What's On Magazine Sample

Ramadan Kareem

The month of Ramadan carries a special meaning for every Muslim; it is a month of spiritual healing, in which people try to rinse their souls from sins and wrong-doings through fasting and prayers.

The month of Ramadan is, also, a major social event that casts a unique and charming atmosphere on our daily lives and changes the way we usually spend our days in. work hours are shorter, the markets and souks are extra-ordinary busy, drivers are extra-ordinary nervous and the words: Iftar and Suhoor are on everybody’s tongue.

As expected, during the month of Ramadan almost all cultural activities come to a stop: galleries are closed, the Opera house has no programs and all the

cultural centers are suspending their activities during the holy month, that’s why you won’t find your usual calendar in this issue of ‘What’s On’.

Another unique feature of Ramadan during the last few years is the huge number of TV series produced throughout the Arab world and broadcasted on all Arabian satellite channels. Our ‘Film & TV’ section has a dedicated and detailed article that discusses all the new Syrian TV series for this Ramadan.

In Our interview section we have an exclusive and interesting interview with the mega-star Harrison Ford in which he gives us all the details about his new role together with Daniel Craig in the extra ordinary movie ‘Cowboys & Aliens’, one of the biggest films for the year 2011.

Our ‘Fashion’ section is as rich as always with a full coverage for the latest ‘Paris Fashion Week’, while our ‘Lifestyle’ section is blooming with a very useful article about the top women perfumes for this season. Another interesting lifestyle article is one that talks about where and how to buy makeup in Damascus with details and tips about brands, hazards and prices.

All the sections that you love: culture, Events, Literature, Society...etc. They are all here, and they cover all the important events in the country.

Remember that our upcoming issue will be released on September the 15th, and that we are always ready to receive your valuable feedback at: [email protected].

Enjoy.

Basel

September 2011 Issue No. 76

Published byUNItEd GRoUP under decree no:1597 by Syrian government on 3 APR 2005

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UG coUNtRy maGazINES maNaGERCarole Bechara

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maNaGING EdItoRBasel Aal [email protected]

EdItoRIal cooRdINatoRReem Zakhour

dESIGNart & Production managerRita ZaharSenior designerAlaa AbdullahProduction officerFeras Kaissy

PHotoGRaPHyPrinciple PhotographerQusai Al Jarrah

www.whatsonsyria.com

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Sales team Zeid Al Ajlani - Asaad Ebish

FINaNcEGihan Abbas Ahmad MashnoqAbdulqader Asmar

RESERVatIoNAyham Ibrahim

September 2011 Issue No 76 1

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12 In the memory of the late Mahmoud Jabr.14 Fuad Ghazi: The Painful Departure. 18 Flows of Creativity.

04 HARRISON FORD: IS COLONEL DOLARHYDE IN COWBOYS AND ALIENS

17 Arabs and Syrians in the USA: A Call for More than a Cultural Role.20 Identity and National Belonging.22 Caesarean Sections Double in Syria.24 Breaking Taboos: Young Women Working as waitresses defy the traditions of a Conservative Society.

44 Perfume Tips for Women48 Overcome the painful memories.50 Shopping for Makeup in Damascus.

58 A Book of Secrets: Daughters, Absent Fathers. 59 Paradise Lust.60 A First Rate Madness.61 The Lovers.

28 Graduation Ceremony of the AIU Arab International University.29 Celebrating the National Day of the Republic of Venezuela. 30 Cocktail Party to Support the Syrian Pound..32 “Ta3m El Laimon” Film Premiere.

35 Aleppo: The tender heart of Syria.38 Sergilla: Dead City with a Living History.43 BOSRA: The City of Treasures.

64 What’s On Movies. 68 Syrian Drama in Ramadan: : The Season is here.

52 Armani Prive: From Japan with love.53 Chanel: The magical touch of Mr. Lagerfeld.54 Dior: A sad festival of colors.55 Elie Saab: The beautiful dream.56 Stephane Rolland: Stroke of creativity.57 Jean Paul Gaultier: Black Swan.

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Heritage & Travel

Film & TV

Fashion

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Literature

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CONTENTS

Harrison Ford has always been entranced by Westerns. He grew up watching cowboy classics featuring the likes of Gene Autry and Roy Rogers and they made a long, lasting impression on a young man destined to become one of the best-loved actors of his generation.

He dipped into the genre early in his career, taking guest roles in TV series like The Virginian and Gunsmoke and back in 1979, starred alongside Gene Wilder in The Frisco Kid.

Ford would have welcomed the opportunity to do more. “In the time that I’ve been doing most of my work in the last 40 years Westerns haven’t figured heavily – they weren’t seen to be money making movies,” he says.

“But early on in my career I did a number of television shows like The Virginian and Gunsmoke and a bunch of those. And I always enjoyed them, and I was ambitious to do a full scale, full fledged Western some day.”

The Western is a classic American form, he says. “I like the simplicity of the storytelling and I like the visceral nature of the films. I like the kinds of characters and circumstances that you can deal with in a Western.”

So when director Jon Favreau (Iron Man) asked him if he’d be interested in starring in Cowboys and Aliens he was immediately intrigued and jumped on board to play Colonel Dolarhyde, the hard-bitten boss of a desert town called Absolution.

Dolarhyde is a ruthless, iron-fisted rancher used to getting what he wants by any means necessary – a granite hard archetypical Western villain hewn from the unforgiving landscape of the old West.

And Ford – an actor who has played some of the most iconic roles in contemporary cinema from Han Solo in Star Wars to Indiana Jones – relished the challenge of creating a character vastly different from any he’s played before.

“For me, this character was the opportunity to play something different to what I spent my whole career doing,” he says. “Playing a character that did not require to be loved or admired by the audience meant I had a different utility in this film.

“Jon talks about the quality of redemption, which is part of every Western and this is a character who does find a degree of redemption in the quest to regain the victims of these aliens.

“And he does become a kinder, gentler man but he starts out as a very rough guy and I think it would have been a mistake to try and curry favour with the audience, to try and make him more sympathetic, to try and make him more acceptable.

“That’s an obligation that you often find that you take on when you are the leading man because you have to bring the whole audience to the picture. I didn’t feel that requirement (with Cowboys and Aliens) and

so it gave me a bit of freedom to indulge in the mendacity of this character.

“And you know, it was a lot of fun and I loved working with all of these people. It was a terrific, positive experience.”

Playing against the audience’s expectations was a liberating experience, he says. “He is certainly a character that I hadn’t played before. He’s unabashedly a product of his environment and he doesn’t explain or make amends, or apologies, for the bastard that he is and that’s his utility to the movie.

“But that kind of role can almost be too liberating and you have to guard yourself against doing party tricks because the danger is that you’ll begin to embroider on the theme and spin off up your own butt. The more you can master the fun of it and turn it to the good of the film overall the better.”

Cowboys and Aliens is a straight down the line action thriller. It honours the traditions of the Western, says Ford, and then adds a spectacular twist – an alien invasion.

Ford stars alongside Daniel Craig who plays The Stranger – another quintessential Western character – who arrives in Absolution and can’t remember where he came from, his own name and why he is wearing a metal shackle on his wrist.

He discovers that Absolution – and in particular Dolarhyde – don’t welcome strangers and is promptly locked up. And then all hell breaks loose as blinding lights in the sky herald the arrival of an enemy determined to wipe out all the inhabitants of Absolution, no matter who they are, friend or foe.

Dolarhyde and The Stranger – along with the Apache warriors, the outlaws and every other human – have to unite against a common enemy to try and survive. As The Stranger slowly begins to remember who he is and where he’s been, he realises that he holds a secret that could give the town a fighting chance against the overwhelming alien force.

Blending two very distinct genres into one film – Sci-Fi and Western – required a bold vision and a firm grip on the tone of the picture, says Ford. And Favreau did a brilliant job.

“With a film like this, tone is very important and it’s in the hands of the director. As an actor you bring your own understanding and consciousness to it, but the director has to get the tone right overall through a variety of different kinds of actors with different ambitions.

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4 September 2011 Issue No 76 5magazine

HARRISON FORDInterview

“But the starting place in this film is the Western and then aliens come and shit happens and if it suddenly became a different kind of movie I think that would have been a big mistake.

“The human experience here is in the Western context, and then even after the aliens have come and shown what good fun they can bring to the party, it still has to be a Western.”

Filmed on location in the rugged terrain of New Mexico, Ford thoroughly enjoyed working alongside a stellar cast that includes Olivia Wilde as Ella, a traveller who has holed up in town, Sam Rockwell, Keith Carradine and Paul Dano and of course, Daniel Craig.

“Daniel was great and he’s a very accomplished actor,” he says. “I’m not a great film buff but I knew his work and he’s wonderfully capable. And he’s knowledgeable without being pedantic about it. He knows the nature of film acting very well. He’s generous and collaborative and I had an enormously good time working with him.”

He also embraced the experience of filming on a beautiful, and at times inhospitable, frontier landscape. “Oh I loved it,” he says. “I like a good outdoor job, it’s much more fun than being indoors or on a soundstage riding a directors chair. And with this one we were outside most of the time and the weather was what it was and that’s what you get from a Western, that’s part of it.”

Ford is an expert horseman and first learned to ride as a youngster growing up in Wisconsin. “On family vacations we would go out to various places and horseback riding was something that kids did in those days,” he recalls.

“And at a certain point I bought a property in Jackson, Wyoming and started using horses as a tool to get around. It had

of the frontier. And so you see that in the Anamorphic lenses, and the landscape becomes a character in the film.”

He was, then, delighted with the experience and the opportunity to finally get to be part of a full-fledged Western. “But Jon (Favreau) pointed out to me the other day that a lot of the characters that I’ve played have been informed by Western archetypes – Han Solo is a gunslinger, Indiana Jones has a degree of the Western in it, so, in a way, it’s what I grew up doing.”

Ford has enjoyed a remarkable career. His incredible film CV includes American Graffiti, The Conversation and Star Wars: Episode IV – A New Hope, through to Raiders of the Lost Arc, Blade Runner, Witness, The Mosquito Coast, Presumed Innocent, Patriot Games, The Fugitive, What Lies Beneath, Hollywood Homicide, Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull and Morning Glory.

Mr. Ford was kind enough to give us this exclusive interview…

been a working ranch although we never kept cattle but the land was accessible more easily on horseback.

“So I’ve kept horses for 25 years and riding them has given me an enormous amount of pleasure, it still does. For this I went and rode four or five horses and found one where I thought we would come to understand each other.

“And he had a comfortable gait and was responsive and big, strong. He was a good partner.”

Ford lobbied against the film being shot in 3D – a trend that has taken hold with many of the summer blockbusters. A Western, he felt, wouldn’t benefit at all from the technology and would take the audience out of the story.

“When we started there was a discussion about doing this in 3D and I argued strenuously against it,” he explains. “It was for the same reason that Jon finally decided and argued against it – you want that physical context in a Western.

“One is at the mercy of the elements in the Western world, in that historic period. I think we have to see those stories in place and know that this is a place where you live by your wits, this is a place where nature can overwhelm you, this is a place where you haven’t any resources other than the ones you bring with you, your wit and whatever you can pack on your horse.

“And that’s the tone and the reality

Interview

6 magazine September 2011 Issue No 76 7

HARRISON FORD

- Are you a fan of Westerns?Well I grew up watching Saturday matinees

with Gene Autry and Roy Rogers so I was always intrigued by cowboys. And I never really got the chance to play one. The only Western I did before this was The Frisco Kid and that was about 30 years ago. But I always had ambitions to do a Western but they weren’t being made during the period of time that I’ve been making movie. So I was very excited to get the opportunity to play this. But Jon (Favreau) pointed out to me the other day that a lot of the characters that I’ve played have been informed by Western archetypes – Han Solo is a gunslinger, Indiana Jones has a degree of the Western in it, so, in a way, it’s what I grew up doing.- You play a very tough, mean character in Cowboys and Aliens and we’re used to seeing you in more heroic roles. Was that part of the attraction?

For me, this character was the opportunity to play something different to what I spent my whole career doing. Playing a character that did not require to be loved or admired by the audience meant I had a different utility in this film. Jon talks about the quality of redemption, which is part of every Western and this is a character that does find a degree of redemption in the quest to regain the victims of these aliens. And he does become a kinder, gentler man but he starts out as a very rough guy and I think it would have been a mistake to try and curry favour with the audience, to try and make him more sympathetic, to try and make him more acceptable. That’s an obligation you that you often find that you take on when you are the leading man because you have to bring the whole audience to the picture. I didn’t feel that requirement (with Cowboys and Aliens) and so it gave me a bit of freedom to indulge in the mendacity of this character. And you know, it was a lot of fun and I loved working with all of these people. It was a terrific, positive experience.- How was working with Jon Favreau?

Jon was wonderfully generous in collaboration, which was interesting to me from the very beginning. I came on early enough so that there were still problems to address, things that were of concern with the character and the film overall and he’s wonderfully collaborative. But I should mention, I’ve always had a fear of working with acting directors (laughs). And I have seen his work as an actor – and he’s a very skilled actor – in some of his earlier, funnier films. But the fear is that an acting director will look at it from an acting point of view and tell you how to act, which is never a good thing. What you want is to come to an agreement, an ambition, in each scene. And if the ambition is clear enough, an adequate actor will recognise the human experience and be able to bring it to the game. And I found Jon very attentive and a sensitive director. And I really appreciated the opportunity of working with him.

- You said earlier that it was an enjoyable film to do. What are the components that make it enjoyable? What sort of has to be in place to make it a good experience?

Clear ambitions, good story, companionable workers, good weather, good horse and all of those were in place. So it was a pretty nice job. And you never know what degree of satisfaction you’re going to be able to obtain. You go from talking about it endlessly to doing it in the short period of time, and you never really know how well it’s going to go. I thought it went pretty well. Jon turned out to be a very good manager of traffic and time, and turned out to have the patience and the intelligence to try and get the best out of every scene, and I think he’s doing good work in the editing room. And I think each film has it’s own destiny, it’s own audience, but I’m hopeful that this one will do well. - How important was it that the tone was right on this one?

With a film like this tone is very important and it’s in the hands of the director. As an actor you bring your own understanding and consciousness to it, but the director has to get the tone right overall through a variety of different kinds of actors with different ambitions/ But the starting place in this film is the Western and then aliens come and shit happens and if it suddenly became a different kind of movie I think that would have been a big mistake. The human experience here is in the Western context, and then even after the aliens have come and shown what good fun they can bring to the party, it still has to be a Western.- You said that you’re playing a different kind of character here. Is that quite liberating?

He is certainly a character that I hadn’t played before. He’s unabashedly a product of his environment and he doesn’t explain or make amends, or apologies, for the bastard that he is and that’s his utility to the movie. But that kind of role can almost be too liberating and you have to guard yourself against doing party tricks because the danger is that you’ll begin to embroider on the theme and spin off up your own butt. The more you can master the fun of it and turn it to the good of the film overall the better.- You were out in rugged country, riding horses. Did you enjoy the physical aspect of the role?

Oh I loved it. I like a good outdoor job, it’s much more fun than being indoors or on a soundstage riding a directors chair. And with this one we were outside most of the time and the weather was what it was and that’s what you get from a Western, that’s part of it. When we started there was a discussion about doing this in 3D and I argued strenuously against it. - Why?

