First Arab Musician to be Featured on Times Square Billboard in New York : Amr Diab – Egypt : 2019

Amr Diab (aka) El Hadaba . Musician. Actor.

One of the top selling Arab music recording artists.

Awards :

-7 – World Music Awards / 6 – African Music Awards / many more etc.

-The First Arab singer to receive the largest number of International Music Awards for most album sales in the Middle East . Guinness World Record – 2016

-Inducted into ‘Dubai Star Walk of Fame’ – 2019

-First Arab Musician to be featured by Spotify on a Times Square Billboard in New York – 2019

-Will feature in upcoming Netflix Arabic series for Middle East and North Africa, after his 27-year hiatus from acting.

____________________

pix: musicinafrica.net

___________

Egypt

World’s Largest and Biggest Camel Racing Festival – Saudi Arabia : September 2019

13,377 camels participated in the largest camel racing tournament in the world. Certificate issued by Guinness World Records.

The event was organised by the Saudi Camel Racing Federation and was held on September 13th, 2019 at Taif, Saudi Arabia.

The Crown Prince Camel Festival / pix: thenational.ae

_______________

Saudi Arabia

Highest Sword Throw – Hazza Sulaiman Al Shehhi – Fujairah (UAE) : November 2010

Hazza Sulaiman Al Shehhi – successfully executed the highest sword throw reaching 21.275m (69ft.9″).

It was achieved as a part of the Fujairah Crown Prince Award and Al Saif Traditional Sword competition, held at Fujairah Fort, Fujairah, United Arab Emirates on November 26th, 2010.

Hazza has a specially developed technique for throwing the sword.

The attempt was measured using videography and high precision laser measuring meter called Leica Disto D8. The event was certified by Guinness World Records.

pix: thenational.ae

_______________________________________

Fujairah, United Arab Emirates (UAE)

Winners of ‘Short Film Production Grant’ – Sharjah Art Foundation – UAE : July 2020

Sharjah Art Foundation announces winners of Short Film Production Grant.

Filmmakers Nadira Amrani (b. 1993, Manchester, UK), Soha Shukayr (b. 1989, Baljarshi, Saudi Arabia) and Pelin Tan and Anton Vidokle (b. 1974, Hilden, Germany; b. 1965, Moscow, Russia) have been awarded a total of US$ 30,000 to support the creation of the three original short films.

The winning candidates were selected from a pool of more than 500 applicants from over 65 countries,

All three films will be shown at future editions of the Sharjah Film Platform.

Shukayr presenting her film at 3rd edition of Sharjah Film Platform, 4th to 21st November 2020, and Amrani and duo Tan and Vidokle presenting their films at the 2021 edition.

“Sharjah Film Platform was conceived to support filmmakers from all over the region and around the world ” said Hoor Al Qasimi, Director of Sharjah Art Foundation. “

pix: wam.ae

_____________________________________

Sharjah, United Arab Emirates (UAE)

World’s Longest Chandelier – at ‘Ali Bin Khalifa Al Hitmi’, Doha, Qatar : June 2010

The world’s longest chandelier by number of lights called ‘ Reflective Lights’ is installed at the Ali Bin Khalifa Al Hitmi & Co, office building on the water front in Doha on June 23rd, 2010.

-Largest Chandelier in the world

-Largest inter-active LED light sculpture

The exhibit is an organic art sculpture by day and then transformed when the light is introduced behind the glass frame.

The ‘Reflective Lights’ chandelier weighs 18,000 kg (39,683 lbs) and has 165,000 LED units. It measures 5.8m (19ft) in height at 12.5m (41 ft) in linear width and 38.5 m (126 ft 4in) in linear length. Certified by Guinness World Records.

The Chandelier is designed by Beau McClellan, Scotland.

pix: wholesaleledlights.co.uk

________

Qatar

World Record for ‘Spinning 200 Hula Hoops Simultaneously ‘ – Marawa Ibrahim – Somali Australian

Marawa Ibrahim (aka) Marawa The Amazing, has the World record for performing ‘200 Hoops at one time’. Acrobat. Author. Teacher.

She also holds another 12 records. Austraclian champion of records.

Author of the book ‘The Girl Guide’ – helping to empower young women to live changing their bodies.

www.marawatheamazing.com

source: marawantheamazing.com

_______________________________

Australian. Somali-Australian

First Arab Actor To Receive ‘Dubai Star’ – Egyptian Ahmed Helmy : October 2019

Ahmed Helmy’s (Ahmed Muhamed Helmy Abdel Rahman Awwad) name was placed in the ‘Celebrity Corridor in Dubai’ , an Arab Version of the ‘Hollywood Walk of Fame’.

Ahmed Helmy – Actor. Comedian. Film Producer. TV Presenter. TV Personality. Author

Dubai Star was launched with the first 400 stars in October 2019.

The Dubai Stars is a grand tribute to renowned personalities who have positively contributed to the world through their work in various fields, such as filmmaking, art, architecture and music.

pix: ElFajr News – commons.wikipedia.com

__________

Egypt

Nuruddin Farah – International Award Winning Writer : Somalia

Nuruddin Farah (aka) Nuuradiin Faaraa . Novelist. Essayist. Short Stories. Playwright. Educator.

Books /Novels :

-From a crooked rib (1970) /A naked needle (1976) / Sweet and Sour Milk (1979) / Sardines (1981) / Close Sesame (1983) / Blood in the Sun (1986) / Maps (1986) / Gifts (1993) / Secrets (1998) / Past Imperfect / Links (2004) / Knots (2007) / Crossbones (2011) / Hiding in Plain Sight (2014) / North of Dawn (2018)…etc..

Awards/Honours :

-English-Speaking Union Literary Award (for Sweet and Sour Milk) (1980) / -Corman Artists Fellowship (1990) /- Kurt Tucholsky Prize, Sweden (1991) / -Best Novel Award (for Gifts), Zimbabwe (1993) / Premio Cavour (for Italian translation of Close Sesame),Italy (1994) / -Neustadt International Prize for Literature (1998) /- St Malo Literary Festival Award (for French edition of Gifts) (1998) etc…

Presently lives in Cape Town, South Africa

pic: hiiraan.com

_________

Somalia

Largest Copper Bas-relief Sculpture : Ali Moneer Alassad , Syria 2009

The largest copper bas-relief created by Ali Moneer Alassad in Qurdaha, Lattakia, Syria, on 2 July 2009.

The bas-relief measures 122.5 sq mtr (1,318.5) sq m and is 50.10 m long and 2.44 m tall.

Alassad and his team spent 4,000 working hours to finish the copper bas-relief. The copper bas-relief is surrounded by ornamental plant Islamic framework and includes a 78 portraits represent the most important archaeological finds in Syria throughout history.

The bas-relief reflects the history of Syria since 9 thousand years BC. until the present time.

source: Guinness World Records / world-records.org /

_______

Syria

World’s Largest Hand-Woven Carpet – Abu Dhabi, UAE

The largest hand-woven carpet sits in Sheikh Zayed Al Nahyan Mosque in Abu Dhabi.

The massive Persian carpet was created in 9 parts and assembled inside the mosque. It took 1,200 weavers from the Khorasan province about one year to hand craft. The carpet features 2.2 billion hand-tied individual rug knots, weighs 12 tons and is 5,360 square meters (60,000.81 sq. feet) . It was manufactured in Iran in 2007.

Record by the Guiness World Records

___________________________________

Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates