The judges on the popular reality TV talent show Arabs' Got Talent usually use their buzzers to terminate a contestant's performance, or at the very least, to show their displeasure at what is being presented to them on stage.
But last Saturday, when five young musicians from Gaza took their spots on stage, their beautiful, emotional performance inspired one of the judges – Saudi actor and comedian Nasser Al Qasabi – to press the Golden Buzz, signifying that the contestants would be afforded a shortcut straight through to the live rounds of the show. That’s how good they were; that’s how much they tugged on the collective heartstrings in the room.
The six-and-a-half minute video of their audition, taken from last Saturday's episode of Arabs' Got Talent, has been spreading like wildfire. On Facebook alone, the video has received over 55,000 likes and been shared more than 40,000 times since it was first uploaded on Sunday. On YouTube, it has been viewed close to 2.5 million times and counting. An assortment of Twitter commentators proclaimed the episode the most moving since the show launched in January 2011, accompanied by the hashtag #GazaGotTalent.
You don’t need to understand Arabic to get what’s happening, either. The five Palestinian children from war-torn Gaza – four boys and a girl – all study at Gaza’s Edward Said National Conservatory of Music, and their band is called Al Takht Al Sharqi. Ahmad Al Madhoun is the lead singer, Sarraj Al Sersawi plays the oud, Mahmoud Kehail plays the qanun and Ramzi Alfar the tabla. The girl, Reema Ashour, plays the nai, a flute made of wood.
The band tried and failed to audition for Arabs' Got Talent three times before making it.
“We couldn’t, the checkpoints were closed, and there was no way for us to leave Gaza,” Al Sersawi says during the opening sequence of the video. “During the war, studying stopped because there was no way for us to go to school or the conservatory, but there were times when we’d get a respite, sometimes five days, three days at a time, maybe just one day, so we’d get together to film videos of our performance to send to the TV programme because we really wanted to take part.”
Bombs and war did not deter the musicians from their desire to show the world talent from Gaza.
“Despite the bombing and the war and the destruction – on our way to the conservatory, we always see destroyed homes, destruction everywhere, it really bothers a person to see things like that, on the way to go perform music – we kept getting together and practising because we really wanted to take part in the TV programme,” said Al Sersawi. “We wanted to show that Gaza has talent, Palestine has talent.”
On their fourth attempt to leave Gaza, the members of Al Takht Al Sharqi finally crossed into Egypt, then travelled hours on bus to the airport in Cairo, where they boarded a flight to Beirut.
“The road was so long in the bus. We slept in the airport for one night, it was hard.”
Finally on stage, they performed a moving rendition of a song by the late Lebanese singer Wadih El Safi, Alallah T'oud, which means By God May It Return, in reference to Palestine. It is a well-loved anthem related to Palestine and to lost lands and showcased their incredible talents to the four celebrity judges – Al Qasabi, Lebanese singer Najwa Karam, Egyptian actor and comedian Ahmed Helmi and MBC Group TV director Ali Jaber – and the audience of millions who watched Saturday night.
Their performance – well-executed and heavy with emotion – moved the audience to tears. When Al Qasabi pressed the Golden Buzz and confetti showered down on the performers prompting all four judges to get to their feet to clap and sing along, the youngest musician, playing the qanun, had tears running down his face. The show’s hosts, Saudi rapper and musician Qusai and Lebanese TV presenter Raya Abirached, were visibly moved. Abirached was unable to contain her tears; Qusai said: “Palestine is deserving, Gaza is deserving.”
“We want to show that the children of Gaza have talents,” said the youngest boy in the band.
Dina Al Natour, a Palestinian -Jordanian mother of two living in Dubai, was one of the first to share the video in the UAE, early on Sunday morning, a few hours after the show aired on MBC4. She wrote on her Facebook feed: “In the middle of war they sang. In the midst of all the death and pain they did not give up and were determined to follow their dream. So many other kids from Gaza have not been able to leave yet. So many wonderful talented kids were killed before they got the chance … But I’m happy at least these kids were able to.”
Ellen Schwarz, who lives all the way over in Oakland, California, was one of the more recent people to share the video on Facebook; she posted it to her timeline on Tuesday afternoon UAE time, and wrote: “No translation necessary ... the photos and huge smiles tell it all ... so affirming and impressive what beauty can come from such hardship.”
