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Gulf Cinema Festival Concludes in Riyadh

The five-day festival, which drew prominent artistic and cinematic figures, is part of the FC efforts to develop the sector by motivating Saudi and Arab Gulf filmmakers to create unique cinematic works. (SPA)
The five-day festival, which drew prominent artistic and cinematic figures, is part of the FC efforts to develop the sector by motivating Saudi and Arab Gulf filmmakers to create unique cinematic works. (SPA)
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Gulf Cinema Festival Concludes in Riyadh

The five-day festival, which drew prominent artistic and cinematic figures, is part of the FC efforts to develop the sector by motivating Saudi and Arab Gulf filmmakers to create unique cinematic works. (SPA)
The five-day festival, which drew prominent artistic and cinematic figures, is part of the FC efforts to develop the sector by motivating Saudi and Arab Gulf filmmakers to create unique cinematic works. (SPA)

The fourth edition of the Gulf Cinema Festival (GCF), organized by the Film Commission (FC), concluded in Riyadh under the patronage of Minister of Culture, Chairman of the Board of FC Prince Bader bin Abdullah bin Farhan Al-Saud.

Speaking at the closing of the event, CEO of FC Abdullah bin Nasser Al-Qahtani said the festival is testimony to the GCC cinema sector's commitment to supporting art and building bridges for cinematic cooperation among the member countries, reported the Saudi Press Agency on Saturday.

Al-Qahtani paid tribute to the Saudi government and GCC cinema industry leaders for their support for the festival, urging Gulf film makers to continue this support and help put the society’s narratives into films that carry to the world the reality in the Arab Gulf countries.

The five-day festival, which drew prominent artistic and cinematic figures, is part of the FC efforts to develop the sector by motivating Saudi and Arab Gulf filmmakers to create unique cinematic works. It highlights the Kingdom’s position as a global hub for filmmaking, nurturing talent, managing, promoting and distributing movies befitting the status of Saudi and Arab Gulf cinema.

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UK Blues Legend John Mayall Dead at 90 

English blues singer John Mayall performs with his band The Bluesbreakers, on the stage of the Miles Davis hall during the 42nd Montreux Jazz Festival in Montreux, Switzerland, late Monday, July 7, 2008. (AP)
English blues singer John Mayall performs with his band The Bluesbreakers, on the stage of the Miles Davis hall during the 42nd Montreux Jazz Festival in Montreux, Switzerland, late Monday, July 7, 2008. (AP)
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UK Blues Legend John Mayall Dead at 90 

English blues singer John Mayall performs with his band The Bluesbreakers, on the stage of the Miles Davis hall during the 42nd Montreux Jazz Festival in Montreux, Switzerland, late Monday, July 7, 2008. (AP)
English blues singer John Mayall performs with his band The Bluesbreakers, on the stage of the Miles Davis hall during the 42nd Montreux Jazz Festival in Montreux, Switzerland, late Monday, July 7, 2008. (AP)

John Mayall, the British blues pioneer whose 1960s music collective the Bluesbreakers helped usher in a fertile period of rock and brought guitarists like Eric Clapton to prominence, has died at 90, his family said Tuesday.

Mayall, a singer and multi-instrumentalist who was dubbed "the godfather of British blues," and whose open-door arrangement saw some of the greats in the genre hone their craft with him and his band, "passed away peacefully in his California home" on Monday, according to a statement posted on his Facebook page.

It did not state a cause of death.

"Health issues that forced John to end his epic touring career have finally led to peace for one of this world's greatest road warriors," it said. "John Mayall gave us 90 years of tireless efforts to educate, inspire and entertain."

Mayall's influence on 1960s rock and beyond is enormous. Members of the Bluesbreakers eventually went on to join or form groups including Cream, Fleetwood Mac, the Rolling Stones and many more.

At age 30, Mayall moved to London from northern England in 1963. Sensing revolution in the air, he gave up his profession as a graphic designer to embrace a career in blues, the musical style born in Black America.

He teamed up with a series of young guitarists including Clapton, Peter Green, later of Fleetwood Mac, and Mick Taylor who helped form the Rolling Stones.

In the Bluesbreakers' debut album in 1966, "Blues Breakers With Eric Clapton," John Mayall enthralled music aficionados with a melding of soulful rock and gutsy, guitar-driven American blues featuring covers of tunes by Robert Johnson, Otis Rush and Ray Charles.

The blues music he was playing in British venues was "a novelty for white England," he told AFP in 1997.

That album was a hit, catapulting Clapton to stardom and bringing a wave of popularity to a more raw and personal blues music.

Mayall moved to California in 1968 and toured America extensively in 1972.

He recorded a number of landmark albums in the 1960s including "Crusade," "A Hard Road," and "Blues From Laurel Canyon." Dozens more followed in the 1970s and up to his latest, "The Sun Is Shining Down," in 2022.

Mayall was awarded an OBE, an Officer of the Order of the British Empire, in 2005.