JEDDAH: Lebanese star Hiba Tawaji will be among the first female singers ever to perform in Saudi Arabia when she plays a women-only show at the King Fahad Cultural Center in Riyadh on Dec. 6, according to an entertainment calendar issued by the Kingdom’s General Entertainment Authority.
Tawaji rose to international fame in 2015 when she reached the semifinals of France’s version of TV talent show “The Voice.”
But she was already establishing herself as a talent to watch before her stint on the show. Since 2007 she has worked extensively with the acclaimed Lebanese composer Oussama Rahbani, who produced her 2014 album “Ya Habibi” and with whom she has regularly collaborated, providing vocals for his compositions.
With a reported four-octave range, Tawaji performs in both French and Arabic, concentrating mainly on epic, classical-style tracks.
This year saw the release of her well-received self-titled fifth album, which featured the track “Helm” — the video for which has accumulated more than 1 million views on YouTube.
Aside from her pop music, Tawaji is also an actress, director, and musical theater star perhaps best known for her performance in Rahbani’s adaptation of “Don Quixote.”
Tawaji’s high-profile shows at Casion du Liban and Batroun International Festival drew rave reviews from local media, and Saudi fans will no doubt be eagerly anticipating a similar stellar performance in Riyadh next month.
Lebanese soprano Hiba Tawaji to perform in Riyadh
Lebanese soprano Hiba Tawaji to perform in Riyadh
Arts festival’s decision to exclude Palestinian author spurs boycott
- A Macquarie University academic who researches Islamophobia and Palestine, Abdel-Fattah responded saying it was “a blatant and shameless act of anti-Palestinian racism and censorship,” with her lawyers issuing a letter to the festival
SYDENY: A top Australian arts festival has seen the withdrawal of dozens of writers in a backlash against its decision to bar an Australian Palestinian author after the Bondi Beach mass shooting, as moves to curb antisemitism spur free speech concerns.
The shooting which killed 15 people at a Jewish Hanukkah celebration at Sydney’s Bondi Beach on Dec. 14 sparked nationwide calls to tackle antisemitism. Police say the alleged gunmen were inspired by Daesh.
The Adelaide Festival board said last Thursday it would disinvite Randa Abdel-Fattah from February’s Writers Week in the state of South Australia because “it would not be culturally sensitive to continue to program her at this unprecedented time so soon after Bondi.”
FASTFACTS
• Abdel-Fattah responded, saying it was ‘a blatant and shameless act of anti-Palestinian racism and censorship.’
• Around 50 authors have since withdrawn from the festival in protest, leaving it in doubt, local media reported.
A Macquarie University academic who researches Islamophobia and Palestine, Abdel-Fattah responded saying it was “a blatant and shameless act of anti-Palestinian racism and censorship,” with her lawyers issuing a letter to the festival.
Around 50 authors have since withdrawn from the festival in protest, leaving it in doubt, local media reported.
Among the boycotting authors, Kathy Lette wrote on social media the decision to bar Abdel-Fattah “sends a divisive and plainly discriminatory message that platforming Australian Palestinians is ‘culturally insensitive.'”
The Adelaide Festival said in a statement on Monday that three board members and the chairperson had resigned. The festival’s executive director, Julian Hobba, said the arts body was “navigating a complex moment.”
a complex and unprecedented moment” after the “significant community response” to the board decision.
In the days after the Bondi Beach attack, Jewish community groups and the Israeli government criticized Prime Minister Anthony Albanese for failing to act on a rise in antisemitic attacks and criticized protest marches against Israel’s war in Gaza held since 2023.
Albanese said last week a Royal Commission will consider the events of the shooting as well as antisemitism and social cohesion in Australia. Albanese said on Monday he would recall parliament next week to pass tougher hate speech laws.
On Monday, New South Wales state premier Chris Minns announced new rules that would allow local councils to cut off power and water to illegally operating prayer halls.
Minns said the new rules were prompted by the difficulty in closing a prayer hall in Sydney linked to a cleric found by a court to have made statements intimidating Jewish Australians.
The mayor of the western Sydney suburb of Fairfield said the rules were ill-considered and councils should not be responsible for determining hate speech.
“Freedom of speech is something that should always be allowed, as long as it is done in a peaceful way,” Mayor Frank Carbone told Reuters.
