Established 1961 13 Lifestyle Features Monday, February 1, 2021

People inspect palm wicker products on display, made by Halima Mohamad. Halima Mohamad sits making palm wicker products at a home in Tawergha. A man inspects palm wicker products on display, made by Halima Mohamad.

n front of a bundle of palm fronds, Accord (GNA), residents of Tawergha select supple strands and to then “dry Halima Mohamad squats down to began to slowly come back. Around a them in the sun for several days.” Iweave in an abandoned school in third of the original population of the Then the leaves are “soaked in water Tawergha, a town once a flashpoint in town have returned, though the scars of to soften them” before the weaving work Libya’s decade-long war. Mohamad war remain, with houses riddled with can even begin, she added. “My father makes baskets from date palm leaves, bullet holes and craters left by artillery and my sisters have been working in using traditional skills handed down fire. basketry for almost 50 years, and I start- over the generations and reconnecting For some, the town’s ancient tradition ed doing it 20 years ago,” she said. A her to a way of life nearly destroyed by of weaving offers a way to earn an workshop run by a local group and sup- the chaos of conflict. “We must preserve income-as well as resuming a way of life ported by the International Organization this heritage inherited from our ances- that the war had stopped. For for Migration (IOM) brought in experts to tors,” said 55-year-old Mohamad. “It’s Mohamad, her primary motivation is help perfect the weaving techniques. our identity.” The mother of two spends money. “I work long hours because the There is no shortage of raw material, an average of 16 hours a day in the income is decent,” she said. As she sits with thousands of date trees dotted all room that serves as her workshop, plait- knotting the long thin leaves together, around. ing the fronds into baskets, trays, floor the fresh scent brings back memories of “In the past there was a famous mats and wall decorations. her childhood. Monday market, where artisans traded The town has suffered; when Libyan handicrafts, crockery and woven tex- dictator Moamer Kadhafi was toppled in Keeping traditions alive tiles,” said Faraj Abdallah, head of a 2011 in a NATO-backed uprising, peo- She follows the repetitive handwork handicrafts association in Tawergha. ple took revenge on those seen as his in moves learnt from her elders, and col- But the weavers still struggle, compet- supporters-including the entire town of A man and boy pose for a picture next to palm wicker products on display, made by Halima ors the strands with three traditional ing against modern goods and cheaper Tawergha. Its 40,000 residents, many Mohamad. dyes-blue, green and purple-to add imports from neighboring Algeria, Egypt the descendants of slaves, were forced splashes of design. “We use special and Tunisia, while weavers say there is to flee, with militia forces torching lives-barely surviving for seven years in since the fall of Kadhafi, but rival sides dyes,” she said. “We fill large barrels in no export strategy. “The authorities must homes and destroying buildings. hard-scrabble dusty camps scattered finally agreed a fragile ceasefire last which we boil the palm leaves until they allow exports to allow this craft to pros- across the country, and forbidden to October. Under a separate deal struck soak up the colors.” As her fingers twist per,” said Mahmud Khairi, owner of a Scars of war return home. The oil-rich North African in June 2018 with the backing of the and tie the thin stems, she explained basket shop in Tawergha. — AFP Residents like Mohamad ran for their nation has been riven by civil war ever UN-recognized Government of National how her relatives had taught her to

