The Sharjah World Music Festival hosts its final concert on Monday, January 26 with one of the first artists to ever tour the emirate. The Lebanese chanteuse Oumeima El Khalil, best known for the Arab folk favourites Ouhibouka Akthar and Asfour, will close the event with a performance at the Flag Island Amphitheatre, ending more than a week of shows ranging from jazz and fusion to opera.
El Khalil, who was honoured to be the festival’s closing act, was pleased to see how Sharjah has grown in the cultural stakes over the decades.
“I have performed in the UAE a few times but my very first show was in Sharjah in 1983,” she recalls. “I remember just being surprised by the whole experience. I thought the Gulf would not accept or understand our music. I was blown away by the reception and it really opened my eyes to how open to the arts the UAE was and still is to this day.”
Original article by Saeed Saeed
Continue reading at The National:
Oumeima El Khalil’s illustrious career
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