famous video clip director Walid Nassif is the father of twin boys born on Christmas Eve. The artist chose to name his sons Walid Junior and Peter. Mother Joumana and the twins are in good health.
A different language
Lebanese actress and former TV host Madeleine Tabar is learning Persian for her role in an Egyptian film. She also bought a series of Iranian films in order to learn about Iranian society. Madeleine will portray an Iranian woman, wearing a chador, living in the United States, and whose daughter is gang-raped.
The movie stresses relations between East and West. Madeleine, who will speak English and Persian in the film, won't say more for the time being about this project that is expected to be shot in the US.
Nada Farhat's Hollywood dream
Lebanese actress Nada Abu Farhat was named best actress at the Dubai International Film Festival for her performance in the movie Taht el-Qasf (Under The Bombs), directed by Philip Araktinji. The film, which tells the story of a woman searching for her child during the July 2006 war, was also honoured in Dubai.
A few months ago Nada won a Lebanese award — the Murex d'Or — for her performance in Nadine Labaki's movie Succar Banat (Caramel).
Nada's dream is to see the movies she stars in presented in Europe and the United States.
"Of course I would love to go to Hollywood. But for me this will only happen through a Lebanese movie. I would never think of leaving my country. I like my environment," she said. "You only live once. I'd rather be successful in my country than a nobody abroad. I don't want to waste my time."
