It Started With A Kiss

It started with a kiss and ended with one as a Kuwait concert was canceled after a young female fan jumped on stage and planted a smacker on Egyptian singer Tamer Hosni.

It was all too much for the inspectors from the Kuwaiti Information Ministry, which stopped the Oct. 3 show at the Al-Raya Hotel because of “immoral violations.”

Following disputes over concerts, which some fundamentalists wanted to ban altogether, in May 2004 the government introduced strict controls that prohibited the audience from dancing and imposed a strict segregation of the sexes.

Some Islamist MPs threatened action if the interior and information ministries did not apply the law. They also called on the commerce ministry to penalize the venues where any impropriety takes place.

Concerts have to be licensed by the government, and monitors from the Information Ministry watch the crowd to make sure nobody stands up to dance.

Qanas Al-Adwani, who heads the government department that monitors public entertainment, said the girl’s behaviour at the Tamer Hosni show “defied the conservative traditions” of Kuwait and broke the controls on public entertainment.