It was for the same reason that Jon finally decided and argued against it – you want that physical context in a Western. One is at the mercy of the elements in the Western world, in that historic period. I think we have to see

those stories in place and know that this is a place where you live by your wits, this is a place where nature can overwhelm you, this is a place where you haven’t any resources other than the ones you bring with you, your wit and whatever you can pack on your horse. And that’s the tone and the reality of the frontier. And so you see that in the Anamorphic lenses and the landscape becomes a character in the film.- And to use 3D would take you out of that world?

Yes, it squeezes you into a box. And also, one of the restraints of the technology is that you end up having to stage physical action for the camera. And you end up creating moments where you are pumping it into the foreground and it’s bullshit and artificial.- Was horse riding a skill you learned as a young actor?

No, it’s something that I learned away from the job. It was a part of growing up. On family vacations we would go out to various places and horseback riding was something that kids did in those days. And at a certain point I bought a property in Jackson, Wyoming and started using horses as a tool to get around. It had been a working ranch but we never kept cattle but the land was accessible more easily on horseback. So I’ve kept horses for 25 years and riding them has given me an enormous amount of pleasure, it still does.- Did you choose your own horse for Cowboys and Aliens?

Well, for this I went and rode four or five horses and found one where I thought we would come to understand each other. And he had a comfortable gait and was responsive and big, strong. He was a good partner.- Tell me about working with Daniel Craig. How was that?

Daniel was great and he’s a very accomplished actor. I’m not a great film buff but I knew his work and he’s wonderfully capable. And he’s knowledgeable without being pedantic about it. He knows the nature of film acting very well. He’s generous and collaborative and I had an enormously good time working with him. - You mentioned that you’d only done one Western, The Frisco Kid, before this. But early in your career you did TV shows in the genre…

In the time that I’ve been doing most of my work in the last 40 years Westerns haven’t figured heavily – they weren’t seen to be money-making movies. But early on in my career I did a number of television shows like The Virginian and Gunsmoke and a bunch of those. And I always enjoyed them, and I was ambitious to do a full scale, full fledged Western some day.- What do you like about the Western?

I like the simplicity of the storytelling and I like the visceral nature of the films. I like the kinds of characters and circumstances that you can deal with in a Western. But as I say, they have not been a moneymaking proposition under most circumstances in the last 30 years.

- It’s a classic American form….It is because it attends to this vibrant

period in American history. And America is a country that has always been very sort of coy about it’s history, very complicated in terms of its ethical posture. And as much as the Western is a story of man’s confrontation of Frontier and the opportunities of the Frontier, it’s also a very complicated story about pushing the Indians off the land. And it’s the notion of “Manifest Destiny” that God meant America to exist from sea to shining

sea. So there was this assumed moral authority in expansion. It came directly from God, so it was unquestionable.

- And does Cowboys and Aliens honour that form?

This movie doesn’t directly deal with those complicated elements but the elemental nature of life there is a big part of the story. These people have no context of understanding the aliens. There was no such word as ‘alien’ then, it didn’t even mean people that had crossed the border illegally and they had no sense of space travel or rockets or any of those things. It never occurred to them, so the only context they had for this event that took place in their little town was the context the preacher gave them, that they were possibly demons. It was an event that could only be understood in terms of biblical proportions. So that’s a pretty natural, dramatic context. - Both Steven Spielberg and Ron Howard are involved in the project as executive producers. Was that a factor when you decided to take the role?

In every case it’s just, ‘what is the job?’ Is it something I respond to emotionally? Do I like the people involved? I certainly like Ron and Steven, but I didn’t work with them, I worked with Alex and Bob Orci and Jon. And was it a film that I thought would be, having made good use of the money it would take to make it? I don’t like to see people piss away good money. Things cost a lot of money these days to make and you want to invest your energy and their money in something you think will earn it back. It’s no compliment to your choices if the movies you make over a period of time don’t make any money. So I always want a film to be successful, I want to find an audience because it’s no fun to do all this work and then find out that people don’t really care pretty much about what you have done.

- The technology used in filmmaking has developed radically in recent years. But is the job of an actor still essentially the same as it was when you started your career?

I think it is. Our job is to bring a human story to an emotional expression. And regardless of the genre or the taste of the audience, I still think the language of film is emotion and I have to have an emotional relationship to the events in the character that I play. With my character in Cowboys and Aliens there’s a development of the character – but it’s not exactly what you think it would be and that was one of the interesting things about it for me.- Do you expect your directors to be good collaborators?

It’s just not as much fun for me if they’re not. It’s fun when you participate. It’s not so much fun when it’s, ‘stand here, say it this way, then move over there and say it that way..’ I think whatever fun you have in the process, the pleasure that you take in your work gives you a

reservoir of renewed interest in your work and ability to communicate about your work, so

fun is part of the process. And working with people is a pleasure. Working

against people is not so much fun. - Do you have anything lined up

next?No, I have a couple of things

in development, which aren’t ready yet, but I’m quite happy to wait.

Interview


HARRISON FORD

Words by: Murhaf Zino

2 weeks ago, the third annual memorial of the Syrian artist Mahmoud Jabr passed. It was an occasion to remember this featured artist who spent more than 40 years of

his life contributing to the Syrian artistic movement through its different fields: theatre, cinema, TV and radio. His experience made him one of the best Syrian comedians especially in the Syrian theatrical movement since its birth till the 1980s.

He was born in “Shahba” , a small city near “Sweida “, southern of Syria, in the year 1935. In his early childhood he moved with his family to live in Damascus. The family settled in “Al-Medan”- the famous quarter in the old city of Damascus where he joined its secondary school -al-Kwakeby- but he could not continue his study because he could not pass the exam for many times. He was not lazy but he was fond of theatre, and it was clear that he selected his way in life since that early age, it was not strange that the school where he failed to be a successful student in, witnessed the first birth of his talent as “a man of theatre” who established a small theatrical band of amateurs, before he left the school as a loser student.

He, and his young band, started to present their “comedy shows” at schools and institutes under the patronage and direction of the late Syrian artist and teacher Safouh Kassab Hasen. During that period, the late Muhmoud Jabr used to write short plays which consist of a single act and present them during the different occasions and celebrations. He did not forget his study or leave it completely; on the contrary he completed his study secretly at a private school.

The year 1958 is considered the real turning point in his life when he presented his first play as a writer, actor and director at the same time. this play “suffering, marriage and me” was an announcement of the birth of a new trend of the “public critical theatre” in Syria, and was enough for the ministry of culture to select the late artist to join its ranks as a theatrical expert, side by side with the famous pioneers in the Syrian theatrical movement as: Abdu’llateef Fathi, Waleed Mardeni, Omer Hajjou and others who together presented a series of plays inspired from the world literature like ‘the noble Bourgeois’, ‘the price of freedom’, ‘the champions of our country’, ‘getting out of paradise’, ‘under the ash’ and other important plays.

Since the beginning of 1960s, he established and worked completely in the “Military theatre” and was faithful to this experience until the last days of his life. Through the military theatre he could express himself completely as a critical comedian among the great Syrian comedians at that time. He presented a large number of works on the stage as: a boy at our home, the soft hands, 1+1=3, why did this happen with us?, Het bel Kherg –put in the sac- and many other plays which made him the number one theatre star in Syria during the 1970ths and 1980ths.

The most distinguished feature of his theatre was his public style. He got out of the classical roles of theatre as the formal language and the static world texts and changed it into public and local language and texts; by Doing so, he could present many works that were closed to society and local problems of ordinary people, not only when he dealt with social problems but even when he dealt with contemporary political affairs. He based on the” comedy of situation” not on what is called-fun for fun

His love for theatre did not prevent him from being a featured actor in the cinema and television. He witnessed the first birth of the cinema movement in Syria and participated in more than 15 films during the 1960th and 1970th, especially with the famous Syrian actors Duraid Lahham and Nihad Qali and others. He was featured in most of his roles in spite of that, his participation was not as the first star. He accepted to be a star of the “second glass” as we see in his roles in the films: “A barber for ladies, a love punk, and a beauty and four eyes...

He also participated in many TV series. He witnessed the birth of the Syrian TV at the beginning of 1960th and was one of its pioneers who established the first bases of Syrian drama through several works as husbands and wives, the postman and family stories. He fell sick during the last few years of his life which prevented him from completing many artistic projects and works.

culture


In the memory of the late Mahmoud Jabr

The Painful DepartureThe researcher in the history of the Syrian song will not

be able to neglect the special talent and the fingerprints of the late Syrian singer Fuad Ghazi who passed away last week after a short life, if any researcher wants to present a complete image of the history of the Syrian song, especially during the 1970s and 1980s of the last century when the late singer was a featured mark in the world of the Syrian song because of the special kind of songs which he presented, and also due to his exceptional talent and the abilities of his voice which made him capable to perform and sing the most kind of songs and poetry which were inspired by a very specific and private environment.

He was born in the year 1955 in Faqro, a small village located among the mountains of Al-ghab province in Syria, he spent his childhood in his village as the most of children in the Syrian countryside where the simplicity and purity of life, the beauty of nature, and the public and local artistic heritage, especially that heritage of the local Syrian song of the Syrian countryside and that related with the native and public poetry which was labial and said to be sang during the evenings and celebrations of the villages, not to be written or published at all.

The environment of his village affected his personality a great deal since his early childhood to the degree that people used to call him as: Fuad Faqro instead of Ghazi, his real second name, until the early years of his youth when he became a famous singer in Syrian TV and radio station. Being the grandson of the figure Syrian public poet Assad Faqro, the child Fuad his chance to

listen carefully to the best masterpieces of the most difficult kind of Syria local public poetry and songs which is called in the public accent as: Ataba, and to recite a large number of this kind of verse, and moreover to practice his talent of singing during the different occasions and celebrations which were held in his own village and in the surrounding villages where he could sustain a reasonable fame and became well known as: the singer of the village, and the king of Ataba.

Ataba is a kind of public verse and song. It is very close to stanza or the in English. Each piece of these songs is consisting of four lines: the first three lines must end with the same word, the same syllables, and the same spelling, but at the same time they must be different in meaning. So, this kind of public poetry needs a special talent and skill, and a high knowledge of the local language and environment from the poet to be capable to attract the attention of the audience and to be satisfied by the listeners.

A talented poet is not enough to this kind of songs. It needs also a professional singer who has a featured voice with special abilities: pure, clear, charming and loud voice are the most important aspects of the voice of the singer of this kind of songs, and these were the aspects of Fuad’s voice or what is called Algabali voice which is inspired from the word: mountain to refer to the environment of the countryside.

The themes of this kind of poetry and songs are inspired by the heritage of the countryside and the life of the village and villagers. So it was normal for the songs of Fuad to be a mirror of this life and the emotions of those people. All of his songs were full of a mixture of sadness and happiness, love and pain, waiting and dreams. His songs were an expression of the emotions of the common people, so the most featured aspects of these songs were simplicity and clarity in addition to the strong attendance of nature with its beauty and harshness at the same time.

Ataba was not the only kind of song which the late artist presented. He was also one of the pioneers of the public song in Syria, especially during the 1970ths and 1980ths. He sang a large number of songs which were written by some featured public poets as Easa Ayoub and Hoseen Hamza. He, with other featured Syrian singers, could establish a special school in the history of the Syrian song, and a rich resource for the contemporary public singers to inspire from and develop this deep rooted artistic heritage in Syria and other Arab countries like: Lebanon, Iraq and Palestine.

culture


Fuad Ghazi

Arabs and Syrians in the USAA Call for More than a Cultural Role

Arabic cultural, civil and human rights organizations in the U.S. have been discussing the repercussions of Helen Tomas’s case since the beginning of 2011.

Helen Tomas is a well known Arab-American author and a former member of the White House Press Corps, who was forced to retire from her position at the White House and stripped of many previous awards after she clearly expressed her opinion questioning the existence of Israel and defending the Palestinian’s right of self-determination; she was punished for exercising her freedom of speech which is a right for all US citizens based on the first amendment of the US constitution. Helen Tomas is becoming a symbol for the growing Arab-American civil rights movement in the US.

When it comes to life and freedom, civil rights are essential for protecting people’s rights, traditions, customs and dignity. Arabs and especially Syrians in the USA have contributed to American heritage for more than 100 years. What is their role and structure inside the American society? What challenges are they facing? What future contribution can they add to the formation of US policy concerning Arab-American citizens of the United States?

For a new immigrant it is a challenge to establish a new life in a new society. It requires the immigrant to live in harmony with the new society; a harmony that protects the person’s traditions and beliefs on the one hand and prevents clashes of contradicting ideas and assures an adherence to the new country’s laws on the other.

The United States is a country of immigrants; American lifestyle is an interesting

mix of all nations’ habits and customs; a style that praises individuality and personal freedom, a matter that has its both advantages and disadvantages. In a sense, the American people have established a way of living, different from that in Europe, the Middle East, Asia, or Africa.

When we talk about people’s influence on a nation’s history, heritage, inventions, social and political levels, Syrians are a wonderful example of how Arabs have lived


Arabs and Syrians in the USA

and contributed to life in the US without forgetting their cultural identity.

The first wave of Syrian immigrants arrived in the US in 1880. The new immigrants settled in New York, Boston and Detroit and later, in places like Houston, Southern California and Arizona. Arab and Syrian immigration to the US suffered long hiatus after the US Congress passed the Immigration Act of 1924 that restricted their immigration. Forty years later the Act was abolished and it is estimated that thousands of Syrians arrived in the US between 1961 and 2000. This is considered the second wave of Syrian immigration to the USA.

The first Syrian immigrants to arrive in the US left their countries during the Ottoman rule. They came from small villages around Mount Lebanon; by the 1920s they started to refer to themselves as Lebanese. Syrians and Arabs in general who came to the US were either sponsored by relatives living in the US, or were skilled professionals, refugees or students who wanted to study at US universities. According to the US 2000 Census, “there are 142,897 Americans of Syrian ancestry living in the US. New York City has the biggest concentration of Syrian- Americans in the United States.”

In 1907, twelve Arab women from New York City formed an organization called the Syrian ladies Aid Society. It provided financial, medical and moral aid to Syrian women and girls there. A similar society was formed in Boston in 1917, though it was originally created to help people from Greater Syria who had suffered through WWI.

Syrian- Americans envisioned education as an essential part of their life. According to the same 2000 Census, Syrian and other Arab Americans are more highly educated than the average American. Nowadays, huge portion of the Syrian population work as engineers, scientist, and medical doctors.

It is profoundly important to note that many significant Syrian- American figures had and still have a great role to play in both the US and the world’s history. Mustapha Akkad (1930-2005) was a Syrian-American film director and producer originally from Aleppo, Syria; Betty Kaytes (1922-2005) was a well known painter, who lived in New Jersey. She is originally from Hama, Syria. She studied oil painting, design, portraiture and landscape and taught for 35 years at the Ridgewood Art Institute. Betty Kaytes was considered to be one of the foremost traditional painters of florals and she won many prestigious prizes.

Steve Jobs (born 24 February 1955), the co-founder and CEO of Apple, the largest Disney shareholder, and a member of Disney’s Board of Directors is of Syrian descent, as are many who have occupied important political roles in the US government.

The Syrian- American club in Washington D.C, which was founded in 1991, is an example of recent efforts by Syrian-Americans living in the Washington D.C area to establish a foundation to preserve their identity.

In an interview with Dr. Gaith Kallas, chairman of the Syrian American Club in Washington D.C, Dr. Kallas stated that the main purpose of the club is to reunite Syrians, strengthen relations among Syrian families, help new immigrants and create a modern Arab cultural environment where Syrians can still protect their identity on the one hand and interact positively with American society on the other.

