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Bahrain:
Marcel Khalife and Qassim Haddad cause fury in Bahrain's parliament
Members of parliament in the small Gulf kingdom Bahrain attacked a performance by Lebanese composer Marcel Khalife and Bahraini poet Qassim Haddad as being a violation of Islamic morals and sharia laws
Controversy has emerged with a new work by the famous Lebanese musician and composer Marcel Khalife and Bahraini poet Qassim Haddad. The controversy revolves around the setting of an epic love poem entitled 'Majnoon Laila', or 'Laila Wal Majnoon', (which means 'Laila and the Possessed' or 'Laila and the Madman'), to music, dance, song and drama by Marcel Khalife.
The performance premiered in Bahrain on 1 and 2 March 2007 as part of the inauguration of the annual Spring of Culture Festival which was organised by the Bahraini Ministry of Information. Marcel Khalife sang at the show while male and female dancers staged the relationship between the two famous Arab lovers, Laila and Qais.
Selected scenes from the 'Majnoon Laila' performance. Oud player Marcel Khalife is seen in the background at the right.
The show was attacked by fundamentalist members of the Bahraini parliament as being in violation of Islamic morals and sharia laws after an Islamic preacher, Sheikh Ali Matar, had complained in a prayer sermon that the Spring of Culture Festival features a play with scenes that "arouse [sexual] instincts" and "encourage debauchery".
Parliament second vice-chairman Dr Salah Abdulrahman said the event included “sleazy dance moves” which were offensive to Muslims and non-Muslims.
On 13 March 2007 the Bahraini parliament voted to create an investigative committee look into the controversy. Islamists control three-quarters of the 40 seats in the parliament in Bahrain.
Defending freedom of expression
"This is a dangerous precedent that will take us back to the Middle Ages and the Inquisition," said theatre director Khaled al-Roueie to Agence France Presse's writer Mohammad Fadhel.
"We have resolved to wage a battle to defend freedom of expression and creativity, and we will mobilise all intellectuals and artists to confront this precedent, which risks undermining our liberties," said Ibrahim Abu Hindi, who heads a writers' association.
Mohammad Fadhel writes that the Bahraini press joined the fray, running editorials and interviews with thinkers and artists describing the parliament's move as an attempt to "gag" citizens.
The Spring of Culture Festival runs in Bahrain until mid-April 2007.
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Marcel and Qassim
Photos: Courtesy of Nagam Cultural Project
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Video statement: 'Majnoon Layla'
In this statement Marcel Khalife speaks (in Arabic language) about why artists must engage in the defence of creativity.
See the video. |
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| Related reading |
| USA: Lebanese musician denied use of theatre |
| Marcel Khalife often speaks for reconciliation, resulting in bans in the Middle East. Ironically one of his concerts was rejected in the US, accused of being "unbalanced". |
| 14 October 2007 |
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| Shoot the Singer! Book |
| "Shoot the Singer! Music Censorship Today". The first worldwide presentation of contemporary cases of music censorship, with cases from i.a. Burma, Mexico, Middle East, France, Algeria, Zimbabwe, USA, South Africa, Turkey. Edited by Freemuse director Marie Korpe, published by Zed Books, May 2004. |
| 25 May 2004 |
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| Marcel Khalife - the blasphemy trials |
| The story of Marcel Khalife - accused of blasphemy in 1999 for ‘insulting religious values by using a verse from the chapter of the Holy Qur’an in a song’ |
| 01 January 2001 |
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