Riyadh (AsiaNews / Agencies) - Saudi Arabia yields to Western-style talent shows and launches "Buraydah's got Talent". Organized by the Burayadah Internet Forum, the program will start in the coming months and will be located outdoors in downtown Burayadah, one of the most fundamentalist cities of the Saudi kingdom.
Unlike the popular "Arab's Got Talent" aired in the United Arab Emirates and famed throughout the Middle East, the program made by the Saudi city is forbidden to women, and forbids anyone to sing, dance or play a musical instrument. It has instead a very specific purpose: to encourage young people in the best way to honor the Prophet Mohammed and Allah, through poems, hymns and sports performances. Contestants will be judged by experts on Islam, poets, producers and TV presenters.
The transmission takes its cue from "Arab's Got Talent", but according to its organizers, it is a response of the kingdom, the guardian of Muslim morality, to the Emirates popular show that has aroused some controversy in the Islamic world. In 2011, the singer Shamma Hamdan, one of the most talented competitors, presented an act in men's clothing and without the veil, provoking condemnation of all the Saudi religious authorities, who prohibited the transmission in the country.