Samira Tawfik performs for first time in years at Qatar festival

Tawfik surprised unsuspecting audiences at the 2016 Souq Waqif Spring Festival in Qatar's Doha.

Iconic Lebanese singer Samira Tawfik made her first stage appearance in years last week when she surprised unsuspecting audiences at the 2016 Souq Waqif Spring Festival in Qatar's Doha.

The festival is one of Qatar's most prominent cultural events, it is annually held in Doha's historic Souq Waqif. The century-old market, which was restored in 2006, is one of the capital's main tourist attractions and is famous for its traditional Arab goods and cultural activities.

During the last week of the festival, Tawfik performed two concerts that included some of her most famous songs such as "Asmar Ya Helw," "Bayn Al-Asr Wa Al-Maghrib" and her most popular song "Ya Ein Molayatain."

The singer, who was born in Syria and grew up in Beirut, gained prominence for singing in the Bedouin dialect of Jordan, a unique musical style that separated her from other iconic Lebanese singers of her time such as Fairouz and Sabah.

Tawfik, who would often wear outfits inspired by Bedouin clothing for her performances, is largely credited with popularizing Bedouin culture in the Arab World. She is also credited with bringing Jordanian music to a larger audience.

In many of her songs, the singer paid homage to Jordan, where her career took off in the 1960s after she started working for the country's national radio broadcast. She has worked with some of the Arab World's most prominent composers such as Elias El-Rahbani and Melhem Barakat.

In addition to singing, Tawfik also enjoyed an acting career during which she appeared in more than Arab 10 films during the 1960s and 1970s.

Game Cooks goes crazy with big PolyBlast update!

The update is a complete overhaul game design, with it getting a retro-arcade makeover, from the bullets to the targets.

In the summer of last year, the Lebanese development studio Game Cooks  released PolyBlast, a 2D arcade game with a twist. This year, the game has been given great updates and is now available for download worldwide.

unspecified (3)

The update is a complete overhaul game design, with it getting a retro-arcade makeover, from the bullets to the targets, which will remind players of their Atari days playing Space Invaders. The update also changed the way the worlds are set up, where the player now has 3 packs – each pack contains 3 worlds, each with 15 levels, so the game now has 135 levels in total.

The game also updated the way the multi-player option works, so now it is more competitive and fun when playing with friends. The updated starring system also helps the players track their progress better, and helps competitors compare who's really the best.

unspecified (1)

A recharge button has also been added to help players add bullets when they run out, adding 5 bullets at each shooting point. There are also extra in-game power-ups that help the player progress inside the game, with great graphics.

There are 3 modes - Solo mode, Multiplayer mode and a new one, Seasons. In Seasons, the game becomes themed, a Christmas theme is already available, and an additional theme for Valentine's will be available soon.

unspecified (5)

PolyBlast is available on the iOS App Store .