Last night, at an open air stadium in Damascus, 10,000 Syrians got a taste of some Latin loving.
Son of Spanish songbird, husband of the most famous lowly ranked female tennis star, former mole-wearer, otherwise known as the bilingual pop star Enrique Iglesias, made history by performing to a sold out crowd in the Syrian capital.
According to the AP article by Samar Kassabli, no Western act has performed in Syria in over 30 years. I’m slightly skeptical of such a claim. I could have sworn that the Iron Sheik performed at the Cote D’Azur Hotel in Latakia. Ironically enough, he did open up the show by serenading members of the muhabbarat by singing:
“I can be your hero baby”
Even though the Iron Sheik paved the road for Western performers, Enrique himself had many reservations about performing in what he considered the “dangerous red zone.” He even sent his manager ahead of the planned date to scope out the scene and make sure that there were no “security issues.” According to the Middle East news information site Al Bawaba, Enrique’s manager, Peter Brighton was indeed surprised by Damascus; not because of any supposed “security threats” but because of a religious harmony often overlooked by Western media:
“One of the things that had amazed him was the sound of the call for prayers that was heard from mosques and the sounds of church bells showing that Muslims and Christians live in harmony with one another.”
Mr. Brighton was so mesmerized by the city that he extended his “business-only” stay to include visits to historic sites. Who would have thought that the longest continually-inhabited city on earth had anything to offer in the way of history or archaeological treasures?
The story is so big in fact that my local San Gabriel valley newspaper carried the AP article along with a large photo of the impassioned musician on the second page of the main paper!
Strangely enough, Enrique Iglesias’s official website makes no mention of the concert in Syria.
Im waiting in earnest to see if Bashar al-Assad will award Enrique with the rightly deserved Syrian Order of Merit of Excellent Degree. I mean, if Sabah Fakhri got one, why not him?
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Filed Under history, Maytha, music, syria
Are you gonna tell me where the big Arab market in San Dimas is, or not?
Posted by programmer craig | July 7, 2007, 12:45 amAnd also, what was all the police activity about earlier tonight!? I ust have passed 50 cop cars along Gladstone between Lone Hill and Glendora Avenue earlier tonight, all with their lights on…. they had Lone Hill completely barricaded. That must have had something to do with you, no? Knock it the hell off, it took me 40 minutes to get to the fucking gym! Every 5 seconds, pull off to the shoulder… fucking annoying.
Posted by programmer craig | July 7, 2007, 12:59 amCraig is more obsessed with Arabs -anything and everything related to Arabs- than even the most zealous Arab nationalist.
Like a Nazi to a Jew.
Bizarre, really.
Posted by Anonymous | July 7, 2007, 1:15 amDon’t you feel honored to have your own “Nazi” fans, anonymous? :O
Posted by programmer craig | July 7, 2007, 1:36 amProg Craig:
What should be done to the 1.2 billion muslims in the world?
Posted by American | July 7, 2007, 8:38 amWhat should be done to the 1.2 billion muslims in the world?
Why you wanna drag an extra billion people into it? It’s only Arabs and Pakistanis who have a problem. I’d say Iranians too, but the majority of Iranians could give a shit about Islam.
Posted by programmer craig | July 7, 2007, 9:04 amProg Craig:
Whould should be done to the Arab and Pakistani Muslims and the minority of Iranian Muslim problem havers in the world?
Posted by American | July 7, 2007, 9:26 amI don’t know, America. Any chance that they’ll suddenly come to their senses? :O
Maybe we should just wait til they piss off the Chinese, and then we won’t have to worry about Arab and Pakistani Muslims, ever again. There won’t be any.
http://www.chinadaily.com.cn/world/2007-06/23/content_900938.htm
That was a pretty good start, right there!
Posted by programmer craig | July 7, 2007, 10:53 amAre all Arab and Pakistani Muslims a problem? The women, children, elderly and those who have never caused anyone harm?
Posted by American | July 7, 2007, 10:58 amAre all Arab and Pakistani Muslims a problem?
Why don’t you ask them? And why don’t you ask the Chinese how they intend to handle the “problem” if and when they feel it necessary? Americans are nice guys, as you know! Chinese…. not such nice guys.
Posted by programmer craig | July 7, 2007, 12:48 pmProg. Craig, earlier you said “Why you wanna drag an extra billion people into it? It’s only Arabs and Pakistanis who have a problem.”
So you called them a problem, I was asking for clarification…now you say “ask them”.
Yes, Americans are nice. But wasn’t Jeffrey Dahmer an American? Was he nice?
Posted by American | July 7, 2007, 12:56 pmBy the way, you are too boring to be an American. You’re Palestinian, aren’t you? Are you too embarrassed to admit it? Or is this what passes for cleverness amongst Palestinian types?
Posted by programmer craig | July 7, 2007, 12:56 pmAmerican
So you called them a problem, I was asking for clarification…now you say “ask them”.
No, I said Arabs and Pakistanis have a problem. Your “clarification” asked me this:
Are all Arab and Pakistani Muslims a problem? The women, children, elderly and those who have never caused anyone harm?
It’s not my responsibility to determine the degree of the guilt that is “collective” and the degree that is “individual” – all I can do is point out that those societies have a major problem. They obviously do. If you want to try to wade through all the blame-laying and finger pointing and denial to find out how many people in those societies are completely innocent (and a supporter of terrorism is NOT an innocent, even if they’ve never actually done violence themselves) then that’s up to you.
I started reading Arab blogs about 2.5 years ago to try to understand the extent of this very problem. I gave up. *shrug*
Posted by programmer craig | July 7, 2007, 3:56 pmOMG, May! Programmercraig is so obsessed with you.
I can’t help but to be a little jealous… and confused all at the same time. Didn’t he say he was gay a few days ago? And I had such a good Enrique Iglesias + Gay joke for him but it won’t fly if he’s just bi.
Posted by QuiQui | July 7, 2007, 4:47 pmOh, I’m gay now!? Good to know :O
Posted by programmer craig | July 7, 2007, 10:28 pm