According to Dr. Kallas, the Club has realized the importance of the Syrian-American youths of the second generation in building a better Syrian-American community inside the US. He said: “we sensed that the Syrian- American youths have an enthusiastic spirit to learn more about their language and Arab heritage, therefore, the club is in the process of establishing a youth branch.”

Social and cultural events are tools, through which the Syrian American Club in DC is trying to deploy its objectives. Recently the club hosted a concert for Malek Jandali, a Syrian musician during his tour in the US. In addition, when the Damascene Farah Choir visited the US to represent Syria at an international festival for Arabic culture at the Kennedy Center in Washington DC, the Syrian American club played a great role in promoting the visit through spreading the word about their presence among the Syrian and the Arab community in the US and offering them a warm welcome.

With all these spectacular contributions by the Syrian-American people in the US throughout history, what is to be expected from them in the long run when it comes to critical issues affecting their identities, culture and their meaningful presence?

Based on the recent political, economic and social events affecting the Arab world, establishing cultural centers and promoting social events that are exclusively for Arabs in the US are not enough. However, reaching the US Media, universities and educational institutions is a step toward introducing the US mainstream to a comprehensive idea about Arabs and Syrians’ true identity, history and positive role.

On of the few examples of Arab- American organizations that are open to the American society is the Arab American Anti Discrimination Committee (ADC). “ADC is a civil right organization, the goal of which is to combat defamation and negative stereotyping of Arab-Americans in the media and wherever else it is practiced. In doing so, it acts as an organized framework through which Arab-Americans can channel their efforts toward unified, collective and effective advocacy; by promoting a more balanced U.S. Middle East policy and serving as a reliable source for the news media and educators.” This type of organizations should be promoted and encouraged.

It is obvious that some Arab immigrants, not only inside the US but in many parts of the world have the travelers’ mentality. This can be attributed to many historical, political, humanitarian and economic contexts that played a great role in creating this state of mind.

According to an article by Khalid Al Horoub published on Dar Al Hayat website, Mr.

Horoub argued that generally some Arab people who are living abroad, tend to be reluctant in admitting their decision about living in the new country and not returning to their original homeland; even after establishing a whole new life, family and career in the new country, it is hard for an Arab to face an inner question about his real intent for a permanent life in the new place. This denial is always associated with a constant expectation of a future return.

Despite the positive presence of Syrians and Arabs in the US throughout history till the present time, this kind of mentality has led the Arab communities in the US to a marginalized role within the larger American society, a role that is limited to social and cultural events.

To have the traveler mentality, you do not feel any responsibilities toward the society where you live; in addition, any alleged responsibilities toward your original homeland will be diminished over time.

Politics have a great role in creating public opinion; however, civil, cultural and human rights organizations also exercise great influence in shaping people’s points of view.

Therefore, the Syrian and Arab population, especially the second generation, educated and lived in the US has a vital role, a role addressing other Americans; a role that assures their participating in the different aspects of political and social life, in a sense that makes them effective and credible when calling for Arab rights.

The Syrian American community in the United States is the friendliest community you will ever encounter. However, it is not enough to be friendly, educated and financially prosperous. What matters is making use of your education and financial abilities to be an active member in American society and your society in the homeland, Syria.

It is challenging, interesting and unique to have the ability to belong to two different places, especially when one of them is our cherished Syria; what is more important, however, is to have history recall one day that this challenging and unique experience contributed in building a just and better future.

Steve Jobs (born 24 February 1955), the co-founder and CEO of Apple, the largest Dis-ney shareholder, and a member of Disney’s Board of Directors is of Syrian descent

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Arabs and Syrians in the USA

Identity is a term used in social sciences to express a people’s understanding of their individualism or group affiliation, such as national or cultural identity. Psychologists use this term in order to describe a personal identity, while anthropologists study identity in terms of ethnicity and social movements.

In psychology, the relation between the individualized perception of identity, known as ‘ego identity’, and the collection of social roles that a person might play, known as ‘social identity’, leads to a gradual emergence of an ego identity together with the integration with a society and culture, will lead to a stronger sense of identity in general. This process will enable the people to develop and negotiate with the society, meaning of their identity. Moreover, such a relation between the personal and the social perceptions of identity, combined with other common elements in people’s

daily lives, will create an understanding of a national identity, which is defined as a sense of belonging to a country or to a nation. Several factors contribute to shaping the national identity: language, history, national consciousness, blood ties, music, culture, cuisine and many other emotional and realistic factors that bind people to each other.

Traditions are crucial element of nation’s characteristics and an important component in creating a unified identity of that nation. According to some researchers, traditions can be classified into two paradigms. The first one is pure tradition, rooted in the past and preserved in time; the second one is invented tradition, which can serve political or other purposes, like unification.

Therefore, national identity can provide a link between the past and the future, serving

as a tie between the collective memory of the national foundation and the future aspiration that motivates the building process of the nation, its development and survival.

Identity is a very important factor in the people’s self-identification and their interaction with the surrounding world. Thus, adolescence, as a preparation step for adulthood, plays a great role in developing identity. In order to shape their identity, adolescents start to question and think about values, roles, ideologies, religion, economic and political status, with which they are confronted every day. This explains why identity is a personal concept is hard to be efficiently defined. Family and school are the first institutions that play a role in shaping the person’s national identity because they are responsible for providing a rich source of national ideals, attitudes, values and emotions.

In a country where there are different micro-ethnic identities, the concept of citizenship has a great effect on creating one national identity. The concept of citizenship implies that citizens are individuals, whose characteristics revolve around certain cultures and histories. Citizenship, however, is not an identity that is separate from other individual identities of the citizens, a matter that can be called “multicultural citizenship.”

Therefore, new legal and political subjects can be created and a unified citizenship, but it does not abolish the identity of the constituent groups. At the same time, a unified national identity does not contradict a harmonious plurality, where each part can be at the same time part of the whole. Such a plurality can have various understandings of what a unified citizenship means, but at the end there is an agreement on the importance of a sustainable dialogue, in which different viewpoints can qualify each other, overlap, synthesize and to be modified in the light of the necessity to coexist; they can hybridize, permit new adjustments to be made, and new conversations to take place. This dialogue leads to a dynamic citizenship and a productive national identity.

In this multiculturalism, it does not make any sense to strengthen minorities and ethnic identities, at the expense of the national identity. On the contrary, those diverse identities do not necessarily play a decisive role; instead, within an active national narrative, those identities can express their belonging to a unified national identity in healthy and constructive ways. Individual, minority and ethnic identities can have an emotional narrative, capable to attract individuals. Therefore, a national narrative should be just as attractive to the same individuals.

Societies that have no unified harmonized national identities are fractured and torn with conflicts. However, even people who do not share the same race, religion, customs or values, might share parts of all these elements in different percentages and degrees, playing a great role in giving the concepts of solidarity, responsibility and belonging a broader and deeper meaning.

National identity is an intangible influential tool that attaches people to the place and time; it is a feeling that connects people to the land. It is not a choice but a destined relation driving everyone to place that national identity above all other identities.

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Identity and National Belonging

Caesarean sections are considered a beneficial and easier solution for the

doctor, and are increasingly accepted by pregnant women, who remain unaware of the possible consequences.

Ignoring the possible negative consequences, many pregnant women have accepted caesarean sections as the method of choice for giving birth. This belief is based on uncertainty, fear and the desire to avoid the pain associated with vaginal delivery.

On the other hand, many doctors, under various pretexts, are increasingly giving advice or rather imposing such surgical method on their patients in order to ensure higher wages as well as more comfortable timetables; in contrast with vaginal delivery, which does not follow a definite schedule, a caesarean delivery is arranged at a specific time defined by the doctor.

A way to avoid pain “I asked doctor to carry out caesarean

section for my first delivery as an escape from labor pains which last for hours or

even days. It is said that caesarean delivery is more secure, easier, and has less pain in comparison with natural method of birth,” said Zeinb, who had her first female baby

born through caesarean section. “I trust the doctor who advised and encouraged me concerning caesarean section.”

“I am totally pleased at with my first delivery. Frankly, I do not know much about birth methods, it is said that natural method of birth is better than caesarean delivery. However, we were advised by the doctor supervising my wife to undergo a caesarean section due to a bleeding issue which may pose a risk to her,” said Mr. Raed Mohi al-Din, Zeinb’s husband.

Following her successful delivery, Mrs. Lina said “I wished I could have undergone surgical measure, because I had much fear of severe pain associated with vaginal delivery. Repeatedly, I requested a caesarean section but the doctor refused that recommending vaginal delivery as a better choice for the health of both the fetus and mother.” She added, “The natural method of birth remains safer and healthier for a woman, it creates intimate connection with her baby at the very first moments, as well as helping her to live and breastfeed her baby normally and in short time.”

Natural delivery remains a better choice

On the other hand, some women prefer vaginal deliveries. “Why do I need to undergo a surgery that will leave a scare? Why do I reject the grace of God, of natural birth. In my opinion, we should resort to caesarean sections only when absolutely necessary. I believe that vaginal delivery, with all the accompanying pain, remains better than Caesarean sections,» said Mrs. Rana Solomon, a mother of two children. «In addition to physical advantages, other advantages of vaginal delivery for the mother are manifested in reducing birth costs, considering the current cost of caesarean sections which costs up to 30 thousand Syrian Pounds and could be more, particularly if carried out at a private hospital,” she pointed out.

Caesarean section on demand Dr. Suzan Al Tabari, professor at

the Faculty of Medicine - University of Damascus in the obstetrics university hospital, explained the reasons behind the increasing instances of caesarean sections. “Recently, we are witnessing a rise in demand for caesarean sections. Unfortunately, that is happening upon women’s requests while most doctors welcome such operations considering their profitability and ease. Consequently, a woman, who has her first baby born through caesarean section, will undergo

caesarean surgeries for the most of her next deliveries, considering that the possibility of natural birth becomes less, which played a role in doubling caesarean deliveries.”

Absolute and relative indications Dr. DTF, a supervisor at a health center

in Rif Dimashq Governorate, defined cases where caesarean sections are a must, «There are absolute and relative indications for caesarean sections. In this regard, I will talk about cases where caesarean delivery

is absolute necessity such as small pelvis, cervical cancer, transverse presentation, a mismatch between the size of the fetus and the pelvis, lack of progress in the fetus’s development, abnormal presentation, hypertension in the mother, increased blood pressure or blood sugar.” He also clarified that, “even if none of the aforementioned reasons were present, the doctor may at his own discretion resort to such surgical methods, may concerns arise regarding vaginal delivery.”

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Caesarean Sections Double in Syria

Social expert: the negative perception is attributed

with the general disrespect for people working in catering and servicing jobs, besides the traditional perspective on working women in general.

A coffee shop waitress: I earn my living by myself, and this is what makes me comfortable with my life.

They don’t care about society’s perspective on their profession and the nature of their work in restaurants and cafes; they defied the typical idea that limits women’s role to clerk jobs or jobs that has no direct contact with opposite sex.

Driven either by financial reasons or by the “love of work” many young women started to accept working as waitresses in some cafes and restaurants in Damascus; not caring about traditions or about what the society does have to say about them.

I earn my living by myself ‘What’s On’ visited a cafe in Damascus;

whose owner preferred his caterers to be of the “Fair sex”, and came back with these interesting interviews.

Leen «24 years old» one of the waitresses in the cafe spoke about the reason for her choice of this profession: “from the very beginning the reason for my choice was to break the barrier of shyness and, also, my love for dealing with people. Through my daily contact with customers I managed to develop my communication skills with others”.

About the society and her family’s perspective Leen said: “as for my atmosphere; I have realized that the opposition and the negative view are limited to the older generation but new generations were not surprised, on contrary; at sometimes they were even encouraging me”.

“I am in love with someone who encourages me to continue my job, I also do not allow myself to take pocket money from him or from any other member of my family, I earn my living by myself and that is what makes me comfortable in my life, but of course all this will be different when I get married, I’d devote myself entirely to my husband and my children”.

Harassment depends on the caféOn the possibility of being subjected to

harassment or other kinds of discomforts Leen adds: “this issue varies depending on the level of the cafe or restaurant, and I did not had any trouble in the cafeteria where I currently work because its customers are mostly intellectuals, journalists, doctors, authors, dramatists and other well respected types, while in places where there are alcoholic beverages, the possibility of being subjected to harassment does increase, but ultimately it is up to the girl; she is the one who sets the boundaries when it comes to her relationship with customers”.

Regarding the dress code or the work costume and what is acceptable for her and what is not, Leen says: “I totally refuse tempting dresses or short skirts, I’m here to work not to show my femininity or my body, I also hope to be taken seriously just like any man who works in this field”.

Media offended waitressesFor Dana (who has long experience at

working in restaurants), she had a futuristic vision and she already have a plan laid regarding the course of her work and its progress, Dana want to develop herself and her skills so she can work in the most luxurious hotels in the city, and she knows that the key to achieve this is by improving her English language through continuous courses.

Dana, who started to work as a waitress some 6 years ago and moved between Syria and Lebanon) refuses to work in places that offer alcoholic beverages because she is “not willing to give up some certain things to satisfy customers.»

“Working in places that offer alcohols is different from working in other places, because in such places we are for sure exposed to lots of harassment, and I cannot be ok with the management excuse that the customers are drunk and difficult to deal with”.

On the media and its portrayal of waitresses in cafes and restaurants, Dana said: “media has abused us through some TV series or some recently published articles, most of us have a good reputation and high ethics that we stand for no matter what happens, ultimately such a work is not a taboo, it is a way of earning a living just like any other job and the media has to understand that, instead of enforcing the negative idea that our close-minded eastern society already have about us”.

MONEY is not the only motive“The main reason behind choosing this kind

of work is because I enjoy it a lot, regardless of the salary I get, I psychologically feel comfortable for my presence here, I believe in my abilities and I’m sure that I will be able to achieve a great success in this career”.

As for her future plans, Dana said: “I am working in developing myself in several fields, including dealing with customers and my English language, because I am looking forward to get a job in a 5 stars hotel, and I’m sure that I will achieve this dream”

As for marriage and how is it going to affect her career, Dana does have an interesting opinion: «The relationship between man and woman as a couple is a complementary relationship, and since I respect the man who is going to be my husband, and he respects me; I will inevitably persuade him to accept my work through showing him my love and devotion, and through convincing him that we are one family, and we must cooperate with each other to achieve our dreams”.

as for the way she is treated by customers and whether foreign customers treat her better than the local ones, Dana says that it is not all black and white: “In general I do not see a big difference between the treatment of

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Breaking Taboos

local and foreign customers, maybe because the cafe that I work in is mainly targeted by the educated class. However, I’m certain that this class does not reflect the attitude of all segments of our society, because the perception of our work -out of the café- is entirely different and we often notice the negative look towards us”.

Men are split Men are obviously split when it comes to

their view of women working as waitresses or caterers, some of them are supportive while others are totally against the idea.

Hani Bouqai (28 old merchant) emphasized that: “As for me, I do not see any reason that prevents females from working in such fields as long as it is within the limits, and as long as the main reason for the work which is securing livelihood, life is difficult and it I not easy to find work vacancies even for men”.

Anas (a media department graduate) declared that he is totally against the work of women not only in restaurants but in everywhere else: “The most appropriate place for a woman is her house with her family, our mothers stayed at home and dedicated their entire time to their children and families. female is a word that has been long associated with tenderness and Sympathy, and in my opinion those virtues disappear when women work and especially if the work is a waitress in a restaurant or café”.

He continues: “what we now see in some bars and restaurants is only a blind imitation of the West and I entirely place responsibility on the restaurant’s owners who exploit females to lure customers”.