At the end of the performance, when all four judges had made their way onto the stage to embrace and congratulate the young musicians, Karam asked the youngest of them, after he put his qanun aside and wiped his face of tears, to share how he is feeling.
His answer? “Joy.”
• Season four of Arabs’ Got Talent (www.mbc.net/mbc4) is on MBC4 every Saturday from 10pm to midnight. Follow the show on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram; stream past episodes through shahid.mbc.net
artslife@thenational.ae
Barbie
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Green ambitions
- Trees: 1,500 to be planted, replacing 300 felled ones, with veteran oaks protected
- Lake: Brown's centrepiece to be cleaned of silt that makes it as shallow as 2.5cm
- Biodiversity: Bat cave to be added and habitats designed for kingfishers and little grebes
- Flood risk: Longer grass, deeper lake, restored ponds and absorbent paths all meant to siphon off water
The specs
- Engine: 3.9-litre twin-turbo V8
- Power: 640hp
- Torque: 760nm
- On sale: 2026
- Price: Not announced yet
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MATCH INFO
Day 1 at Mount Maunganui
England 241-4
Denly 74, Stokes 67 not out, De Grandhomme 2-28
New Zealand
Yet to bat
Three ways to boost your credit score
Marwan Lutfi says the core fundamentals that drive better payment behaviour and can improve your credit score are:
1. Make sure you make your payments on time;
2. Limit the number of products you borrow on: the more loans and credit cards you have, the more it will affect your credit score;
3. Don't max out all your debts: how much you maximise those credit facilities will have an impact. If you have five credit cards and utilise 90 per cent of that credit, it will negatively affect your score.
PROFILE
Name: Enhance Fitness
Year started: 2018
Based: UAE
Employees: 200
Amount raised: $3m
Investors: Global Ventures and angel investors
Fanney Khan
Producer: T-Series, Anil Kapoor Productions, ROMP, Prerna Arora
Director: Atul Manjrekar
Cast: Anil Kapoor, Aishwarya Rai, Rajkummar Rao, Pihu Sand
Rating: 2/5
Killing of Qassem Suleimani
COMPANY PROFILE
Name: Qyubic
Started: October 2023
Founder: Namrata Raina
Based: Dubai
Sector: E-commerce
Current number of staff: 10
Investment stage: Pre-seed
Initial investment: Undisclosed
57%20Seconds
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Other ways to buy used products in the UAE
UAE insurance firm Al Wathba National Insurance Company (AWNIC) last year launched an e-commerce website with a facility enabling users to buy car wrecks.
Bidders and potential buyers register on the online salvage car auction portal to view vehicles, review condition reports, or arrange physical surveys, and then start bidding for motors they plan to restore or harvest for parts.
Physical salvage car auctions are a common method for insurers around the world to move on heavily damaged vehicles, but AWNIC is one of the few UAE insurers to offer such services online.
For cars and less sizeable items such as bicycles and furniture, Dubizzle is arguably the best-known marketplace for pre-loved.
Founded in 2005, in recent years it has been joined by a plethora of Facebook community pages for shifting used goods, including Abu Dhabi Marketplace, Flea Market UAE and Arabian Ranches Souq Market while sites such as The Luxury Closet and Riot deal largely in second-hand fashion.
At the high-end of the pre-used spectrum, resellers such as Timepiece360.ae, WatchBox Middle East and Watches Market Dubai deal in authenticated second-hand luxury timepieces from brands such as Rolex, Hublot and Tag Heuer, with a warranty.
