Latifa & I

Note. If you don't know who is Latifa, then check out her biography at wikipedia.org

As I said in one of my posts, I had chickenpox at age 17...So I had to stay home and that's when I thought to create my first site on 8th of September 1999.

I was thinking what should it be about, at the time Latifa's album (Wadeh - Inchallah) was released shortly; I was listeing to it all the time non stop. I always loved Latifa since i heard her song "Ew'ah Tegheer" and "Ashan Bahibbak" in the late 1980s, but the site could been about late "Thekra" (may her soul rest in peace) or Asalah since they are all on the top of my favorite singers list.

This is the 1st site of Latifa online, It's one of the 1st Arabic languages website !

At the time I knew nothing about web design nor graphics design, I learned everything through searching.

The 1st graphic I ever created was the moon's animation with Latifa's picture in the middle of it, Later it's became the land mark of the site and it's was never changed until the day my site was shut down by yahoo! Geocities.


I used to change the site's index whenever a new music video release or new photo section of Latifa...Here are some snaps of the old indexes:


Note. The one on the bottom/left was the last index before going offline.

I started promoting the site through search engines and exchanging banners with other sites and later i had many hits and visitors who started to request more content and that how this site became the largest site about Latifa online until then!

The site contained many sections such as:

Electronic magazine (latest news about Latifa)

Video section

Audio Section

Lyrics section (plus English translations)


Wallpaper section, Concerts section, Icons Section, Internet Explorer skins and many more!

My site and the Media:
In the years 2000 there was live interview with Latifa on Nile Variety channel and they show my site on T.V. few days later they broadcasted the inteview again on NILE TV and that's when I came back from (summer school) Final exam of Math or Physics I can't recall it :D
Since then I had more visitors then ever; the TV show didn't publish the address!
The site was the first site dedicated to Latifa on the internet, even Latifa her self admit it.
In the photo below "Khalid Abo Al Naja" browsing my site on TV.


Few weeks later, I had a phone call and guess who was it?
LOL
Yeah it was her, Latifa :D
She called me at home and my mother answered her, when I talked to her I was shocked and speechless...She thanked me for the site, talked with me more...Asked about some more informations about me; gave me her number, email and her sister's (Mounira) email who I talked to later.
That was the first interaction (I knew about) between my site and the Media.

My site was published in Internet Guide Magazine (Arabic scrip: مجلة دليل الانترنت) on 14th of May 2001

"Laha" magazine (Arabics script: مجلة لها) issue 51 / 12th of September 2001


Kuwaiti newspaper "Al Ra'i Al Aam" (Arabic script: الرأي العام) issue 12687 / 16th of March 2002 (Note. That guy with Latifa is not me)


"Al Osrah Al Asreyah" (Arabic script: الاسرة العصرية) magazine issue 1138 / 4-11 February 2003

Plus other magazines such as "Kalam Al Nas" (Arabic script: كلام الناس)

On many TV channels such as LBC (On TV show Carla La La), Future TV (On the show Rola AlHawa), Abu Dhabi TV, New TV and others.

In the T.V. show "Sa'ah Beqorb Al Habeeb" hosted by Tony Khaleefah on LBC channel which was broadcasted on 2nd of January 2003 Latifa sent me her regards

Also in the show "Khaleek Bel Bait" which it's hosted by Zahi Wahbi on Future T.V. Latifa sent me her regards and that's was on 3rd of April 2003 (When Iraqi Ba'ath were shoting missiles on Kuwait during the American invasion of Iraq)

And on 31st of October 2003 and during the radio show "VIP" on Middile east "Al Sharq Al Awsat" radio station which broadcastting from Cairo - Egypt.

Also on 1st of January 2004 during the radio show "Hamzat Wasl" on BBC radio station wich broadcasting from London, The inteview was recorded on 30th of December 2003 to be broadcasted on the first day of the year 2004.

I have many video files and audio files about my site, pity I can't add them to my blog.

Latifa's 1st fans club online was founded by me on 6th of April 2001, It's was a part of my site. It's includes many fans of Latifa around the globe, they are sharing everything about Latifa, Pictures, news, discussing everything related to Latifa and more. The fans club's name was changed to "Latifa Fans Family" and later it's became a part of Latifa's official website.

On Sunday 29th of June 2003 for the 1st time the site's visitors counter hit 200000 visitors since the site became online!

On 14th of February 2004 my site was merged with Latifa's official site; and I became a webmasters of her site, my site was online until Yahoo! Geocities deleted it on January 2006.

Latifa's official site domain name is written on her music videos credits (aka outro) :Pp~

PEACE & LOVE
Bashar (aka radiant guy)