Rejection is attributed to our religious and social heritage

As for the oriental society’s view of these girls in general, Osama Khalifa (a psychologist and a social expert) had a clear analysis which he was glad to share with us: “oriental society has cautious attitude against anything new, especially if it contradicts with our inherited customs and traditions. There is for instance the rejection of women’s entry into the world of arts and acting. This negative or conservative view towards women who work in a mixed environment or in a work that relies on physical effort goes back to a long religious and social heritage, It dates back to the ’Abbasid Period’ and the entry of non-Arab communities to the Arab society with their retarded traditions, this entry led Muslims with time to limit the role of women to their household chores, women were prevented from mixing with others on contrary with their situation at the beginning of Islam where they used to fight with men or attend for the wounded”.

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Breaking Taboos

Location: Khan Asaad Pacha Gallery Date: 10\ 7\2011 Event: Graduation Ceremony of the AIU Arab International University

Under the auspices of Dr. Riad Ismat, Minister of Culture and in cooperation with The Directorate-General of Antiquities and Museums, AIU Arab International University organized a graduate exhibition for students from the Faculty of Architecture at Khan Asaad Pacha Gallery. The exhibition was wonderful and attendance spent a great time.

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Location: Dedemam Hotel Damascus Date: 5\ 7\2011 Event: Celebrating the National Day of the Republic of Venezuela

The Embassy of the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela in Damascus held a reception at the Dedeman Hotel in Damascus. The reception was attended by a number of Arab and Foreign ambassadors and diplomats, businessmen and figures of Syrian society.


society society

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Location: Art House Hotel Date: 10\7\2011 Event: Cocktail Party to Support the Syrian Pound

General Union of Syrian Women, the National Assembly to develop the role of women and charity organizations organized a Cocktail Party at Art house Hotel to support the Syrian pound by buying Investment Certificates from the Popular Credit Bank of Syria and distribute the certificates to martyrs’ families.

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Cocktail Party to Support the Syrian Pound

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Location: Al Kinidi CinemaDummar Date: 13\7\2011 Event: “Ta3m El Laimon” Film Premiere

In the Presence of the Minister of Culture and Information Minister the film premiere “ta3m el laimon” was launched at Al Kinidi Cinema-Dummar, Produced by the General Organization for Cinema and directed by Nidal Segari , the show was attended by a large number of artists and figures of Syrian society.

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“Ta3m El Laimon” Film Premiere

The tender heart of Syria

Aleppo means the iron and copper according to the Amorite language, its weather is little hot during

the day light and cool at nights. Aleppo is the second biggest city in Syria. It is located in northern Syria on a hard calcareous basaltic rocks, the rocks that helped the artists and engineers to create and develop the long history of this magnificent city, they built citadels, markets, buildings, strips, and schools, all made out of the basaltic rocks.

It is located 360 km north of Damascus at the crossroads of several trade routes; Aleppo was very prosperous from the 3rd millennium BC, a prosperity it preserved throughout its evolution and its settlement. The old city was surrounded by a defensive enclosure, flanked by towers and fortified gates from the Islamic era in the meddle. Aleppo is famous for its mosques, Madrasas (the Fardos Madrassa is one of the outstanding religious buildings) and churches. It is still a very active Arab commercial city. Aleppo has a jumble of houses in the subtlest pastel colors with slender minarets and, dominating it all, the great mass of the citadel. The southern ramparts, partly cleared of houses, lead to the impressive of all the fortified gates, Bab Qinnesrin.

At the year 1987 the UNESCO has registered Aleppo as a national historical city due to the huge number of ruins and citadels. Aleppo, according to the UNESCO, is located at the crossroads of several trade routes since the 2nd millennium B.C., Aleppo was ruled successively by the Hittites, Assyrians, Acadians, Greeks, Romans, Umayyads, Ayubids, Mameluks and Ottomans who left their stamp on the city; The citadel, the 12th-century Great Mosque and various 16th and 17th-centuries Madrasas, residences, khans and public baths, all form part of the city’s cohesive, unique urban fabric.

In 1992, the Project for rehabilitation of old Aleppo was set up under the Municipality of Aleppo in cooperation with international agencies. In 1999, the Directorate of the Old City

was established under the Municipality of Aleppo to guide the rehabilitation of the old city with three departments covering studies and planning; permits and monitoring, and implementation and maintenance. A comprehensive plan for the evolution of the city is being prepared by the old city Directorate office. The city’s development is being considered under the <Programmers for Sustainable Urban Development in Syria’ (UDP), a joint undertaking project between international agencies, the Syrian Ministries of Local Administration and Environment, and several other Syrian partner institutions. The program promotes capacities for sustainable urban management and development at the national and municipal level, and includes further support to the rehabilitation of the Old City.


Aleppo the tender heart of Syria

The archeological sites of Aleppo in short are:• Cyrus of Hori the Prophet.• Aleppo Citadel, which has been built by Alexander the Great and it is considered as one of the largest castles in the world. • Great Umayyad Mosque.• Star castle.• Al-Didria cave.• Abbey Simon castle.• Temple of Ain Dara.

The doors of Aleppo: Bab Guensrin, Bab AL-neirab, Bab Antioch, the Baba al-Nasr (Door of victory), and the Bab Al-makam, and others. (Bab means Door, as in Bab toma in Damascus)Aleppo has two towers: the clock tower, and the clock of Bab Al Faraj.Khans of Aleppo: Khan of the customs, Wazir Khan, Venetians Khan, Harir (silk) Khan, Judge Khan and Soap Khan, Khayr Biek Khan, Al-Qassabeyn Khan, and others.

Ancient bridges on the Afrin RiverAragonese Bimaristan ,and AL Nouri bimaristan

The most amazing site among the abandon cities in the world is The Dead City of Serjilla, it is just too cool. It’s a series of abandoned stone buildings that once comprised an obviously bustling urban center. These days, you can see everything from in-tact buildings to crumbling ones. There are no paintings that I could see, but there were some carvings, intact arches, and two-level houses.

Where to go in Aleppo? Aleppo contains more than 12000 meters of

ancient markets, they count about 39 Souqes (markets) all of them are still crowded and offer the magnificent traditional goods and products. It has the features of the modern cities and the look of the ancient one. The prices are low and you can find anything you ask starting from needles ending with cars all made in Syria. So if you attend to visit ancient places and historical sites you can visit Aleppo, to see the following:

1 The Jami al Kabir entrance (Umayyad or Great Mosque) is opposite an old Koranic school, the al

Halawyah Madrassa, installed in the former Byzantine cathedral erected at the command of the Empress Helena. The Great Mosque was founded in the early Islamic period, but there is little to see that dates from that time. The Mameluke minaret dates from 1090 and is, with its fine proportions and Kufic inscriptions, a good example of the great period of Islamic architecture in Syria. The north facade is one side of the square.

2 St George’s Cathedral stands behind a labyrinth of narrow streets on a tiny square. The postern gate in the middle of

the ramparts (Bab Antakia) is the Antioch Gate. Beyond there are many important monuments, the little domed Byzantine church converted into a mosque; a prison with dungeons dug into the rock; a stretch of wall 4 meters thick, the base of a Syrio-Hittite temple; the remains of a great mosque built by Saladin’s son; a covered building containing sculpture and

objects from various periods found on the site; the tomb of Emir Zaher Ghazi (son of Saladin) in an annex to a madrasa founded during the Crusader period.

3 The 13th century royal palace, with its fine stalactite and honeycomb entrance porch, is inlaid with white

marble. The throne room, dating from the Mameluke period (15th-16th centuries) has been tastefully restored: Syrian artists and craftsmen have recreated the luxurious setting of the court, the ceiling with its decorated beams and caissons, lighting, windows, polychrome columns; all are a tribute to their skill. There are around 200 minarets, some squat like defensive towers, others slender as needles. On the other side stands a fine octagonal, part of the 15th century al Atroush mosque.

Aleppo is the city of the merchants, food, and heavenly sounds. So if you want to visit Aleppo the modern city; you should consider the traditional restaurants that offer traditional food and singers with Al-mawlaweah bands you will have great luxury time be careful you will eat too much and you might think you gain weight but don’t worry this experience deserve such gain.

Finally; the last thing I should mention about Aleppo is the great hospitality of its people and the pleasant accent they use. People of Aleppo use very difficult Syrian accent, worm and intimate one it makes you smile even if they talk English or any other foreign language you will notice their accent and can differ them from others in the world.

GPS coordinates of Aleppo:Decimal Minutes (GPS): N36 12.93725 E37 9.5565Decimal (WGS84): 36.215621, 37.159275Degrees Minutes Seconds: N 36° 12’ 56.235”, E 37° 9’ 33.39”.It is a border area and the main gate to Turkey the people of Aleppo is a mixed of Turkish, Armenian, Kurdish, and Arab all of them are living together in a solid and perfect unity.

heritage & travel


Aleppo the tender heart of Syria

Dead City with a Living History

Sergilla (or Serjilla) is located in Djebel Zawiyé, the southern section of the range of limestone hills along the right bank of the Orontes River in Syria. It lies next to al-Bara village on al-Zawia Mountain

in Idleb Province, about 330 km from Damascus.

Sergilla is one of ancient abandoned cities in northern Syria known as the dead cities. Dead Cities are byzantine settlements that were left by its inhabitants probably for economic reasons. They were living from the wine and olive oil production and the competition probably got to be too big. Nobody knows exactly why they left, but this is the most plausible reason. Sergilla is the most complete Dead City. It has the remains of a church, town hall, cafe, olive presses, and several 2-story villas.

In the early centuries AD the olive oil produced in the northern and central sections of the range was sold at Antioch, the largest and richest city of the region, whereas that produced in the southern section was most likely sold at Apamea, at the time a flourishing city.

Sergilla spreads out on two hills and its most interesting buildings are located in the valley between them; there is no clear evidence of the regular net of streets which characterizes ancient Roman and Greek towns. From the inscriptions found in the main buildings it seems that the village underwent an expansion in the Vth century, a period during which fears of Sassanid attacks or Bedouin raids must have been very low, because the village was not protected by walls or other fortifications.

Other dead towns of the limestone hills have become famous for their early Christian monuments, whereas Sergilla retains some public buildings which provide an interesting insight into everyday life in the rural areas of the Late Roman Empire.

Ancient towns had a central area (forum or agorà) which housed tribunals and markets and where people gathered to exchange views and learn the news of the day; at Sergilla there was a single building which served this purpose; it is called andron, a Greek term indicating the section of a house that was reserved for men.

Many people visit this area and in general Syria during the summer season and they may associate the country with very hot temperatures, but winters can be quite frigid with snow on the hills and this explains the presence of a building where people could gather inside.

An inscription found in the baths indicates that they were built in 473 at the expense of a rich couple who wanted to make a gift to their fellow-citizens; the main hall where people undressed was decorated with a (lost) mosaic; the baths did not have the structure of thermae, but they did have a small room for hot baths.

A very elegant house with mouldings similar to those found in the church of Qalb Lozeh is located near the top of the northern hill; it has a very «modern» appearance; the presence of many doors and windows indicates a design very different from the traditional Greek and Roman houses which were centred around an internal courtyard (a pattern which will be adopted by the Arabs in the following centuries).

In comparison with the public buildings and some private houses, the main church of Sergilla is a relatively modest building, probably of the IVth century; it is much ruined, but its apse is still easily identifiable; it is located near a complex of facilities for the production of olive

oil which is shown in the introductory page. The elaborate Chi Rho (christogram) which is used as background image for this page was photographed at the Museum of Maaret an-Nouman which houses finds of the region near Sergilla; it shows also the Alpha and Omega, another reference to Christ.

The term «dead town» is particularly true for Sergilla where many minor buildings are almost intact and are still roofed, an aspect which can be rarely observed in other villages.

Dead City with a Living History

heritage & travel


Sergilla

The City of TreasuresThis article celebrates the glorious and beautiful city of Bosra, this ancient city is included in

UNESCO’s World Heritage List for more than one reason, most notably is the fact that it is a site of extreme rarity unique aesthetic style and high religious value to several religions.

The HistoryBosra is an extremely ancient city mentioned

in the lists of Tutmose III and Akhenaten in the fourteenth century B.C. The first Nabatean city in the second century B.C., it bore the name Buhora, but during the Hellenistic period, it was known by the name of Bustra.

Later the Romans took an active interest in the city, and at the time of the Emperor Trajan it was made the capital of the Province of Arabia (in 106 B.C.) and was called Neatrajana Bustra. The city saw its greatest period of prosperity and expansion then, became a crossroads on the caravan routes and the official seat and residence of the Imperial Legate. After the decline of the Roman Empire, Bosra played a significant role in the history of early Christianity. It was also Iinked to the

rise of Islam, when a Nestorian monk called Bahira, who lived in the city, met the young Muhammad when his caravan stopped at Bosra, and predicted his prophetic vocation and the faith he was going to initiate. During the Ottoman era, Bosra played a major role as an important halt for pilgrims on the way to Mecca, this role lasted until the 17th century.

The SightSituated in the vast Hawran plain; some

145 kilometers to the south of Damascus. The monumental remains of temples, theatres, triumphal arches, aqueducts, reservoirs, churches, mosques, and a 13th -century citadel stretch over the modern site.

The famous-for-a-reason Roman theater of Bosra was built in the 2nd century AD and could seat up to 15,000 people. The acoustics were carefully designed so that even those in the cheap seats could hear the actors. The stage was 45 meters wide and 8 meters deep. In its heyday, the theater was faced with marble and draped in silk hangings, and during performances a fine mist of perfumed water was sprayed over the patrons to keep them comfortable in the desert heart. A large area in front of the stage may have been used for circuses or gladiatorial shows.

A fortress was built around the theater during the Omayyad and Abbasid periods, which accounts for its excellent state of preservation. Unlike many other Roman theaters, which were built into a hillside, Bosra’s theater is freestanding.

Other Roman sites at Bosra include the palatial Roman baths, monumental gates and some fine Corinthian columns.

The 13th century wall still envelopes the theater today. When the Arabs conquered Bosra they immediately blocked all the doors and opening of the ancient theater with thick walls, transforming it into a citadel. But the new threats posed by the Crusaders rendered these early defences inadequate; so in the mid-11th century three towers were built, jutting out from the Roman building; nine other bigger ones followed, between 1202 and 1251.

A fortress was built around the theater during the Omayyad and Abbasid periods, which accounts for its excellent state of preservation. Unlike many other Roman theaters, which were built into a hillside, Bosra’s theater is freestanding.

heritage & travel


BOSRA The City of Treasures

Walking the CityFrom the theater a narrow road with ancient

pavement runs alongside the southern baths before coming to the decumanus, near a triple arch known as Bab al Kandil (the Gate of the Lantern). It was built in the 3rd century in honour of the Third Cyrenaica Legion, stationed here at Bosra. A double-storied archway marks the western entrance to the city, Bab al Hawa, the Gate of the Wind.

Turning right along the decumanus, one encounters a group of slender columns. The first four, set at an angle to the street, are believed to the remains of a Nymphaeun. On the other side of the street, two columns 25 meters apart, one of which is joined to the neighbouring wall by a rich entablature, are said to have been part of a kalybea, a religious building unique to this region.

The eastern exit to the town was marked by an archway which, unlike the Gate of the Wind (to the west), is said to date from the first century, the Nabatean period. This is the only known Nabatean gateway outside of Petra in Jordan.

