RABAT: British singer of Azerbaijani origin Sami Yusuf and Lebanese singer Nawal Al-Zoghbi will perform at the 2017 Mawazine Festival: Rhythms of the World, its organizers announced.
For this 16th edition, the Nahda stage will open with Yusuf’s concert on May 12. On May 14 Nahda will host the Lebanese diva Al-Zoghbi.
Proclaimed the most popular British Muslim in the world, Yusuf brought forth a new kind of Islamic music. Writer, composer, singer and poet, Yusuf was born in Tehran. Artistically imbued with musical compositions and writing, he grew up in London with his family.
In 2003, Yusuf released his first album “Al Mu’allim” (The Teacher). In 2005, he released a second album with songs in English entitled, “My Ummah.”
Al-Zoghbi, meanwhile, has released more than 14 albums. She is the first Middle Eastern artist to be featured in an advertising campaign. In 2000, Al-Zoghbi signed a contract with Pepsi, which granted her further success and the title of the best selling artist in the Middle East.
Al-Zoghbi has received over 65 awards and has famously collaborated with Wael Kfoury with whom she has released three successful songs. The Lebanese singer has a strong fan base and has performed all over the world.
Other artists to perform at this year’s event include: Calypso Rose, Lauryn Hill, Alpha Blondy, Charles Aznavour and Bonga.
Mawazine is a multi-genre, global music festival held annually in Rabat, Morocco.
Motivated by its tagline of “world rhythms,” the lineup is a vast combination of Moroccan, African, Asian, and global musicians, including an annual helping of global stars, predominantly from North America.
Previous editions have seen the likes of Rihanna, Stevie Wonder, Christina Aguilera, Elton John and Kylie Minogue take to the enormous stages to perform to vast crowds of music fans, with attendance figures across the whole week topping 2 million in recent years.
Sami Yusuf, Nawal Al-Zoghbi to headline Morocco’s Mawazine fest
Sami Yusuf, Nawal Al-Zoghbi to headline Morocco’s Mawazine fest
Fans bid farewell to Japan’s only pandas
TOKYO: Panda lovers in Tokyo said goodbye on Sunday to a hugely popular pair of the bears that are set to return to China, leaving Japan without the beloved animals for the first time in half a century.
Loaned out as part of China’s “panda diplomacy” program, the distinctive black-and-white animals have symbolized friendship between Beijing and Tokyo since the normalization of diplomatic ties in 1972.
Some visitors at Ueno Zoological Gardens were left teary-eyed as they watched Japan’s only two pandas Lei Lei and Xiao Xiao munch on bamboo.
The animals are expected to leave for China on Tuesday following a souring of relations between Asia’s two largest economies.
“I feel like seeing pandas can help create a connection with China too, so in that sense I really would like pandas to come back to Japan again,” said Gen Takahashi, 39, a Tokyo resident who visited the zoo with his wife and their two-year-old daughter.
“Kids love pandas as well, so if we could see them with our own eyes in Japan, I’d definitely want to go.”
The pandas’ abrupt return was announced last month after Japan’s conservative premier Sanae Takaichi hinted Tokyo could intervene militarily in the event of any attack on Taiwan.
Her comment provoked the ire of Beijing, which regards the island as its own territory.
The 4,400 lucky winners of an online lottery took turns viewing the four-year-old twins at Ueno zoo while others gathered nearby, many sporting panda-themed shirts, bags and dolls to celebrate the moment.
Mayuko Sumida traveled several hours from the central Aichi region in the hope of seeing them despite not winning the lottery.
“Even though it’s so big, its movements are really funny-sometimes it even acts kind of like a person,” she said, adding that she was “totally hooked.”
“Japan’s going to be left with zero pandas. It feels kind of sad,” she said.
Their departure might not be politically motivated, but if pandas return to Japan in the future it would symbolize warming relations, said Masaki Ienaga, a professor at Tokyo Woman’s Christian University and expert in East Asian international relations.
“In the future...if there are intentions of improving bilateral ties on both sides, it’s possible that (the return of) pandas will be on the table,” he told AFP.
