BREITBART
by Joel Pollak
November 9, 2014
Ema Shah is a superstar in Kuwait and the Arab world. Known for her singing and her musical style, which blends pop and classical influences, she is also a pioneer for women in the region, choosing to dress as she wishes–not just on stage but in everyday life as well. Lately, Shah–is trying to break a political taboo by reaching out to Jewish musicians–defying cultural hostility to Israel, hoping she can help cultivate peace.
The 34-year-old Shah’s interest in Hebrew dates to 2010, when she caused an international controversy by singing the familiar Jewish folk song, “Hava Nagila,” at a nightclub as part of a performance involving multiple languages. The audience loved it, she told Breitbart News in an interview last week, but a few people were shocked, and alerted police. One woman shouted: “No normalization with Israel, this is Zionism,” Shah recalls.
The incident only made Shah–winner of Best Music Video at the New York Winter Film Awards in 2014–more determined to reach out to Israeli–and Jewish–singers and musicians, in the Middle East and the United States. She hopes that by doing so, she can break through the barriers of mistrust in the region, and undo hateful attitudes in the Muslim world in particular…..
ArchitectGuy on Israel 