Iftah Ya Simsim
The show focused on Arab heritage, like the wedding rituals of countries in the region, and included Arab poems and songs. "Iftah Ya Simsim" premiered in Kuwait in September 1979, and was broadcast in all Arabic-speaking countries excluding Egypt. The show's opening consisted of a catchy tune that became beloved of its young viewers. As the song played, the opening footage showed children across the Arab world running past familiar landmarks like the Pyramids and playing in playgrounds and ancient alleyways before running into a white fort that had its gates open wide. The show's set consisted of an intricately traditional Arabian neighborhood called "Sharee Eshreen" (20th Street).
Iftah Ya Simsim
In 1976, the Arab fund for Social and Economic Development held a series of workshops and seminars, attended by educators, mass media officers, and social planners, about preschool education in the region. The participants agreed to adopt "Sesame Street" as a feasible and economical solution for the low attendance in preschools and illiteracy and, with funding from the Arab Gulf States Joint Program Production Institution, movement was made to create a co-production for the children of Kuwait and for the Arab world. This program, called "Iftah Ya Simsim" ("Open Sesame") premiered in Kuwait in 1979 and ran until 1990, when the Gulf War stopped production. It was broadcast in 22 Arab countries, and continued to be well-known decades after it went off the air. In June 2010, the Sesame Workshop and the Arab Bureau of Education for the Gulf States (ABEGS), a regional Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) organization dedicated to education, research, and development, agreed to bring back the show.