Outside of the Nabatean gate on the left are the ruins of the Sts. Sergius, Bacchus and Leontus Cathedral, built in 512. It was the first domed building to be built on a square ground plan. The cathedral is said to have been part of Emperor Justianian’s inspiration for the Hagia Sophia.

About 30 meters to the north of the cathedral is a 3rd or 4th century basilica whose walls are intact up to roof level. This is the site of the famous encounter between Bahira and Mohammad. Bahira was a Nestorian Christian monk who is said to have met the Prophet Muhammad when he was 12 years of age. He noticed the seal of prophecy and foretold that the Prophet would have a great future.

The Mosque of Omar in the centre of the town began as a pagan temple. It is the only mosque surviving from the early Islamic period to preserve its original facades, and all its columns remain in place. Many bear inscriptions in Greek, Latin or Nabatean. Its fine square minaret dates from the 12th century.

The al Khidr mosque is one of Bosra’s oldest Islamic structures. Built out of black basalt in 1134 on the site of an earlier mosque, its 12-meter-high minaret was built over a meter away from the mosque. Arabic inscriptions can be seen in the plaster above the mihrab.

The al Mabrak Mosque, which recalls a visit by the Prophet Mohammed to Bosra, is in the northeast outskirts of the city. Thousands of graves, with great steal of black basalt on them, keep watch at the foot of its walls. There is an enormous cistern which, at 120 meters by 150 meters is one of the largest the Romans ever built.

The Manjak Hammam, dating back to 1372, is a prototype of Mamluk architecture. Founded by Manjak Al Youssoufi (Governor of the Damascus province), this was the last

Islamic structure to be built in Bosra. It shows how important this town was up until late in the Middle Ages.

International Bosra FestivalThis year will see Bosra’s famed annual

festival reach its 24th anniversary, the festival - which is supposed to take place next June – will include folk-dances and shows from several troupe from all over the world, in addition to concerts of several famous Arab singers and musicians. All shows will be performed in the historic Roman theatre.

heritage & travel


BOSRA The City of Treasures

Whether you are seeking a new fascinating scent for 2011 or just

looking to broaden your horizons and learn a little about perfume for women - you have come to the right place.The following are the best 2011 fragrances for women according to a criteria that factors in: price & effectiveness, duration time, personal opinion, reputation of manufacturer & uniqueness of scent.

Even though you think that men have a less sensitive nose, don’t over-do it. Don’t spray too much fragrance in order to be noticeable; it will have a diverse effect.

When buying in a store, use the card in order to feel the scent. Don’t spray it on your hand because it will mix with whatever products you previously used. It will change (and usually hinder) the scent, even if you put it long ago.

After finding a perfume you liked, spray it very gently on you on spots that are likely to not have any products or sweat on them. Afterwards, step outside and take a fresh breath of air. This will allow you to judge the fragrance in another environment.

When you go out and choose which perfume to wear please bear in mind which occasion you are attending to. The workplace fragrance is not the restaurant one. The “hitting the bar at Sat night” perfume is not the same as you would wear when meeting your boyfriend’s parents. If you don’t have any differentiation between these events and the correlated perfumes, then you should check your wardrobe again.

lifestyle


Top Women Perfumes for this Season

Most unusual perfume of the year 2011Lolita Lempicka is one perfume that you can “feel”

through its luxurious packing. Through the way the golden leaves gently lay upon it, to a finely detailed bottle that almost seems like artwork, it is easy to grasp the amount of work that has been put into this unique product.

Based on a unique Anise note, it is almost unbearably sweet on the first spray but very soon an overly sweet scent is replaced with a catchy & attractive scent. Licorice and velvet wrap down this incredible product and make the combo more of silky sour-sweet.

Women’s sexiest fragrance 2011The year is 2011 and this fragrance still dominates the

market. It started off in the 40s and it’s still a powerful, relevant and fresh. This is a 1940’s perfume that still makes every woman that wears it feel sexy. Quite a feat, we would say.

The #1 reason for purchase in a survey was “response from men”. Apparently some men responded so well to the sexy perfume that it blew the women’s minds.

This perfume scent is composed of jasmine and roses, neroli and narcissus, iris, carnation, lily, patchouli, labdanum, oakmoss, ambergris, sandalwood, vetiver, and leather. A floral scent with an edge that makes it both great as a casual perfume and as an evening one, a rare and deadly combo.

Most feminine 2011Alfred Sung for women is a superb perfume that was chosen by

y2hperfumereviews.net as the fragrance of the month, and that is for several very good reasons.

It has a delicate, comfortable scent that wraps you around it. It contains flowers, green floras, musk and woody notes - one great combination. Some of these notes are a little masculine but we assure you that this is one of the most feminine scents that we ever laid our noses on. It’s not a new perfume but rather a tradition already for 25 years.

The overall winner The classic perfume proves once again that some scents remain

relevant and dominant throughout the years. This is a perfume for a strong, confident, woman that believes in herself. Even the bottle reflects it, representing perfectly the role of modern women in our current times. More than a remarkable package this perfume has a superb scent which is just about the perfect balance.

The most notable notes of this modern masterpiece are grapefruit, ginger, and passionflower that compose a feminine non-aggressive scent which is fruity but not overly sweet. This is a real classy fragrance likewise the package

Cheap and surprisingSimple, cheap and smells so nicely. Even Luca Turin has given it 5 stars - a rare

grade from a world-famous perfume expert.Crisp, fresh, flowery and fruity. Not for everyone as this perfume is a little

unusual but surprisingly good. You would expect it to be perhaps a childish scent or at most a cologne aimed at teenagers who spend their days on the phone discussing the latest Justin Bieber but it most certainly isn’t. This is a smell for someone who is looking for a young scent indeed, but in no way childish.

It starts off with some sweet rose notes, then become crisp or sourly-sweet grapefruit-citrus and ends up in with a winning tangerine . Not the usual composition, but interesting, refreshing and well laid perfume in total.

A renewed top classicDespite an exclusive price of 51 dollars, this eu da parfume will continue to

dominate the market. The sales have been sky rocking last year, despite of the economic crisis, and this year it should continue selling like crazy. It’s is genuinely a pearl, one of a kind fragrance that has perhaps the most effect of all perfumes in the market.

Orange, thyme and Iris compose this elegant fragrance that is suitable mostly (but not only) for dates and business meetings. This is an extremely feminine perfume that gets the job done in every sense of the word – We think that it is just too powerful to be a casual perfume but millions use it as a casual day-to-day perfume, so it’s a matter of preference.

lifestyle


Top Women Perfumes for this Season

Words by: Tareq Neman

Humans have many natural enemies that follow him/

her wherever he/she goes, one of those enemies is the painful memories. When we say painful memories we mean the memories that we hate ourselves when we live them again. They cause too much sorrow, too much pain, so much so that we feel the need to get into a time machine and go back in time and to change them.

If we want to know what is painful memories we should read some examples: Someone raped a 5 years old when he was 13 years old- this is a bad memory- but not a painful one, the painful memory is when this man remembers her eyes looking at him or her sound asking him to stop, so much so that he could kill himself to avoid such feelings. Physiologically speaking, memories are out of chemical causes in the brain, so when we experience some good or bad thing our brains will keep some pictures and some smells and sounds of this event, this is an ordinary thing, but when we mix the feelings with the memories once the brain will attach them together and evokes them together, this operation will remain forever because every time we remember this painful memory we will consider that we are punishing ourselves for doing such bad thing so the brain will keep this memory to use it as a punishment so it can release some pressure by remembering it and punishing itself, then it (brain) will relax.

So, painful memories are nothing but a Self-whipping, and the brain will never forget these memories because they relax it every time. But such relaxation will damage the body and will tie it forever, it will destroy the ability to think, to be free and to develop new skills. Such memories are the main reasons behind drug abuse, torturing body and alcoholism. More than 30 percent of the world population is having such serious memories.

Since such memories have a chemical mechanism we can avoid feeling or remembering it.

We can use many tools to help us to get the internal peace and to avoid such memories.

Such as using certain aromas or perfumes, Mother Nature helps its children to be saved and strong, so, using some certain aromas or perfumes will help a lot.

Jasmine, Amber, Rose, Sandalwood, Onions, Violet, apple, and Lemon essential oils use one of those essential oils every day in the house and at the office you will help your brain to forget the memories that you don’t want to recall. You should stay away from the following aromas or perfumes Musk, garlic, pine, Arabian jasmine, orchid, plum, daffodil, and peaches.

This for the atmosphere, about the colors you should surround yourself with certain colors and avoid some colors. So, surround yourself with white, pink, sky-blue, Turquoise, yellow, and light green

Avoid the following colors, Black, Red, Dark Yellow, Violet, and Brown. This will help you if you followed it step by step with the following tools.

1. Evaluate how much that past action actually affects your

present life: One bad relationship doesn’t alter every man or woman alive. Perhaps letting go of that memory will make you more open to creating new, more positive experiences.

2. Realize the randomness of life: A few bad experiences can have you feeling

like you must be cursed. Realize, however, that bad things do occasionally happen to good people. Try to see those experiences as accidents of chance, and nothing more. Try again! Ignore your past mistakes. Chances are you will succeed this time.

3. Reverse your thinking: Painful memories can make you fearful and a

symptom of fear is negative thinking. Try to reverse that thinking (ex. I can’t find a partner - I will find a partner). Focus on the can’t, and you will expect negative things and leave no room for anything good to happen. Think about what you want, and you will inevitably do things to make it happen. Thinking positively is a surefire way to attract good things. Just try it.

4. Change the future, not the past: Did you know that you can write

over the past by creating a better future? One good day erases all the bad ones. When you know low, you prepare yourself to truly appreciate the highs of life. By taking control of the future, you can debunk the discouragements of the past.

5. Talk things over: Chances are, you have drastically overestimated the pain

of your past memories. Open your heart to a trusted friend or trained psychotherapist, who can help you put things into perspective.

For desperate hearts 6. Remember the facts: Was

the person who left you chronically unstable in relationships? Take a break from blaming yourself and realize that other factors that have nothing to do with you shape each circumstance.

7. Origin of the memories: Before you can get rid of haunting memories,

you must come to terms with the origin of those memories. You cannot let go of anything that you try to suppress. Suppression is not a solution; it is only a band-aid on the problem. Talking to someone about these memories can assist you in coming to terms with them. If that is too much for you to do, buy a journal and write it down. Writing can be very therapeutic. Really, all you need is a way to get your feelings about these experiences out.

8. Let go: Letting go means that you allow yourself to understand that any

experience you have had, good or bad, is not your fault. You can get to the point where you know that each experience you’ve had the opportunity to witness is meant to be a lesson to you. You were meant to learn something from the situation so that you could advance to where you need to be in this life. When learning to let go, internalizing this first point is the most important.

9. Forgive: If there is resentment, forgiveness is a big part of letting go

and moving on.

Having bad memories is a good thing it helps us to fix and reconsider our faults, but painful memories are, also, too dangerous; we should overcome and terminate them when we have the chance.

Try not to follow untrustworthy people, you should work on changing yourself and remember that bills and medicines will help you to forget by damaging not by building, so why should we damage things if we can fix and develop them.

lifestyle


Overcome the painful memories

Words by: Massa Kateb

Nowadays, a lot of Syrian ladies tend to wear makeup for work, daily life, night life and any other occasion. It takes a lot of effort and requires a sense of style to get it all done. Baladna will take

you around the Damascene market in order to get it know a bit more than you already do.

Some other big international brands on the Syrian market are: Sisley, Chanel and Bourjois. And with big names come big numbers, such as 5,000 SYP for a Sisley foundation, 3,000 SYP for a Dior or a Chanel, 2,500 SYP for a Clarence and 1,500 SYP for a pupa or a Bourjois. If you feel like going all natural and having 100 percent organic makeup, you’ll have to go for Calvin Cline, with their only organic foundation in the Syrian market that costs 2,700 SYP.

On the other hand, Turkish brands kicked in the Syria market, especially after cutting down taxes on Turkish imports and opening the borders for products. Golden Rose and Basic are both Turkish brands and are competing in the Syrian market with Chinese products, having almost the same price but a better quality.

When having a budget problem, most makeup artists agree that the basics, such as foundation, powder, moisturizer and sun block, should be of international brands. They are the basic ground of your makeup and they should be up for the job. “A brand name makeup is something that women should spend money on, because their face skin is the most important thing to care for,” Rasha Intabli, 22, said. “You can buy cheap clothes, cheap shoes but never buy cheap makeup”.

Some girls get their makeup done in a blink of an eye, others could take ages. “It takes me about an hour to get my full makeup on, between drawing the right lines and wearing the foundation, it can easily take an hour” Amarein, 17, said. Her sister Hala, 19, spends fifteen minutes to get it done by avoiding heavy layers. Shireen, 31, on the other hand gets her full makeup done for work in only ten minutes. “After fifteen

years of wearing makeup, my hands just do the magic themselves”.

Shopping in Damascus malls a woman could spend up to 3,000 SYP for two products, while shopping in al-Hamidieh souq a woman ends up with a bag full of products (about 10-15 products) by spending an average of 2,000 SYP. When it comes to products such as lip gloss or eye shadow, Syrian brands, such as Poretuar, Monella, Sulaf and Magdulin are competing in the market. In 2008, Syria had exported 24,713 tons of essential oils, cosmetics and perfumery products and imported 15,269 tons, according to the Syrian Central Bureau of Statistics.

Attracted by the low costs, ladies turn to al-Hamidieh souq to get what they are looking for. Shops there follow the wholesale policy called ‘quantity over quality’. “Wholesale prices work just fine for me,” said Abu Ahmad, a shop owner in al-Hamidieh souq. “I sell with a low price but I make my profit by selling big numbers. And that’s how it’s done,” he added.

Mixed makeup reactionsMost women who wear makeup on a

daily basis had started wearing it in early age. “I started by stealing some of my friend’s mascara,” Layla, 24, said. “I was just 14 back then and now I have the experience to help my friends to wear their own makeup”. But when asked why she wears makeup the answer was stunning: “When my fiancé tells me that I don’t take good care of myself, I have to prove him that he’s wrong by wearing makeup. I am a lady after all!” The men, on the other hand, had a completely different opinion: “There are many styles of makeup, such as ‘work makeup and night life makeup, but unfortunately, most of Syrian ladies don’t know the difference” Mazen Simon, 23, said. “Natural beauty is what we, men, want. Too much of makeup during the day is not pretty at all”. While Hamdan Mahmoud, 30, had another say in the matter: “Some women look better with makeup on,” he adds, “it brings out their beauty and self-caring, it makes them noticeable to men”.

• Sun block is a must for your healthy makeup. To keep your skin fresh and healthy you should wear it on and have a thirty

minute timeout to let your skin absorb the material.

• Carry on with the moisturizer. Right before adding up the foundation, get your eyes makeup done, therefore you won’t

drop anything on your foundation. Then add up another ten minutes break in order for the products not to form a mask on your face.

• By adding up the powder, you will finally finish the basic ground of your makeup.

• Now the fun begins! You have the luxury of adding your desirable product. From mascara to lipstick and many, many others…

STEPS OF WEARING A HEALTHY MAKEUP

Buying makeup in Damascus is not that hard. There are three main areas for this kind of shopping; malls, high streets and al-Hamidieh souq. Expensive products can be found anywhere you look, but most of the time you have to be an expert to pop up a fake product. Therefore, malls are where most Syrian women

march when buying a brand name. Some international products that hit the Syrian market are Manhattan and Max Factor. Both of them are high quality international brands with the cheapest prices on the market such as 400 SYP for a Manhattan foundation and 600 SYP for a Max Factor mascara.

