Gulf | Yemen
Death threats will not stop me, says Arab diva on eve of Yemen concert
Hordes of people bought tickets to attend a famous Arab diva's concert despite warnings and death threats by extremists who view art and music as forbidden activities, said organisers on Thursday.
- By Nasser Arrabyee, Correspondent
- Published: 00:30 February 15, 2008
Sana'a: Hordes of people bought tickets to attend a famous Arab diva's concert despite warnings and death threats by extremists who view art and music as forbidden activities, said organisers on Thursday.
They were expecting about 50,000 fans to attend last night's concert to be held by the Syrian singer Asalah Nasri and the Egyptian singer Esam Karika in the coastal city of Aden, south of Yemen.
Arriving in Aden on Wednesday, Asalah said 50 per cent of proceeds from the concert would go to the people of Gaza and cancer patients in Yemen.
At a press conference she said her art was sublime and fed the spirit. She confirmed that she had insisted on holding the concert despite death threats. In addition to warnings and threats released in Yemen before her arrival, she received four e-mails threatening to kill her if she came to Yemen. The e-mails said the concert was a call for vice and pornography, she said.
"My love for Yemen was also behind my insistence to come to hold this concert," she added.
The message of her art, she said, is peace and love for the whole world, citing Yemeni singer Abu Bakr Salem and Lebanese singer Fayrouz as her teachers and models.
For his part Egyptian singer Karika said he had learnt a lot about Yemen from his friend the Yemeni singer Ahmad Fat'hi.
"He made me love Yemen very much."
Marwan Al Khalid, manager of the Aden artistic festival, said the decision to hold Asalah's concert on February 14 was because of the timing of flights and not because of Valentine's Day. As to the threats, he said, it was good propaganda for the concert as more tickets than expected had been bought.
Before Asalah arrived in Yemen, a press statement allegedly by Al Qaida said she would meet the same fate of Benazir Bhutto if she dared come over for the concert.
Additionally, some Islamists said the concert was a violation of Sharia and the constitution.
Last year, after concerts separately held in Sana'a by artists Ragheb Alama and Nawal Al Zughbi, a group of extremist Islamists issued fatwas prohibiting concerts and music, considering them a call for vice among Yemeni's conservative society.
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