Browsing 'culture' News

bydohanews
Life
bydohanews
Life

National Day celebrations at Katara Cultural Village

Date and Venue: December 13 – 19 from 04:00 pm – 10:00 pm at Katara Cultural Village

Entry Free

Experience the sense of patriotism on National Day celebrations at Katara Cultural Village that is offering exciting array of cultural activities and artistic performances. The organisers promise first-of-its-kind events and activities, including performances by paratroopers, theatrical play by Qatari youth,  a mosaic painting of Emir H H Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al Thani, entertainment’ train, dancing’ fountain, stunning decorations and lots more.

Don’t miss the opportunity to be a part of fun-filled gathering in ongoing celebrations.

Qatar National Day celebrations at The Pearl-Qatar

Date and Venue: December 15 to 18. Daily from 06:00 pm onwards at 6 & 7 La Croisette, Porto Arabia, The Pearl

Entry Free

Qatar’s National day celebrations are in full swing with various activities lined up for the next few days. The Pearl is decorated in glitter and glory, displaying cultural symbols. Various recreation and social activities are planned attracting large number of visitors.

The four-day event will include Arabic-style tents serving dates and traditional coffee, dedicated spaces  for children to play and colour their faces with National Day-inspired designs, Mascots portraying traditional cartoon characters, falcons on display, Folkloric ‘Arda’ performances and henna drawing.  This is one of the most exciting times of the year and marks the beginning of celebrations that will last till the year end.

Driven by German Design Exhibition

Date and Venue: October 13 – 14 January 2018. Daily from 09:00am to 07:00pm, except Fridays – 01:30pm to 07:00 pm at Qatar Museums Gallery, Al Riwaq

 Entry free

Driven by German Design opened in October as part of the Qatar-German year of Culture, 2017. The exhibition is organised by Qatar Museums, German Embassy in Doha and the Goethe-Institut Gulf Region.

The vast exhibition space was curated by renowned museum director, Prof. Dr. Martin Roth. It features marvellous sights of numerous design objects loaned from some of Germany’s most significant cultural institutions, such as the Vitra Design Museum, Neue Sammlung, Porsche Museum and Museum für Angewandte Kunst Frankfurt.

The exhibition highlights development of German designs since 1950, from diverse fields, including product and graphic design, architecture, furniture, fashion and automotive design, including some of the rare sight objects like iPhones, cameras and most iconic cars ever to have been designed. Porsche 911 Turbo, Volkswagen Golf and Käfer as a major attraction.

‘Design laboratory’ erases the difference between abstract and real, featuring interactive technologies and prototypes making victor’s experience all the more entertaining.

Exploring Expression by Fahad Al Obaidly

Date and Venue: December 16  – 16 January 2018. Daily from 09:00 am – 07:00 pm at W Doha Hotel & Residences

Entry Free

Abstract is an immediate relief from the realities we experience. It brings on a whole new world with no pre-defined discourse. If you are looking for such a line of flight, this may be your immediate choice. Set free your imagination with awakening vibrancy of colours by Fahad Al Obaidly, an artist who believes that art is a way to free world. He has put in efforts to underline ‘identity crises’ in his work. His art brings about his urge to portray the instability individuals face in the contemporary globalised arena that has taken away the sense of true self, alienating them even in a crowd.

Qatar Superstock 600 at Losail Circuit Sports Club

Date and Venue: December 15 – 16. From 09:00 am onwards at Losail Circuit Sports Club

Entry Free (for spectators)

If you are looking to increase the torque of your regular life, Qatar SuperStock 600 (QSTK600) is a perfect stop. The road racing championship organized by Qatar Motor Motorcycle Federation and Losail Circuit Sports Club is an exciting championship in which participants will use the best of their racing skills using one-make bike that will be used for the rest of the season. It will be a stocked 600cc bike.

This year, Qatar Superstock 600 Championship will have a new class QSTK Trophy that will be exclusively open to riders who achieve their best lap time of 2.09 minutes at the Losail International Circuit with a 600cc bike, or 2.07 minutes with a 1000cc bike, in five rounds. Join the thrill.

Car Stunt Show at Aspire Zone

Date and Venue: December 8 – 6 January.  Daily three shows: 2:30 pm, 5:30 pm and 7:30 pm at the Aspire Zone, New Driving School Park.

Entry Fee: 100 QAR per person and children under 5 have free entry

This is a walk-in event showcasing thrilling stunts by experts and participants. If you are looking for an exciting show of technique and speed producing stimulating visions of man and machine, this is the place to be at.