North Shields, northeast England, The show, with its outlandish costumes The Animals Valentine formed The Animals with and racy sex scenes, has been lauded singer Eric Burdon, bass player Chas Bridgerton sets for casting Black actors in period drama Chandler, organist Alan Price and roles that are traditionally played by guitarist Hilton drummer John Steel in 1963. The band white actors. went on to have a number of other hits new Netflix Valentine dies at 77 including Don’t Let Me Be Misunderstood and We Gotta Get Out Of This Place. record with 82 ilton Valentine, a founding mem- The original members drifted apart ber and original guitarist for the towards the end of the 1960s and HBritish 60s pop group The Valentine later produced the solo album million viewers Animals, has died at the age of 77, the All In Your Head. Burdon paid tribute to band’s record label said. “Our deepest the guitarist who wrote the the iconic sympathies go out to @HiltonValentine’s opening riff of House of the Rising Sun. ridgerton has become Netflix’s Scottish electronic pop producer Sophie. family and friends on his passing ... at “The opening opus of Rising Sun will most popular new series, with the age of 77,” the label ABKCO Music, never sound the same,” Burdon wrote more than 82 million households on Instagram. “You didn’t just play it, B posted on Twitter. “Valentine was a pio- tuning in to watch the period drama, the neering guitar player influencing the you lived it! Heartbroken by the sudden streaming service has announced. The sound of rock and roll for decades to news of Hilton’s passing. “We had great show reached number one in 83 coun- come,” it added in a statement Friday. times together, Geordie lad. From the tries including the United States, Britain, The band was best known for its North Shields to the entire world...Rock Brazil, France, India and South Africa, 1964 hit House of the Rising Sun, which In Peace.”— AFP Netflix said in a statement Wednesday. rose to the top of the charts in both “I’m SO proud of the incredible team Britain and the United States. Born in behind this show! And thank you guys for loving it,” 25-year-old actor, Phoebe Dynevor, who plays Daphne Bridgerton, cottish electronic pop producer Hilton Valentine wrote on Instagram. Netflix said a Sophie has died at the age of 34 record 82 million households watched the show in its first 28 days online, “It’s designed to be more lavish, sexi- Sin a “terrible accident”, the artist’s er and funnier than the standard period describing it as its “biggest series ever.” record label said in a statement on drama-and that’s what so surprised and Saturday. The Glasgow-born producer The previous record was 76 million views over a four-week period for “The delighted our members,” said Netflix was nominated for a Grammy for her vice president of original series, Jinny debut studio album in 2019 and collab- Witcher.” The figures are not subject to third party verification, unlike audience Howe. Bridgerton is produced by orated with Madonna and the British acclaimed American producer Shonda singer Charli XCX. “Tragically our beau- measurements for broadcast television. Bridgerton has made the top 10 in every Rhimes and is based on a series of tiful Sophie passed away this morning romance novels by Julia Quinn. It has after a terrible accident,” the statement country except Japan, the company added. The drama, set in early 1800s been commissioned for a second from UK music label Transgressive series. — AFP read. “True to her spirituality she had London, centers on the well-to-do climbed up to watch the full moon and Bridgerton family as it tries to navigate accidentally slipped and fell. Regency-era high society in England. “She will always be here with us. The family thank everyone for their love and impressively preserved. Horta paid work by Horta to have come down to us Saved from demolition support and request privacy at this dev- An Art Nouveau attention in his work to the whole interior, from the Art Nouveau period”. At the end At the time, real-estate developers astating time,” the statement on Twitter from the design of the building’s of the 19th century, the style revolution- had free rein in Brussels and the Avenue added. The producer, also known as exposed structure, to the living room fur- ized architecture with its aesthetic of Louise was engulfed by large office Sophie Xeon, released her debut single, gem unmasked niture, right down to the door handles. “It curves applied to glass and steel, materi- buildings. Even the most awe-inspiring Nothing More to Say in 2013. Her debut gives the feeling of the perfect building, als that were new at the time. The private Art Nouveau edifices were threatened by Album Oil of Every Pearly’s Un-Insides, in COVID-hit everything has been thought out, down mansion went on to have an eventful his- developers, according to the current released in 2018, was met with wide- to the smallest detail,” said Smet, gazing tory after the death of its first owner in owner, Alexandre Wittamer, grandson of spread critical success and nominated Brussels at a decor of yellow, orange and beige, 1930. Damaged by a German bomb the fashion house couple. “It’s hard to for a Grammy for best dance/electronic where the armchairs match the wood- during World War II-the main stained imagine, but in the 1950s and 1960s in album. The transgender artist spoke work. glass window had to be rebuilt-it was Brussels everything was allowed, and it about gender identity in a 2018 interview n emblematic Art Nouveau man- UNESCO included the Hotel Solvay saved from a wrecking ball at the end of happened that Art Nouveau buildings with the US magazine Paper. “For me, sion designed by Belgian architect on its World Heritage List in the early the 1950s, when a couple, running a were demolished, whether they were by transness is taking control to bring your Victor Horta has opened its doors 2000s. According to the UN agency, it is fashion house, decided to make it their Horta or other architects,” said the 43- body more in line with your soul and A to the public in Brussels, revealing a long “the most ambitious and spectacular workshop. year-old finance executive, who now spirit so the two aren’t fighting against hidden jewel of the city’s Belle Epoque organises visits with the help of his wife. each other and struggling to survive,” glory. “It is perhaps even more important For the time being, the architectural she said. Sophie co-wrote Madonna’s in the time of COVID to be able to spend gem will only be accessible on 2015 single B**h I’m Madonna and a relaxing moment in the midst of this Thursdays and Saturdays, provided that worked Charli XCX on the EP Vroom complete beauty,” said Pascal Smet, a time slot has been reserved in advance Vroom and the single After The heritage minister for the Brussels Region. online. That rule applies to all Belgian Afterparty. The French singer and song- Smet acted as a guide for a handful of museums, which have remained open writer Christine and the Queens paid journalists around the Hotel Solvay, a despite the pandemic unlike in Paris or tribute to the Sophie on Twitter calling three-storey mansion with a majestic London. Since the 1980s, after the end of her a “visionary”. “She rebelled against staircase where natural light shines the fashion business, the mansion had the narrow, normative society by being through a multi-coloured stained glass been used for private events and was an absolute triumph, both as an artist window. only visited on rare occasions and city and as a woman,” the singer said. “I The mansion was built between 1895 heritage days. — AFP can’t believe she is gone. We need to and 1903 on the once glitzy Avenue honor and respect her memory and Louise for the son of Belgian industrialist The Hotel Solvay, an Art Nouveau gem legacy. Cherish the pioneers.”— AFP Ernest Solvay, and its architecture is in Brussels, is now open for public visits.