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* Desert is more than 'sea of sand'
Dr Mohammad Bin Fahad, chairman of the Zayed Prize and Vice-Chairman of the World Deserts Foundation said the festival is the opportunity to welcome the rest of the world to the UAE and to experience a different style of life.
"Desert regions have grown from oblivion into thriving metros in recent times and the festival will trace desert life from the past to the present through to the future," he said.
"Our civilisations have developed and sustained themselves while dealing with rapid changes by using preservation as a tool to revitalise our natural heritage and we will showcase this to the world."
General Shaikh Mohammad Bin Rashid Al Maktoum, Crown Prince of Dubai and UAE Minister of Defence and Patron of the Zayed International Prize for the Environment, opened the festival. Shaikh Ahmad Bin Saeed Al Maktoum, President of Dubai Civil Aviation and Chairman of Emirates Group, meets Bouteflika.
Dr Fahad said the festival is a unique opportunity for Arab civilisations to celebrate and showcase their heritage to the world.
"We are confident this event will help us broaden awareness of our traditions and highlight the need to preserve our diverse heritage.
"Most people when they think of the desert think of just a sea of sand, but it is so much more. The desert is a unique habitat filled with a wide variety of fascinating plant and animal life wildlife that has adapted to the challenge of living in a harsh environment of extreme temperatures, strong winds and a lack of water."
Desert sports, handicrafts, paintings and photography, flora and fauna, calligraphy, desert clothing, pottery and carbon painting competitions will also be organised over the coming days.
Nearly 40 countries will be participating in the week-long festival.
Marwan Juma Bin Beyat, DTCM manager events, said cultural and heritage tourism is a global phenomenon and one of the fast emerging and lucrative segments of the international travel industry.
"Among the many interesting prospects of cultural and heritage tourism is its potential to generate travel during the off-seasons as well as during prime vacation periods," he said.
Special attractions at the desert festival include traditional Bedouin wedding ceremonies, folkloric song and dance performances by artists from the UAE as well as visiting countries.
Exhibitions will feature architecture in desert regions, traditional forms of desert medicine, desert literature, folklore and popular arts, dances and poetry.
A series of scientific programmes, conferences, seminars, workshops, exhibitions, real-life demonstrations and documentary films are also being organised alongside the Desert Festival at Dubai Police Officer's Club, Dubai Police Academy and Jumeirah Beach Hotel.
Participating countries include Algeria, Saudi Arabia, Yemen, Jordan, Palestine, Egypt, South Africa, Morocco, Oman, Sudan, Lebanon, Nigeria, India, Pakistan and China among others.
Cherifi Mohammad, a calligrapher is exhibiting his work in one of the biggest pavilions at the festival.
"I have transcribed the Quran in calligraphy. I work all the time, it is something I do all the time. It can take up to three years and you never know if you will fall ill or die," he said.
Since studying calligraphy at the fine arts university in Cairo, Mohammad is the calligrapher of the national bank notes of Algeria. He has also produced the calligraphy on a number of graduate certificates and the Algerian passport.
Admission to the pavilions is free and open to the public from 5pm to 10pm during the week-long event.
(Source:Gulf News)
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17 Apr 2005 - No.55