When she stepped into the realm of art and music as a contestant on the Arab talent show Arab Idol, Parwas Hussein did not know that she would become an idol in the eyes of the people of the Iraqi Kurdistan Region and gain widespread popularity.

Hussein, 26, has become a national idol after being accepted to the show, which airs on MBC every Friday and Saturday. Not content with merely voting by SMS, the standard way to keep participants on the show, the Kurdish people sent an official diplomatic delegation to Beirut to support Hussein.

Hussein is the first Kurdish contestant to participate in Arab Idol. She has ably passed many rounds and reached the contest's semifinals. Hussein, however, could not speak Arabic; she auditioned accompanied by a translator. Hussein would write out the lyrics of the songs, translate them into Kurdish to grasp the meaning and then memorize the Arabic lyrics. Despite this, the judges were impressed by her talent and she was admitted to the show.

Arab Idol is the Arab version of Pop Idol, created by Simon Fuller and distributed by the British company FremantleMedia. The first season of Arab Idol began Dec. 9, 2011, and aired throughout the world on MBC1.