Manama: A Kuwaiti singer and composer has sparked furore in Kuwait after she sang a song in Hebrew at a local club.
Performing at the Alumni Club in Kuwait City, Emma Shah sang "Come … Let us rejoice, be happy, enjoy" as part of a recital of anthropologist songs.
However, she was immediately accused of promoting Zionist ideas and of being used to push for normalisation of relations with Israel.
Emma, 28, said that she was shocked by the negative reaction to a song that called for peace and co-existence.
"The same song had been performed by Dalilda in French and in Hebrew. I just followed her example, and in fact, I knew the exact meaning of the words only after the negative reaction," she was quoted as saying in media reports.
The singer insisted that the song, unlike claims by her detractors, did not include any insults of Arabs.
Her explanations were rejected mainly by religious figures, ostensibly upset by her use of Hebrew in the predominantly Muslim northern Arabian Gulf country.
End Item / 143