Live Performance by Allan Pineda Lindo / Apl De Ap

 

Date and Venue: December 15 – 16 from 08:00 pm – 02:00 am at The St. Regis, Doha

Entry Fee: Regular -250 QAR and VIP -500 QAR

Performance by Allan Pineda Lindo, professionally known as Apl De Ap, is a Filipino-American musician, rapper, singer, and record producer. He is best known as a member of the Grammy Award-winning hip hop group, The Black Eyed Peas.

Join the night to Hip and Hop on energetic tunes of world class DJ and striking performance by the Filipino- American singer.

 

 

byRiham Sheble
Politics
byRiham Sheble
Politics
Hamad bin Abdulaziz al-Kuwari

Coffeedrinker115 / Wikipedia

Hamad bin Abdulaziz Al Kuwari

Gulf countries have reportedly renewed their support for Dr. Hamad bin Abdulaziz Al Kuwari as he runs to be the next director-general of the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO).

If elected, Qatar’s long-time culture minister would be the first Arab to hold the position.

Last week, GCC Secretary General Abdullatif bin Rashid al-Zayani, expressed support for Al Kuwari during his two-day visit to Saudi Arabia, Al Raya reported.

Al-Zayani lauded Al Kuwari for his “exceptional efforts in enriching the cultural scene in Qatar and the influential roles he played in enhancing the cultural collaboration between GCC states throughout his appointment as the minister of culture and heritage in Qatar,” the newspaper said.

Sheikha Moza

UN Geneva/Flickr

Sheikha Moza

According to QNA, this was Al Kuwari’s first visit to the kingdom since declaring his official candidacy for the UNESCO post, and came “in recognition of Saudi Arabia’s role in preserving and maintaining Arab heritage and supporting culture on all fronts.”

Qatar has long been a supporter of the UN’s cultural agency. In 2011, Sheikha Moza pledged to help fulfill its education goals after the group lost a fifth of its funding from the US.

The nation had frozen millions of dollars in contributions after member states voted to make Palestine a full member of the group.

Nomination

Al Kuwari was officially named as Qatar’s nominee for the position of UNESCO director-general last year. If elected, he will succeed Irina Bokova, current leader of the Paris-based organization whose term ends in 2017.

Al Zubarah Fort is Qatar's only UNESCO heritage site.

Rhandy Pelaez/Flickr

Al Zubarah Fort is Qatar\’s only UNESCO heritage site.

Last October, QNA reported that the GCC ministers of culture had lent their unswerving support of Al Kuwari at the conclusion of their 21st meeting in Doha.

Al-Zayani’s reiteration last week consolidates the pledge that the Gulf countries will support Qatar’s contender.

Al Kuwari served as Minister of Information and Culture from 1992 to 1997 and was named Qatar’s minister of culture and heritage in 2008. He held the post until last month’s Cabinet shakeup.

At present, he serves as the cultural advisor to the Emir.

Doha International Book Fair, for illustrative purposes only.

Navin Sam

Doha International Book Fair, for illustrative purposes only.

How other nations outside of this region are viewing Al Kuwari’s candidacy remains unclear.

The official has previously been criticized by some organizations for allowing, in his capacity as culture minister, the inclusion of anti-Jewish material in Qatar’s 2015 International Book Fair.

Resume

Al-Kuwari obtained his bachelor’s degree in Arabic and Islamic Studies from Cairo University, according to a brief biography published by the government.

He studied political philosophy at La Sorbonne and acquired a PhD in political science from The State University of New York at Stony Brook.

For illustrative purposes only.

Ashitaka San / Flickr

For illustrative purposes only.

He had an earlier career in diplomacy where he served in several residential and non-resident ambassadorial positions in Greece, Switzerland, the US, Brazil and Venezuela among other countries.

Between 1984 and 1990, he was also Qatar’s ambassador to the United Nations.

Al-Kuwari is trilingual, speaking Arabic, English and French. He presided over Qatar’s delegation to the 2012 Francophonie summit in the Democratic Republic of Congo, which concluded with the Gulf state joining the organization of French-speaking nations.

Thoughts?

byLesley Walker
News
byLesley Walker
News
For illustrative purposes only

Andrew Burke/Flickr

For illustrative purposes only

Dinner with a friend and confidante of Elvis Presley, free movie screenings, a New-York style jazz night, fashion shows and a family sports day are some of the highlights in a week-long celebration of all things American in Qatar next week.

The annual Discover America Week, which runs from Feb. 15 to 22, is organized by the Embassy of the United States in conjunction with the American Chamber of Commerce.

Nearly two dozen events are scheduled for the week, covering business and innovation, travel, food, music, fashion, art, education and culture, according to a statement by the US mission in Doha.

