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Kurds celebrate for an Arab singing idol
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1.4.2007 |
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April 1, 2007
BAGHDAD, March 31,-- Charismatic Iraqi singer
Shada Hassoon shot to stardom in her war-torn
homeland on Saturday as a symbol of unity after
winning an Arab version of "American Idol" in a
glitzy Beirut final.
Born to an Iraqi father and a Moroccan mother, Shada
has spent most of her life abroad living a charmed
existence far removed from her compatriots who have
endured three wars, sanctions, an American invasion
and insurgency.
Despite US promises that ousting dictatorship would
bring peace and democracy, Iraq is teetering on a
civil war between Shiite and Sunnis, engulfed in
mass unemployment, food shortages and plummeting
living conditions.
But for one night, the dream of Shada kept fear and
disunity at bay, as millions of Iraqis from across
the sectarian and ethnic divide crowded round
television sets to watch her croon into a microphone
and to vote for victory.
The telecast smashed an Iraqi telecommunications
record as seven million phone customers sent SMS
messages for her to win, compared to an average of
no more than 150,000 texts a day, said an official
at company Iraqna.
"She excelled where politics failed and is admired
by all. She won seven million Iraqi votes by
telephone voting. None of the Iraqi politicians
scooped that number of votes at the ballot box,"
said Baghdad teacher Alaa Saber.
"Seven million were unanimous about her winning.
That number has never been unanimous about anything
else," he added, out enjoying a warm spring morning.
People in autonomous northern Kurdistan, the only
area safe enough for people to watch the show live
on a giant outside screen, jumped up and down in
joy, screaming and waving their hands in the air
after victory was announced.
Kurds celebrated into the small hours, holding
pictures of the 26-year-old brunette beauty and
honking car horns as they drove home after partying.
"She has given happiness to every Iraqi home. This
is proof that politics divides Iraqis, whereas art
and sports gathers them together," said 28-year-old
media worker, Bassam Abdul Ahad.
Shada, who stopped hearts when she sang a cover
version of an old Fairuz song eulogising the
delights of pre-war Baghdad earlier in the Star
Academy 4 competition, wrapped herself in the Iraqi
flag and thanked her fans.
"I really want to thank them so much. Iraq. All
Iraqi people for their voting to me, for their love
to me, because I can feel it," she told CNN in
raptures from the television studio where the
contest was held.
It was a dream come true for a girl who lists jet
skiing among her hobbies and has a crush on
international sex symbol and actor Antonio Banderas.
"I can feel them, like, really happy and smiling,
especially in that situation they're living. That's
why it's my dream to make them happy," Shada added.
Private Iraqi television station, Al-Sharkiya, which
is run by an exiled businessmen out of Dubai,
marketed her as the Daughter of Mesopotamia, running
an all-night phone-in special interspersed with
coverage of the telecast.
People were delighted even in the deeply religious
Shiite holy city of Najaf, where every Iraqi woman
on the street is draped head-to-toe in black abayas,
a world away from the elegant cut of Shada's strappy
blue evening dress.
"We welcome this woman because she has held the name
of Iraq aloft. We needed a voice to unify us," said
Islamist politician Sabah Ahmed.
"Being an Islamist, I have some reservations about
singing. But seven million votes for this woman from
all walks of society! With this percentage she
outclassed politicians in Iraq. Therefore the
victory unites Iraqis," he added.
Yet as much as Shada may have touched people's
hearts there were none of the outbursts of
celebratory gunfire in downtown Baghdad that have
accompanied past Iraqi football prowess in the Asian
and Olympic Games.
AFP
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