By Mubarak Al-Enezi
KUWAIT, Feb 6 (KUNA) -- The National Council for Culture, Arts and Letters (NCCAL) has wrapped up the 22nd Al-Qurain Cultural Festival with a concert performed by Wa'd Al-Bahari at Abdulhussein Abdulredha Theater on Saturday night.
NCCAL's Assistant Secretary General for the Culture Sector Mohammad Al-Asousi said this year's edition of the festival gained additional significance as it coincided with Kuwait's celebrations marking the selection as Capital of Islamic Culture for 2016.
"The festival featured a variety of cultural events, including artistic, musical, theatrical, poetic and literary events," he said in a statement to KUNA on the sidelines of the closing ceremony.
"It has seen the honoring of winners of the state order of merit and incentive order, as well as symposia for artistic celebrities such as Abdullah Fadhalah and Aisha Ibrahim," Al-Asousi pointed out.
While the country celebrates its well-deserved selection as Capital of Islamic Culture this year, the NCCAL will continue holding a range of cultural activities throughout the year in collaboration with the concerned state departments and civil society institutions, he added.
Meanwhile, NCCAL's Assistant Secretary General for the Arts' Sector Dr. Bader Al-Deweesh said the distinctive feature of this year's festival is that it provided a panoramic view of the Kuwaiti culture.
"The festival offered a complete range of the various manifestations of Kuwait's cultural spectrum with emphasis on the national Arab dimension," he said, referring to the participation of a number of Arab intellectuals in the event.
"By tracing the progress of the cultural movement in Kuwait, you can find that theater and music are the most popular arts. Therefore, the NCCAL had carefully selected the agenda of the festival in a way that suits the taste of the audience," Al-Deweesh noted.
He commended as fruitful and successful the partnership between NCCAL, on one hand, and the government bodies, the civil society and the private sector on the other.
The concert, offered by Wa'd Al-Bahari at the closing ceremony, included popular songs such as 'Isma'ouni,' 'Wahashteeni,' 'Nassam Aliyna Al-Hawa,' 'Ahwa,' 'Khayef A'oul Elli fi Albi,' and 'Layali Al-Ons fi Vienna.
The 22nd Al-Qurain Cultural Festival opened on Monday, January 18, under auspices of His Highness the Prime Minister Sheikh Jaber Al-Mubarak Al-Hamad Al-Sabah. (end) mdm.gb