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Manama: An Islamist society with seven deputies in parliament yesterday vowed to form an investigation committee to probe allegations that a cultural show on March 1 in Bahrain included religiously and morally offensive dances.
The show, Laila Wal Majnoon (Laila and the Possessed), a choreographic interpretation by a Lebanese troupe of a poem by Bahraini Qasim Haddad, was performed at the opening of the Spring of Culture, a 800,000 dinar (Dh7,791,008) festival organised by the Ministry of Information to celebrate local and international cultural activities.
Leading Lebanese singer Marcel Khalifa sang at the show while male and female dancers staged the relationship between the two famous Arab lovers, Laila and Qais.
But according to the society, Al Asala, the show, in which the dancers portrayed "intimate acts", has caused grave consternation and serious condemnation from people who watched it or heard about it.
"The dances were depraved and offended our religious and moral sensitivities as well as our traditions. In addition, the lyrics were a blatant violation of our Islamic precepts and values," Al Asala said in a statement to the press.
The society said that it had received several phone calls from people who complained about the show and called for stringent action.
"The constitution clearly stipulates that Islam is the religion of the country, so everything that happens in Bahrain should comply with what the religion preaches. We should not have anything that attacks or violates our values," the statement said.
Now Al Asala wants to cooperate with the other political formations in the parliament to launch an investigation.
The society added that it would also study the "violations" and would call for "adequate" measures against the organisers.
Last week, Islamist deputy Shaikh Mohammad Khalid attacked the show and said that his bloc, Al Menbar, an offshoot of the Muslim brotherhood, would look into forming a parliamentarian investigation committee.
"The festival should have been called the Spring of Foolishness, not Culture," he said.
But his comments drew the ire of liberals who charged that Islamists could not appreciate culture and were always prone to defeat attempts to promote arts.
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