Here are a few highlights for the week ahead:

Movie screenings

Leonardo DiCaprio plays the role of fur trapper and frontiersman Hugh Glass in the award-winning film The Revenant. During an expedition, Glass is mauled by a bear and left for dead by some members of his team, and the film charts his survival and continuing journey.

Novo Cinema on the Pearl-Qatar has a free screening of the film on Feb 15 at 3pm. For more information, call 4496-8195.

Martin Luther King

Wiki Commons

Martin Luther King

On Feb. 22 at 3pm, Novo Cinema at the Pearl is also showing a free screening of Selma, which portrays Martin Luther King’s campaign to secure equal voting rights in a march from Selma to Montgomery in Alabama in 1965. Call 4496-8195 for more details.

The Museum of Islamic Art is hosting an American Film Showcase on Feb. 18 from 7pm to 9pm.

Organized by the US Embassy and Doha Film Institute (DFI), it includes a screening of Michael Rossato-Bennett’s documentary Alive Inside.

Winner of the Audience Award at the 2014 Sundance Film Festival, the documentary shows social worker Dan Cohen’s attempt to demonstrate how music can be used to combat memory loss with dementia patients.

It shows how his not-for-profit charity Music & Memory uses personalized music to help restore a sense of identity and self in its subjects.

Rossat-Bennett will be at the event to answer questions after the screening.

Tickets should be booked in advance via the DFI website.

Elvis celebration

The region’s only official Elvis Presley fan club has several events planned for the week to celebrate the life and works of the king of rock ‘n’ roll.

Elvis Presley

Elvis Presley Fan Club of Qatar/Facebook

Elvis Presley

The Qatar-based club, which launched in September last year, has some 30 members in the country and 3,000 from around the wider region who have joined up to its Facebook site, founder and organizer Lisa Bseiso said.

The 34-year-old, who was born and raised in Qatar, is a life-long fan of ’50s and ’60s music and was driven to establish the group after visiting the singer’s mansion, Graceland, in Memphis, Tennessee, in 2013.

She told Doha News:

“I was in the jungle room at Graceland and I had a vision. I saw Elvis there. He looked at me and asked me to help him spread his legacy. It was so intense, there was a connection and it made me bring the group to Qatar,” Bseiso said.

The club, which is a non-profit organization, has invited a friend and confidante of the Presley family to host a dinner as one of the club’s first official events.

An Evening with Gerry Shilling, at the Grand Hyatt Hotel on Feb. 17 from 7pm, features entertainment consultant Shilling giving his impressions from life inside the gates of Graceland during Elvis’s lifetime. Tickets for the dinner, inclusive of drinks, cost QR350.

An Elvis-themed brunch featuring DJ Argo will be on Feb. 19 while an alfresco Elvis movie screening and barbecue is also set for Feb. 20, 6.30pm at the Grand Hyatt.

For more information on the events or to book tickets, contact [email protected].

Politics

As the presidential race heats up in the US, a public forum aims to give some expert analysis on the candidates, what’s happening in the primaries and the general election itself.

Presidential Predictions Forum: Media, Politics and Campaigns 2016, on Feb. 17 from 8:30am, at the Grand Hyatt Hotel includes two panelists specializing in American politics, an award-winning TV producer and a media commentator.

The panel will feature Clyde Wilcox, professor of political science at Georgetown School of Foreign Service in Qatar; Jocelyn Mitchell, assistant professor of liberal arts at Northwestern University in Qatar; and Yasir Khan, an Al Jazeera English producer and documentary filmmaker.

Tickets are free for chamber members. Non-members can pay QR200 per person at registration. To register, contact [email protected].

Family sports

Lulu Barwa City is hosting a free, American sports family fun day on Feb. 19 from 2pm to 5pm.

Children can learn basic skills with interactive displays representing basketball, American football, baseball and cheerleading. There will also be games, entertainment and tastings of American food.

The Chevrolet family day (Feb. 20, 11am to 4pm) features American cars, food, children’s activities and baseball. More information can be obtained by emailing [email protected].

Food and music

The New York Steak House at the Marriot Marquis Hotel attached to City Center Mall has flown in executive chef Andy Arndt from California to preside over a week-long (Feb. 15 to 22) celebration of American and Californian cuisine.

Call 4419-5000 for reservations or book through the hotel’s website.

For illustrative purposes only

James Zach Hollo

For illustrative purposes only

The St Regis Hotel’s Jazz at the Lincoln Center has a week of the best of American jazz featuring the New York Sound band from Feb. 16 to 21, from 9pm.

For more information, call 4446-0105.

There is also a showcase of American fashion at 51 East in Lagoona Mall as well as business, travel and study events.

A full run-down of what’s on and when during the week is on the embassy’s website.

Thoughts?