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The%20specs
%3Cp%3E%3Cstrong%3EEngine%3A%20%3C%2Fstrong%3E3.5-litre%20twin-turbo%20V6%20%0D%3Cbr%3E%3Cstrong%3EPower%3A%20%3C%2Fstrong%3E456hp%20at%205%2C000rpm%0D%3Cbr%3E%3Cstrong%3ETorque%3A%20%3C%2Fstrong%3E691Nm%20at%203%2C500rpm%0D%3Cbr%3E%3Cstrong%3ETransmission%3A%20%3C%2Fstrong%3E10-speed%20auto%20%0D%3Cbr%3E%3Cstrong%3EFuel%20consumption%3A%20%3C%2Fstrong%3E14.6L%2F100km%0D%3Cbr%3E%3Cstrong%3EPrice%3A%20%3C%2Fstrong%3Efrom%20Dh349%2C545%0D%3Cbr%3E%3Cstrong%3EOn%20sale%3A%20%3C%2Fstrong%3Enow%3C%2Fp%3E%0A
The specs: 2019 Mercedes-Benz C200 Coupe
Price, base: Dh201,153
Engine: 2.0-litre turbocharged four-cylinder
Transmission: Nine-speed automatic
Power: 204hp @ 5,800rpm
Torque: 300Nm @ 1,600rpm
Fuel economy, combined: 6.7L / 100km
Copa del Rey final
Sevilla v Barcelona, Saturday, 11.30pm (UAE), match on Bein Sports
F1 The Movie
Starring: Brad Pitt, Damson Idris, Kerry Condon, Javier Bardem
Director: Joseph Kosinski
Rating: 4/5
What can victims do?
Always use only regulated platforms
Stop all transactions and communication on suspicion
Save all evidence (screenshots, chat logs, transaction IDs)
Report to local authorities
Warn others to prevent further harm
Courtesy: Crystal Intelligence
How to donate
Send “thenational” to the following numbers or call the hotline on: 0502955999
2289 – Dh10
2252 – Dh 50
6025 – Dh20
6027 – Dh 100
6026 – Dh 200
Ferrari 12Cilindri specs
Engine: naturally aspirated 6.5-liter V12
Power: 819hp
Torque: 678Nm at 7,250rpm
Price: From Dh1,700,000
Available: Now
THE BIO
Favourite book: ‘Purpose Driven Life’ by Rick Warren
Favourite travel destination: Switzerland
Hobbies: Travelling and following motivational speeches and speakers
Favourite place in UAE: Dubai Museum
UAE currency: the story behind the money in your pockets
ESSENTIALS
The flights
Emirates flies from Dubai to Phnom Penh via Yangon from Dh2,700 return including taxes. Cambodia Bayon Airlines and Cambodia Angkor Air offer return flights from Phnom Penh to Siem Reap from Dh250 return including taxes. The flight takes about 45 minutes.
The hotels
Rooms at the Raffles Le Royal in Phnom Penh cost from $225 (Dh826) per night including taxes. Rooms at the Grand Hotel d'Angkor cost from $261 (Dh960) per night including taxes.
The tours
A cyclo architecture tour of Phnom Penh costs from $20 (Dh75) per person for about three hours, with Khmer Architecture Tours. Tailor-made tours of all of Cambodia, or sites like Angkor alone, can be arranged by About Asia Travel. Emirates Holidays also offers packages.
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INDIA'S%20TOP%20INFLUENCERS
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How much do leading UAE’s UK curriculum schools charge for Year 6?
- Nord Anglia International School (Dubai) – Dh85,032
- Kings School Al Barsha (Dubai) – Dh71,905
- Brighton College Abu Dhabi - Dh68,560
- Jumeirah English Speaking School (Dubai) – Dh59,728
- Gems Wellington International School – Dubai Branch – Dh58,488
- The British School Al Khubairat (Abu Dhabi) - Dh54,170
- Dubai English Speaking School – Dh51,269
*Annual tuition fees covering the 2024/2025 academic year
The specs
Engine: 2.0-litre 4-cyl turbo
Power: 201hp at 5,200rpm
Torque: 320Nm at 1,750-4,000rpm
Transmission: 6-speed auto
Fuel consumption: 8.7L/100km
Price: Dh133,900
On sale: now
Libya's Gold
UN Panel of Experts found regime secretly sold a fifth of the country's gold reserves.
The panel’s 2017 report followed a trail to West Africa where large sums of cash and gold were hidden by Abdullah Al Senussi, Qaddafi’s former intelligence chief, in 2011.
Cases filled with cash that was said to amount to $560m in 100 dollar notes, that was kept by a group of Libyans in Ouagadougou, Burkina Faso.
A second stash was said to have been held in Accra, Ghana, inside boxes at the local offices of an international human rights organisation based in France.
Pakistan squad
Sarfraz (c), Zaman, Imam, Masood, Azam, Malik, Asif, Sohail, Shadab, Nawaz, Ashraf, Hasan, Amir, Junaid, Shinwari and Afridi