Hiba Toghli, 24, says: “I always have a budget to follow for makeup shopping”. She adds: “no matter how broke I am, Manhattan is Manhattan and a good foundation is a must!”

lifestyle


Shopping for Makeup in Damascus

Giorogio Armani is always known by his beautiful and well-made creations. But this season was extraordinary on all levels, starting with the idea of the show which was inspired from Japan, to the amazing Kimono dresses, the perfect suits, the beautiful printed fabrics, and the fascinating headdresses created from paper and flowers by “Philip Treacy”.

The show is not only homage to Japan but it is a homage to the Haute-Couture, and to the high-standard craftsmanship.

Chanel

Is it the magical touch of Mr. Lagerfeld or the spell of Chanel house that keep us passionately waiting every season for the Chanel shows?

Every season Lagerfeld surprises us with the stage ideas and the atmosphere of the shows, and this season was not an exception. He turned the Grand Palais into a street scene inspired from Place Vendôme at night. Everything was magical, starting with the classic Chanel suits, and ending up with the illuminated shoes. The evening dresses were a dream to every woman with the beautiful lace, the feminine ruffles, and the sequin fabrics.

Lagerfeld knows exactly what all women want and for that Chanel will always remain one of the most coveting brands worldwide.

The magical touch of Mr. Lagerfeld

From Japan with loveArmani Prive

Words by: Hala Jarjoura

Fashion


Armani Prive & Chanel

DiorThe Haute-Couture show of Christian Dior winter

2012 was like a festival of colors, or more like a sad festival with the absence of John Galliano for the first time in 15 years, after he got fired from the house of Dior for being accused of racism.

Bill Gaytten, the man who has been named the successor of Galliano at Dior tried to follow his footsteps and to keep on the magical touch of Galliano but he didn’t succeed. personally, i think the show was a chaos with lots of themes, lots of bright colors and layered fabrics that sometimes can be annoying for the eye.

The show was disappointing for all Dior fans and off course for Galliano fans.

A sad festival of colorsElie SaabWatching Elie Saab show was more like floating in

a beautiful dream that you wish will never end. The winter 2012 collection was all about soft

colors and delicate fabrics, from nude to romantic black, and from cheer to embroidered dresses. With every collection he took us back to the forgotten romantic time that we missed and made us forget for a while that we live in this noisy world.

Saab is proving time after time that he’s the master of elegance, and that his creations will always be a dream to every woman.

The beautiful dream

Fashion


Dior & Elie Saab

Stephane RollandThe man, who brought back glamour to the Haute-Couture,

took us this season to a fantastic journey through his breathtaking collection. For some moments, you think you are in some kind of an art museum and not in a fashion show.

Rolland inspired his collection from a style of Chinese calligraphy “Caoshu” that reminds us of the striking portrait of the British illustrator David Downton, and from the legendary super model Carmen Dell’Orefice; with her mysterious figure, just like a

stroke of black ink topped with a white cloud.Rolland always keeps the best for the last, where he realizes

his creative ideas in designing the gorgeous wedding gowns. For this season, his wedding gown design was a literally a masterpiece, it took a ten-member team around three weeks to create it, though it was made of 368 meters of satin.

You can’t help but notice the perfect work and the well-done finishing, and of course the

original designs.

Stroke of creativity

Jean Paul GaultierIt’s amazing how Jean Paul Gaultier

can still surprises us every season with his creativity and his amazing shows.

The collection was inspired from Black Swan and Red Riding Hood, very theatrical and dramatic with the beautiful contrast of the soft and rough fabrics, with the dark faded colors and bright colors, with the femininity and the masculinity.

His signature was strongly present in the show with the full midi skirts, the corsets, the rock and roll spirit, and the tailored jackets.

Black Swan

Fashion


Stephane Rolland & Jean Paul Gaultier

There’s a small, nearly perfect comic moment not far into Michael Holroyd’s new book, “A Book of Secrets: Illegitimate Daughters, Absent Fathers,” when this esteemed biographer, now in his 70s, describes being locked in a car on a research trip with a woman who drives through Italy as if she’s just robbed a bank and is being chased by carabinieri.

Author: Michael Holroyd

Mr. Holroyd is best known for his biographies of Strachey, George Bernard Shaw and the painter Augustus John. He is an institution in Britain, where he was knighted in 2007. He is married to the novelist Margaret Drabble, now Dame Margaret Drabble. In Britain the best writers collect titles the way American ones collect Charlie Rose interviews.

“A Book of Secrets” is the final volume in a series that includes “Basil Street Blues” (2000), a memoir, and “Mosaic” (2004), a blend of biography and autobiography. The author refers to these books as “the confessions of an elusive biographer.”

If one can sometimes compare a biography to a novel, “A Book of Secrets” reads like a series of linked short stories. At its heart it weaves together the lives of several not-especially-well-known women, around whom more famous men (Lord Randolph Churchill, Auguste Rodin, D. H. Lawrence and E. M. Forster among them) sometimes revolved. These women tended to “exist on the fringes of the British aristocracy,” Mr. Holroyd writes, and “were not wholly protected from the hardship and tragedy that, in other classes and a more familiar form, were to fuel the feminist movement.”

Among them is Eve Fairfax, a muse of Rodin, who was abandoned by her fiancé and never married. By the end of her long life she was an impoverished, homeless and eccentric supertramp (“a genteel tragedy,” one writer called her), living off the generosity of wealthy friends and carrying around an outsize visitor’s book in which she collected autographs and keepsakes.

Another central character is the poet and novelist Vita Sackville-West, who was married to the diplomat and writer Harold Nicolson. Mr. Holroyd is most interested in Sackville-West’s feverish lesbian relationship with Violet Trefusis, who was also married, and who easily becomes this book’s most fiery and complicating character. Sackville-West referred to her, accurately enough, as an “unexploded bomb.”

Trefusis was so intense that she appeared in many other people’s books, including those by Cyril Connolly, Nancy Mitford and Harold Acton, as well as Sackville-West’s and Nicolson’s. She was an excellent writer herself. A biographer of Nicolson likened her letters to “those flaming yellow bulldozers which one meets tearing up road verges, hedgerows, concrete walls, asphalt roads and any and every obstacle that lies in their path.”

Trefusis was also a novelist, and it is among Mr. Holroyd’s missions in “A Book of Secrets” to revive interest in her novels, which he deeply admires, agreeing with the critic Lorna Sage that they should be discussed alongside those of Edith Wharton, Christina Stead and Jane Bowles. “Violet’s own novels are scattered over Europe like a leaderless and dispersed army,” he writes. “They are written in French or English as if she is vainly trying one key, then another, to set herself free.”

Place is a resonant character in “A Book of Secrets.” Much of the action revolves around the palatial Villa Cimbrone, located on a hill above the Italian village of Ravello, where many of these women visited. Mr. Holroyd refers to it, a bit melodramatically, as “a place of fantasy that seems to float in the sky,” a spot that “answers the need for make-believe in all our lives.”

George Painter, a biographer of Proust, once compared the experience of reading Violet Trefusis’s prose to “being driven at 90 m.p.h. over an ice field, by a driver who knows how to skid for fun.” Mr. Holroyd isn’t that kind of writer. He’s cautious, buttoned down, collar turned up against the wind. But his new book contains many fine moments during which, holding on with white knuckles, you might hear yourself cry, “Brilliant!”

Most people probably think the search for a “real” Garden of Eden was abandoned centuries ago. With so many modern scientific advances, the discovery of fossil evidence from early ages and, of course, the advance of Darwin’s theory of evolution, surely no one would be so mad as to look for an actual Eden. Brook Wilensky- Lanford’s first book, “Paradise Lust,” suggests just the opposite.

It seems there have always been — and continue to be — little armies of Eden chasers who take this quest very seriously, carrying their search to the most unlikely places. Wilensky-Lanford carries the reader along on some of these journeys, from the North Pole to rural Ohio, evoking the lives and characters of a collection of eccentrics that includes a professional archaeologist and a preacher, as well as a Chinese businessman and a British irrigation engineer. What these disparate types

have in common is their insistence that they have finally and truly cracked the biblical code.

They all begin with the verses in Genesis. “A river flows out of Eden to water the garden, and from there it divides and becomes four branches” — namely the Pishon, the Gihon, the Tigris and the Euphrates. But while it’s easy to find the Tigris and the Euphrates, which run from Turkey through Iraq into the Persian Gulf, the locations of the Gihon and the Pishon remain distinctly murky. A further complication is the theory that today’s Tigris and Euphrates are not the same as the biblical ones, a notion that allows, as Wilensky-Lanford puts it, room for a more “fanciful geography.”

“Fanciful” might be putting it mildly. William Fairfield Warren, the first president of Boston University, published a book in the late 19th century in which he argued that Eden was located at the North Pole — or, at least, that it

had been there before the Flood.An early-20th-century Eden chaser, the

Rev. Edmund Landon West, insisted that an ancient mound in Ohio in the shape of a 1,300-foot-long snake was the real spot, ignoring the fact that the structure had been created by Native Americans.

The stories she has collected in “Paradise Lust” are certainly weird, and at times strangely wonderful. Some searchers insisted that the biblical rivers were actually canals. Others placed Eden in Chinese Turkestan and were convinced that Adam and Eve had 12 sons. Although some kept to the biblical location of the Tigris and Euphrates, others, like a staunch Republican named Elvy Edison Callaway, placed Eden as far away as Florida.

Wilensky-Lanford devotes an entire chapter of “Paradise Lust” to “The Urantia Book,” an alternative bible that was revealed to a group in Chicago over the course of 30 years, beginning in the mid-1920s. According to this document, a group of aliens surveyed our planet some 600 million years ago and waited 549 million years for human beings to evolve — but then had to bring in Adam and Eve in order to fight against an evil human lord called Caligastia. Eighty-three years before Adam and Eve’s estimated arrival, 3,000 volunteers created the Garden of Eden on an eastern shore of the Mediterranean Sea near Crete. The Tree of Life was a “magical shrub” that released cosmic energy when eaten, “sort of like an intergalactic battery,” as Wilensky-Lanford explains. In this new version of the creation, Eve gave birth to 1,647 children of a superior violet-skinned race and the Urantian Eden was patrolled by sewage inspectors to control diseases. Then evil arrived in the shape of Serpatatia, leader of a tribe outside Eden, who convinced Eve that she could spread her good genes more quickly and efficiently if she had sex with another man, Cano, the father of Cain. In the end, Adam and Eve left their Mediterranean Eden and built a new one in Mesopotamia, where they were reduced to tilling the soil with their own hands.

Despite its enjoyable parade of oddities, “Paradise Lust” can, at times, seem almost overloaded with strange stories. Lined up one after another, they become a little repetitive: one more peculiar Eden chaser, one more bizarre theory. And the portraits of earlier searchers, deft and funny, tend to make the contemporary accounts — of, say, Wilensky-Lanford’s visits to the Creation Museum in Kentucky and to the Mormon site of Eden in Independence, Mo. — feel pedestrian. Mostly, however, “Paradise Lust” is a pleasure. Wilensky-Lanford tackles her subject with an appealing mix of serious research and tongue-in-cheek humor. Neither too academic nor too whimsical, the storytelling in “Paradise Lust” is often irresistible.

literature

September 2011 Issue No 76 5958 magazine

Paradise Lust

The premise of Dr. Nassir Ghaemi’s book about leadership and mental illness is simple. It need not be reiterated as frequently as Dr. Ghaemi repeats it. But he begins “A First-Rate Madness” by writing, “This book argues that in at least one vitally important circumstance insanity produces good results and sanity is a problem.” To put it only a shade differently: “When our world is in tumult, mentally ill leaders function best.” Or: “In the storm of crisis, complete sanity can steer us astray, while some insanity brings us to port.”

“A First-Rate Madness” hammers hard to make its one big point. Sometimes Dr. Ghaemi uses textbook-style italics: “The best crisis leaders are either mentally ill or mentally abnormal; the worst crisis leaders are mentally healthy.” At other times he captures the textbook experience via pedantic tone. “What made Churchill see the truth where Chamberlain saw only illusion?” he asks rhetorically. “A key difference was that Chamberlain was mentally healthy (which we’ll discuss more in Chapter 14), while Churchill was clearly not.”

Dr. Ghaemi, director of the Mood Disorders Program at Tufts Medical Center in Boston, also favors an overeager, textbook-type weakness for generalizations that are glib but easy to remember. “Gandhi was depressed,” he writes at one such moment. “India’s populace was normal. That distinction may explain it all.” And he does his utmost to provoke controversy, as when he gives President John F. Kennedy “an unlikely bedfellow” in Adolf Hitler.

In articulating the flip side of a premise that is essentially flattering to the gloomy and even the unhinged, Dr. Ghaemi demonstrates remarkable powers of condescension toward his designated dullards. Dismissing the part of Tony Blair’s memoir that deals with 9/11, Dr. Ghaemi writes: “To his credit, Blair maintains a somewhat open mind.” Writing about President George W. Bush, his thinking is similarly patronizing and also vague. “Bush’s rise was not easy, but it was not very hard either,” he notes.

Dr. Ghaemi does not intend this as an addition to the much-debunked field of psychohistory; rather, he sees it as something more sophisticated. He covers a broad swath of important-sounding material and uses a greatest-hits lineup of famous leaders, affecting a therapist’s intimacy with them all. He arranges them more or less chronologically, although an early section on Gen. William Tecumseh Sherman, who fulfilled Dr. Ghaemi’s criteria for interesting mental aberration by burning Atlanta, somehow leads to a passage on Ted Turner, who started CNN there.

Sourcing is a serious problem throughout “A First-Rate Madness.” Sometimes he delves into psychiatric records. But he also relies on Jane Fonda’s memoir for information about Mr. Turner’s manic sexual excesses and on secondary sources, like Chris Matthews’s “Kennedy and Nixon,” for anecdotal evidence. The endnotes to “A First-Rate Madness” can be downright maddening.

In discussing Kennedy’s dangerous, potentially mind-altering Addison’s disease, Dr. Ghaemi refers to an old movie (presumably Nicholas Ray’s “Bigger Than Life”) in which a patient, treated with cortisone as Kennedy was, becomes psychotic and commits murder. He reveals the name of the Kennedy biography from which this anecdote comes but not the name of the movie.

“A First-Rate Madness” moves from big target to big target at a fast, perfunctory clip. The section on Lincoln demonstrates the book’s method: Look for family history of mental illness. Look for suicide attempts or other evidence of despondency. Look for manic episodes as well, and then explore the implications of any medicines that the subject may have been given. (For Lincoln treatment may have involved cold showers, bleeding and mercury tablets.)

Then, depending on the degree of sanity on display, either conclude that the man rose above tremendous obstacles to become a great leader or was too ordinary to be anything but flummoxed by his life’s challenges. All the book’s subjects are men.

Some of these formulations are conveniently tidy: Dr. Ghaemi is able to call Gandhi and the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. “the bookends of depressive activism.” And sometimes they are based on truly tenuous evidence; both the Gandhi and King families were able to maintain enough privacy to thwart Dr. Ghaemi’s research. Based on Gandhi’s depression and the self-destructive behavior of his son, Harilal, Dr. Ghaemi can go no further than this specious thought: “It is quite possible that others in the family have suffered the same illness.”

As for Hitler and Kennedy, their pathologies actually are made to seem similar by “A First-Rate Madness.” Both were heavily medicated for illnesses that were kept from the public; both were fueled by combinations of steroids, amphetamines and barbiturates; both may have demonstrated great behavioral changes as a result of those drugs. But Kennedy, in the book’s estimation, rose to the challenges he faced. And Hitler — well, Dr. Ghaemi treads tenderly around him, because “the memory of those who perished is justifiably cherished,” as he puts it. Suffice it to say that Dr. Ghaemi thinks he has come up with important insights. He may, like some of our best-known leaders, be unrealistic in his beliefs.

Her twin boy and girl are grown, and Yvonne, a history teacher in small-town Vermont, feels ready to begin shaking off her grief and rediscover the woman she used to be, and also to find something like the truth about her own life: she has travelled “to strip herself of these lies, to shed this grief. The grief and the lies were the same – one begot the other.” She wants to stop feeling like a widow, to rediscover a self more engaged with the world around her. But Datça is seedier than she remembers, and nothing unfolds according to her nebulous plans and untested assumptions.

An air of menace hovers in the prose from the novel’s opening words, as Yvonne lands at the airport and fears she has made a terrible mistake: she found a vacation home online and rented it for a week, sending money in advance. The reader shares her fears that something will go very wrong, but the plot doesn’t develop as she – or we – predicted. The villa’s owner is honest, the house is clean and safe, but as she explores Yvonne finds discomfiting evidence of what one might call an active sex life: a book called The Woman’s Guide to Anal Sex is sitting on the bookshelf, a sex swing is not quite packed away, while a photograph of a naked woman is found shoved under the sofa. The woman in the photo turns out not to be the owner’s estranged wife, who shows up before long with tales of domestic abuse and infidelity.

Yvonne is searching for something she can’t identify, and spends much of the novel wandering aimlessly around the Turkish seaside. She visits the ancient town of Knidos, where she encounters Ahmet, a lonely 10-year-old boy who speaks no English. She befriends him, aware that she is trying to recapture her relationship with her own children, and rapidly comes to feel both protective and loyal, fearful of betraying his trust.

This touching, unusual friendship is intercut with memories of Yvonne’s children when they were young, especially her daughter, Aurelia, who spent many of her formative years in and out of rehab, placing a huge strain on Yvonne’s marriage that she is only beginning to acknowledge. Their son, Matthew, was the “perfect” one, but Yvonne gradually admits that she found his perfection rebarbative, and in many ways feels closer to Aurelia, the damaged child.

Yvonne makes some choices that one might find unusual in an intelligent, observant woman: her friendship with young Ahmet leads to misunderstanding and hostility, as a waiter at the beach makes clear, first with venomous glances and then with outright antagonism; Ahmet’s grandmother is equally unwelcoming. There are some predictable complaints from locals about presumptuous Americans. Özlem, the landlord’s estranged wife, is, by contrast, eager to befriend Yvonne in ways that may

strain credulity. Lest the reader think these portents of trouble will go unfulfilled, Vida sends an owl, that omen of ill fate, into the house to terrorize Yvonne. Tragedy does indeed strike, but despite – or rather because of – all Vida’s careful foreshadowings, it feels contrived, rather than inevitable.

The virtues of this novel lie not in its plotting, which manages to be both slight and over-engineered, but in Vida’s prose, which is full of sharply observed moments and poignant insights about the impossibilities – and possibilities – of human interaction. When Yvonne tells an American couple she encounters the story of her husband’s accidental death, she remembers the gratuitous pain heaped on by an oblivious world: as she left her husband’s memorial service, bewildered by grief, she found a note on the windshield telling her to be less “selfish” when she parked her car in future.

Actions have consequences, to be sure, but overstating this can become a sort of a false syllogism: most mistakes end in neither tragedy nor epiphany. They are at once more negligible and more common – not to say persistent – than that. In the end The Lovers is a promissory note that isn’t quite redeemed: not all of its implicit assurances are kept, and some narrative threads are left dangling, but it’s also a darkly elegant book about broken promises and redemption that recognizes our capacity for damage but allows for the prospect of deliverance.

The Lovers seems a deliberately misleading title for Vendela Vida’s slim, reflective third novel: a 53-year-old American woman named Yvonne, whose husband was killed in a car accident two years earlier, returns to the seaside town in Turkey where she and her husband honeymooned almost three decades before.

Author: Vendela Vida

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The Lovers

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September 2011 Issue No 76 67magazine

Cowboys & Aliensfilm & TV

During the last decade or so, and for some unknown reasons, the holy month of Ramadan became the Annual season for Arab TV drama series, tens of new productions compete for the massive amounts

of money paid by the numerous Arabian satellite channels, who, in turn, compete for who can hook the greatest number of viewers and therefore the largest share of advertisements.

As always, the 2 main players in the field of TV Series are the Syrian and Egyptian drama productions, despite of the recent rise of Gulf-area productions and the large fall in the number of produced series due to the current political turmoil in both countries.

Late in 1990s, Syrian drama started to climb the ladder of success and within 10 years it managed to take the lead from its long-established Egyptian counterpart and become the 1st choice for Arabian viewers all around the Middle East. However, through the last 4 or 5 years and for several reasons, it was cruelly attacked as satellite channels refrained from buying more than one work. Some were defending their own drama industry and others were after defaming Syrian production. The later, however, stood up to all the difficulties and today it is declaring its triumph as all Syrian drama productions for this year were sold. This remains largely true even if many of those works were sold to unusual customers (Lebanese Channels for example)

This year, Syrian drama series offer a variety of themes and approaches that are guaranteed to satisfy every spectator’s expectations. Unique scripts, excellent directing, high production values, brilliant performance and team spirit are, as always, the key factors on which this year’s productions are relying on…

Social DramaSyrian drama focuses on Arab societies’

problems; it critically portrays the different economic, social and cultural situations and analyzes the basis to give hints for probable solutions. The main essential element of lively handling of problems lays in the fact that it never dictates a solution but it aims at shedding the light over realistic clues.

- ‘Al-wilada men alkhasera’ or

‘Birth from the side’ written by the poet and scenarist Samer Radwan directed by Rasha Sherbatji.

- ‘Al-Ghofran’ or ‘Forgiveness’, a romantic drama series written by Najeeb Nseir and directed by Hatem Ali.

- ‘Taeb Al-Meshwar’ or ‘Weariness of the journey’, written by Fadi Qoushaji and directed by Seaf Al-Deen Subaye.

- ‘Jalsat Nesaeiya’ or ‘Women’s gatherings’, a series that focuses on the relations between man and woman in our contemporary society. Written by Amal Hanna and directed by Almuthanna Suboh.

The reason for the general Arab approval of Syrian drama is the scrutinizing of universal issues and being not limited to a particular society or a specific era.

The common themes for this year’s productions are the usual company: corruption, love, suffering, the relation between man and woman, revenge, shame and, new to this year, corruption in the educational system.This year, a number of series under this category deserves attention like:

film & TV


Syrian Drama in Ramadan

Comedy Part of Syrian success in this industry is the

blossoming comedies. Through the years Syrian comedies struggled to not only draw a smile but with in a 45 minuets show it gradually stir up chuckles and giggles to finally make people laugh and cackle. It is a tremendous task in modern life with such an extreme tension and stress of daily routine.

The acumen originality of Syrian comedies is away of clowning, it stayed far from belittling audience’s minds. It creates a situation and keeps away of mincing and mocking. The key point is to laugh at human circumstances and unpredictable contradictory surroundings and not the human being himself.

Ramadan 2011 presents: ‘The diaries of general manager’, ‘Spot Light part 8’, ‘Mirrors’ and ‘Al-Kherbeh’.

The damascene history with all valuable traditions and mores is a wide source of inspiration for script writers who depict the society early in the beginnings of the last century.

It seems that there is no need to talk in details about this category of works, because they are all about the same ideas and problems. The only differences among these works are their names.

It seems that the directors of these works accepted to be the prisoners of the old Damascene houses and walls. This is clearly evident in the works of director Bassam al-Mulla since his first work ‘Damascene days’, which appeared more than twenty years ago, until his latest work ‘The chief ’ which is being shown this year. They ‘The directors’ also accepted to deal with

the same traditional themes linked strongly to this place and environment as we see in ‘Al-Dabbour’ and ‘the men of dignity’.

‘Talea al-Fidda’ may well be an exceptional work this year because it focuses on a special period of time in Syrian history. The events of its story are taking place during the period between the departure of the Ottoman forces from Syria and the coming of the forces of the French occupation. The work illustrates the social relations of the Damascene people who are belonging to different social classes and religions: Muslims, Christians and Jews. The work reflects faithfully the peaceful relations among those people from different religions, the first time Syrian drama deals with this subject. The series is written by the Syrian actor Abbas al-Nouri and his wife Onoud al-Khaled and directed by the Syrian director Seaf Al-Deen Subaye. D

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Historical flavor is a must in Ramadan despite the multitude of other types of drama with its competing palatable presence. This year, however, only one work belongs to historical drama –Dalila and Alzaybaq- which is a reproduction of an old series with the same title that had been shown decades ago.

Palestine in MindSyrian commitment to Palestine issue

that lays sleepless in all Arabs’ hearts is considered as a national duty. Presenting Palestinian problems in Syrian drama is a way to defend this issue. This year, the honor of representing this category belongs to the biography drama ‘In the attendance of the absence’ which presents the biography of the famous Palestinian late poet Mahmoud Darwish.

film & TV


Syrian Drama in Ramadan

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RESTAuRANTS & cAFES - DAmAScuS

Art café 2325757, mob 0988995566Art cafe Ninar 4522257maharaja Indian Restaurant mezzeh 2005Abu Rummaneh 3355555Damascus Gate 5475500 or 1/2/3/4, 0933202075Al Farouk for food and sweets 2131322Al-Karieh Restaurant 5475551/2Al-Khawali 2225808Haretna 5441148Sushi 3354077Beit Jabri 5443200canoun Al-Tennin 6116967, 6114778casablanca 5417598Elissar 5424300, 5428577Inhouse coffee 3336039Kanaan Palace Resort 7138201/2/3/4Kaser Al Wali Restaurant 4461389, 3322336La casa 3331288Leila’s Restaurant & Terrace 5445900Narciss 5416785, 5431205Linas 2143798Segafredo 2316070 - 2142420 - 6117363Taj mahal 2453434Tarboosh Al-Sham 6115158Tche Tche cafe 2216339Trovka Restaurant 0988995566Zaman Al-Khair Restaurants 6440175/6 Zenobia 2220575-2450116Quattro cafe-Restaurant 6133625chopin cafe 5436502

RESTAuRANTS & cAFES - ALEPPOBazar Alcharq 021-2249120 Beit Alkaisar 021-5230130Beit Sissi 021-4651444Beroea 021-9325 cantra 021-2122010Dar Ward 021-3620620Delta 021-2122411Emeralds 021-2126987Kan Zaman 021-3311299Kaser Alwali 021-9911 Larose 021-2642241Lily house 021-2222501mejana 021-2027metastrada 021-4663300Taj Alklaa 021-9250, 021-4606033Wanes 021-2116002

RESTAuRANTS & cAFES - TARTOuSAyounak 043-326083cave 043-220408Khawaja Restaurant 043-313313, 213900Yamak 043-328755Viamidos mob 094667887

RESTAuRANTS & cAFES - LATAKIAAl-Andalus cafe 041-850027Al-Kordaha Restaurant 041-843231Allegro 041-458000cesar 041-475403Express cafe 041-456200Italian corner Restaurant 041-447207

Last Station 041-468871Olabi Patisserie mob 094657765Old House 041-461013Lacasta cafe & more 041-475744Stop 5 041-477919

RESTAuRANTS & cAFES - HOmSAl-Andalous Garden cafe 031-416915Beite cafe 031-234032Blue Stone 031-2459999city cafe 031-239755mamma mia 031-2112400Restaurant Al-Qalaa - The citadel 031-7340493

RESTAuRANTS & cAFES - HAmAAl-Atlal 033-222234Broasted Fawaz 033-223884Le Jardin 033-25335Sultan Restaurant 033-235104

RESTAuRANTS & cAFES - PALmYRAIshtar 034-5913073Hotel Villa Palmyra restaurant 034-913600Traditional Palmyra Restaurant 034-910878

RESTAuRANTS & cAFES - RAQQAAl-Rashid Restaurant 022-241919Lazaward Hotel Restaurant 022-216120/2

RESTAuRANTS & cAFES - DEIR EZ -ZuRDEc 051-220469Lailati 051-229648

BARS & cLuBS - DAmAScuS

Backdoor club 4446255, mob 0988990066champions Pub 4450676, mob 0988900096Le Serai Pub 3737061Blue Bar 3340240Domino 5431120Jar Al-Ward 5429185Jet Set 2232300 Kasabjy 4416184Le Serai Pub 3737061marmar 5446425massimo Pub www.massimo-pub.comOxygen 5444396Le Piano Bar 5420542, 5430375 XO Bar 3391000Z Bar 2217700Dome 0991555444

BARS & cLuBS - ALEPPOBaron Hotel Bar 021-2210880/1Sissi House 021-2124362

BARS & cLuBS - LATAKIALacasta cafe & more 041-475744moodz Bar 041-330033

BARS & cLuBS - HOmSAbu Nawas 031-2112400Blue Stone 031-2459999

ATTRAcTIONS - DAmAScuS

Azem EcoleBeit Al-AqqadBeit Nizamchapel of AnaniasDahdah PalaceJama’a Al-JadeedKhan As’ad PashaKhans of Souq medhat Pasha (Straight St.)madrassa An-Nurimaktab Anbarmausoleum of Salah El-Dinminaret of Jesus (column)Sayyida Ruqayya mosqueSayyida Zeinab m ausoleumShrine of HusseinShrine of John the Baptist (Prophet Yehia to muslims)St Paul’s chapelTakiyya As-SuleimaniyyaThe citadelThe Tomb of Beybarsumayyad mosque

ATTRAcTIONS - ALEPPOAin Dara SiteAl-Jdeida Quarter’s churches & cathedralsAl-madrassa Al-HalawiyyaBasilica of St Simeon (Qal’at Sama’an)Bimaristan Arghanchurch of Qalb Lozehcyrrhus (Nebi Huri)Ebla (Tel mardikh)Khans around the Great mosquemadrass As-Sultaniyyamosque of AbrahamSerjillaShibani SchoolSouq Bab Antakya KhansThe Aleppo citadel The Great mosque

ATTRAcTIONS - TARTuScathedral of Our Lady of Tortosa-The citadelQal’at marqab-The castle

ATTRAcTIONS - mA’ALOuLAconvent of St Thecla

ATTRAcTIONS - NABEKmonastery of mar musamonastery of St Sergius

ATTRAcTIONS - LATAKIAThe Salah Eddin castleugarit

ATTRAcTIONS - HOmSAzze Hrawe Residencechurch of the Girdle of Our LadyQala’at Al-Hosn (Krak Des chevaliers) Outskirts of HomsSt George’s monastery-Outskirts of Homs

ATTRAcTIONS - HAmAApameaAzem PalaceKhans of the Souq of HamaQasr Ibn Warden - PalaceThe Beehive Houses-Sarouj & Twalid DabagheinThe castle of musyafThe Grand mosqueThe Norias

ATTRAcTIONS - PALmYRAEast Wall Palace-Qasr Al-Heir Al-SharqiQala’at Ja’abar - castleQala’at Najm - castleQal’at Ibn Sam’an - castleTemple of BelThe TheatreThe Tower of Elahbel-Valley of the Tombs

ATTRAcTIONS - DER EZZORDura Europs-Tal Al-Salhiyyehmari-Tel Hariri

ATTRAcTIONS - RAQQAQasr Al-BanaatRasafa-Al-mansoura

ATTRAcTIONS - SWEYDASaray-Qanawat

ATTRAcTIONS - EZRA’AThe Basilica of St GeorgeThe church of St Elias

muSEumS - DAmAScuS

The Army museumThe Historical museum of DamascusThe museum of Arab medicines & Sciences-Nuri Health centre (Bimaristan)The National museumThe National museum of Popular Arts and Tradition - Azem PalaceThe Azem Palace

AIRLINES - DAmAScuS

Air France 2218990Alitalia 2222262British Airways 3310000cyprus Airways 2225630Egypt Air 2232158Emirates 9934Etihad 3344235Gulf Air 2221209Royal Jordanian Airline 2315577

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Lufthansa 2211165mEA Airlines 2213147Syrian Air 2450098Turkish Airlines 2212263

AIRLINES - ALEPPOSyrian Air 021-2241232, 2220501Air France 021-2232238KLm Airlines 021-2211074Lufthansa 021-2223005

AIRLINES - LATTAKIA Syrian Air 041-476863

AIRLINES - DEIR EZ-ZuRSyrian Air 051-221801

HOTELS - DAmAScuS

Art House 6628112/5Four Seasons 3391000Talisman1 5415379Dedeman 3322650Sheraton Damascus 2229300Old Vine 5450164cham Palace 2232320Ebla cham Palace 2241900 – 2241945Beit Zaman Hotel 5435380Dar al-Yasmin Hotel 5443380Semiramis Hotel 2233555Biet Rumman 5451092 - 5451094

Queen center Arjaan by Rotana 6664003Alfares Alarabi 2225320 - 2248800Omayyad hotel 2235500Blue Tower Hotel 3340240Damascus International Hotel 2311600/1/2Fardoss Tower Hotel 232100maaloula Hotel 7770250Rawda Hotel 6416206-7 / 6416210Safir Hotel Damascus 6470140carlton Hotel 2122000Palmvillage Hotel 3919004

Antique Khan Hotel 5419450Beit Rose Hotel 5441241Orient Palace hotel 2231351

Afamia Hotel 2228963Al Hossen Residence 6471712 - 6471258 - 6420292Al majed Hotel 2323300 - 2323301 / 2 / 3city Hotel 2219375Future Tower Hotel 2315465 – 2317511

Al-Haramein Hotel 2319489Al-Rabie Hotel 2318374Ghazal Hotel 2313736

HOTELS - ALEPPO

DEDEmAN 021-2661600mansouriya Palace 021-3632000Sheraton 021-21211111

Beit Wakil 021-2117083coral Julia Dumna 021-3330660Dar Zamaria 021-3636100mirage 021-2288555Park Hotel 021-9895

Riga 021-9294

Ramsis 021-2111102Isis 021-2126345

Jdayda 021-9225 \ 3632000

LuXuRY - LATTAKIA

Afamia Rotana Resort Lattakia 041- 330033

OTHER uSEFuL cONTAcTS - DAmAScuS

Damascus International Airport (Flight queries 167-Reservations 187) 4530201/9central Tourist office 2323953, 2210122Immigration and passport office-Visa extensions 2219400DHL 096345345Amigo Net 5421694Internet cafe Smile 2326239Spotnet cafe 5433374

OTHER uSEFuL cONTAcTS - ALEPPO Tourist Office 021-2121228, 2230000DHL 021-4440322concord Internet cafe 021-2247272

OTHER uSEFuL cONTAcTS - TARTuS Internet centre 043-315906

OTHER uSEFuL cONTAcTS - HOmSmessenger Internet cafe 031-2212336

OTHER uSEFuL cONTAcTS - HAmA Tourist Office 033-511Happy Net cafe 033-216057

OTHER uSEFuL cONTAcTS - PALmYRA Tourist Office 034-5910574

OTHER uSEFuL cONTAcTS - LATTAKIA Tourist Information Office 041-416926center Net 041-465310

GALLERIES - DAmAScuS

Aal Bal 5445794Art cafe Ninar 4522257Art House 6628112Atassi Gallery 3321720Ayyam Gallery 6131088Beit Al-Nur 5431287Beit Al-Sham 3330038Dar Al Baath 6622141Dar al mada 2322276Dar Ez-Zarqan for Arts 5431899Fateh muddaress 2246710Free Hand Gallery 3344219, 3347211French cultural centre 2316192Galerie Abdal 5445794Gallery Sahar 4444846Occasions Galleria 5436502chantout Atelier 6617780Ishtar 4465086Khan Assad Pacha 2215961Kozah 5410900mustafa Ali 5421988Naji Al Ali 4423762Nassour Gallery 3710344Ninar Art café 5422557Rua’a Art Gallery 5610901Rafia Gallery 3310803Tajalliyat Gallery 6112338Al Rywak 3337933Al-Sayyed 332 1450, 3334390Al Shaab 2319606ur-Nina Gallery 2243783

GALLERIES - ALEPPOAl-Sharq Showroom 021-442861Dar El-mhanna 021-2634098Ebla Gallery 021-2268757Kawaf Fine Arts Gallery 021-2230985, mob 0933260301The Small museum 021-2232596

GALLERIES - LATAKIAArts Home 041-477827

cuLTuRAL cENTRES & INSTITuTES - DAmAScuS

Arabic cultural centresAbu Rummaneh 3349376, Adawi 44202670mezze 6610678 , Yarmouk 6320830 Jobar 46370040, Kafer Souseh 2139680 Danish Institue 2238038, NIASD 6120515Beit Al-Nur 5431287, British council 3330631Dar Al-Assad for Arts and culture 245 6165/44Dar Al Funoon 2231679

Dummar cultural complex 3115142French cultural centre 2316192The Italian cultural centre 3319543Goethe Institute 3719435Russian culture centre 2317158, 2317351Spanish culture centre 3714003

cD SHOPS - DAmAScuS

Al-Balabel 2216826Al-Beiruti 3313475Al-madar 3336722Al-mahatta 54498761, 5410821Al-Nihlawy 4441982Al-Salka 2214461Al-Sham 2457153Kanawati for music 2323088mirza music 4470294mozart 2321445

cD SHOPS - ALEPPOAsia 021-2112993Floyed 021-2122596King 021-2248440Radio one 021-4464063Rotana 021-2122702

cINEmAS - DAmAScuS

Al-Ahram 2212504Al Ameer cinema 2228513Biblous 2213355Al-cham 4437008cinema de cham 2232300, 2232310Diana 2211847Dunia 2211888Al-Fardous 2213424, 2214472Al Khaiyam cinema 4437008Al Kindi 2218899Rametta cinema 3214384Shamas & Ataasi 2212388Al-Sofara’a 2317008ugarit cinema 2311539Al-Zahra’a 2222212

cINEmAS - ALEPPOAleppo cinema 021-313935/310704Al-Ameer 021-2112826Al-cham cinema 021-22405Al Hamraa cinema 021-322333/211071Al Khaiyam cinema 021-311067Opera 021-2120300Rametta 021-2112827ugarit 021-2124755Az-Zahra’a 021-4444228

cINEmAS - HOmSAl Amir 031-234131cinema Homs 021-2486340

cINEmAS - LATAKIADamascus 041-234233Al Ahram 041-237430Al-Fardous 041-833135

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cINEmAS - TARTuSAl Kindi cinema 043-224171Al Saba’a cinema 043-221139Al Abbasiyya cinema 043-220333

cINEmAS - DEIR EZ-ZuRAl Kindi cinema 051-221593

DVD STORES - DAmAScuS

Data Line 9804Al-Hoda 2317271Al-Na’eem centre 44670680Arebya co. 3319270cD centre 3338885Eaksousy 2321989Encyclopedia 2320276Fanty 6666701Firas 3111902Golden Technique 5321742Hisham 2213418Hi-Tech 6352800Jessy 5432090Laser 2457801Lezary centre 2456178majal Art 3336810masaya 6719873Syrian Video centre 4460358

DVD STORES - ALEPPOAl-Qasr centre 021-2255979Rainbow 021-4442542

DVD STORES - HOmSAhmed Al-Zebi 031-2470147Al-Ansar 031-2211279Al-Hob 031-2127140Al-Khoyoul 031-2618886Al-majd 031-2135154Al-mawas 031-2211477Al-Tahhan centre 031-2468519Al-Yanour 031-2471003Ayman Zahra centre 031-2477336

DVD STORES - LATAKIAmiami 041-431450

DVD STORES - SWEIDAFuture 016-251106

DVD STORES - HAmAAl-Hareef 033-238238Safwan 033-224632

DVD STORES - DAR’AAl-Khateeb centre 015-234752

LIBRARIES - DAmAScuS

Arabic Library for Arts & Tradition 2216373Al-Assad National Library 3334294, 3311073The Public Library 2310744

LIBRARIES - ALEPPOAl-Dar university Library 021-2244230Dar Al-mustaqbal 021-3211096The National Library 021-2238205

LIBRARIES - HOmSThe culture House Library 031-2235710The General Islamic Library 031-2313559The Generality Library 031-2222180The modern Arzabic Library 031-2232862

LIBRARIES - IDLEBThe Artistic Library 023-235446

BOOKSHOPS - DAmAScuS

Al-Amin 2212041Al-Anwar 2231199, 2244554Al-Fattal 2456786, 2222373, 2234525Al-Hariry 3320378Al-maghribi 2452993Al-miski 2237957Al-Noori 4419167Al-Tahhan 2222992Al-Wala’a 2231258, 2242104Al-Zahabi 3332581

BOOKSHOPS - ALEPPOAbdul Rahman Bsout 021-3321441Al-Anwar 021-4784163Al-Arabi 021-2269239Al-Fida’a 021-2214227Al-Fourqan 021-2686492Al-manara 021-2110494, 224 4385An-Nawras 021-3113833An-Nour 021-4610320Al-umniya 021-2113577

BOOKSHOPS - HOmSAbbas 031-2484996Abu Ahmad 031-2462907Al-Hagar 031-2516874Al-Hamawi 031-2229655Al-Hasen 031-2464181Al-Hayat 031-2753447Al-Nasem 031-2623620Al-Nedal 031-2467522Al-Nubala’a 031-2239587Al-Nur 031-2474733

BOOKSHOPS - HAmAAbi Al-Fida 033-223107Al-Dean 033-237282Hayek 033-225256Ibn al-Hytham 033-224173maghmoumeh 033-213690maher Fakhri 033-217781, 217962

BOOKSHOPS - LATAKIAAl-Imam Ja’afar Al-Sadeq 041-439724Al-Abbas 041-439166Al-Huda 041-470890Al-maha 041-826558Amar bin Yaser 041-424879Beirut 041-433298Zahrat Al-midan 041-436671

BOOKSHOPS - IDLEBAL-Amer 023-529195An-Nour 023-239630

Al-Baha’a 023-719853Al-Bierakdar 023-363017

BOOKSHOPS - SWEIDAAl-ma’rifa Bookshoop 016-230024

BOOKSHOPS - DEIR EZ-ZuRAs-Salmiyya 051-352323, 360905

BOOKSHOPS - DAR’ADar Al-Nada 015-230140

HAmmAmS & SPAS - DAmScuS

Hammam Al malek Alzaher 2225330Balloran Spa - Four Seasons 3391000Hammam Bakri 5426606Hammam Ammona 2316414Hammam Nureddin 2229513

BOOKSHOPS - ALEPPOAs-Sadat 021-3330519Bab Al-Ahmar 021-3622640Hammam Yalbougha An-Nasry 021-3623154

BOOKSHOPS - HOmSAl-Othmani Baths Oriental 031-2234395Kharraz 031-2232540

BOOKSHOPS - HAmAAl-Sadeya 033-215250

GYmS - DAmAScuS

Al-Sham Fitness 5617723Barada Gym 4450686Beauty & Fitness centre for Ladies 6315570Body Gym 2130651Dynamic Gym 4429890Gold Gym 4447000Fitness House 4427476Al Jalaa 6622147mayyas Women’s Gym 5127565Life Gym 2321773

GYm - ALEPPOAl-Hadad house 021-2289474Al-Vilat 021-4465612Al-Warak House 021-2228856Blue GYm 021-2332260

GYm - HOmSGym House 031-2453500

HOSPITALS - DAmAScuS

Al Assadi 6132500, 6132501Al Amal 4451334, 4451335Al Hayat 4455322, 4445043Al mwasat 2133000Al Rawda Surgery 3338392, 3330589Al Razi 6118445, 6111600Al Tawfeek 2228250, 2216364Dar Al-Shifaa’ 4414134, 4414120The French Hospital 4440460, 4448556

Ibn Al Nafees 5123637, 5121211Ibn Sina 5348834The Italian Hospital 3326030, 3326031The Red crescent centre 4421600, 4421601Tishreen 5119450, 5119451Yafa Surgical Hospital 6112792, 6114795

HOSPITALS - ALEPPOAl Ahli 021-2682801, 2682802Al Amal 021-2676074, 2675991Al Amir 021-2665551, 2667056Al Ashtar 021-2667393, 2676390Al Attar 021-2224420Ibn Rushd 021-4654977, 4654976Al Kalimeh 021-2674602, 2674601Al mwasat 021-2228738, 2238228Al Razi 021-2676001, 2676002The Red crescent centre 021-4646800Al Salam 021-4657800, 4657700Al Shihan 021-2661063, 2661062Saloum 021-4644830Al Shami 021-2211750Sraj Eddin 021-2675652, 2675651Al Kindi 021-4642800, 4642801

HOSPITALS - AL HASSAKAAl-Amal Hospital 052-426698Al-Hikma Hospital 052-315053The National Hospital 052-750025An-Numa Hospital 052-223107Dr. Sulayman Al-Saleh Hospital 052-750295Shaba Hospital 052-311171

HOSPITALS - HAmAAl-Asad medical Hospital 033-440301Al-Asfar Specialist Hospital 033-225331Al-Bader Specialist Hospital 033-416281

HOSPITALS - HOmSAl-Ahli Specialist Hospital 031-200474Al-Hikmah Hospital 031-2127408Al-Watani Hospital 031-2486475Al-Watani Hospital 031-2486478

HOSPITALS - IDLEBAl-Khateeb Surgical Hospital 023-548418Al-ma’arra Surgical Hospital 023-524524Areeha Hospital 023-717102maternity House Hospital 023-633460Saraqeb Specialist Hospital 023-850059

HOSPITALS - LATAKIAAl-Sufi Hospital 041-354825, 3177956

PHARmAcIES - DAmAScuS

Abdullah makhseen 4443928Adnan Nomeir 5420244Adnan Tinawi 4625040Al-Falah 6114850Al-Farabi 4421169Al-Farawati 2217613Al-Fardoos 4444926Akram Khalifeh 5121058Akram Khoulani 6214527Fadi Dawood 5617051

HOSPITALS - ALEPPOAl-Aasi 021-4787250Al-Aata’ 021-5506684Abdullah Arab 021-2666402Abdul Ahad Shallah 021-3216496Abdul Hannan 021-2687876Abdul Jaleel 021-2247827Al-Assa’ad 021-4448882

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Damascus International Airport 011-453 0201/9 Flight - 167 Reservation - 187

Police 112

Homicide 159

military Police 116

civil Defence 109

Fire Station 113

Traffic Police 115

Ambulance 110

Health Info centre 161

Operator 141

International call Operator 143

Phone clock 119

Tel-Information 147

Tel-Telegrams 146

Electricity Emergency 118

Water Supply complaints 114

Syrian Insurance company 186

uSEFuL NumBERS

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