Chinese artistes enthral audience

Abu Dhabi: Singing the popular Emirati song Dar Zayed, Yang Haitao, a visually challenged Chinese singer, captivated audience at Emirates Palace in Abu Dhabi on Tuesday evening.

Haitao was performing with The China Disabled People's Performing Art Troupe hosted by the Abu Dhabi Tourism Authority.

The 26-year-old artiste surprised the audience by singing an Emirati song praising the beauty of Abu Dhabi. "He brought tears to my eyes," said an Emirati woman attending the performance. "He sang about a city he has never seen," she added.

"My mother encouraged me to sing. She used to say, sing my child as loud as you can so you do not fear darkness," Haitao told the audience. For two hours a group of special needs performers presented My Dream. The performance included Thousand Hands Dance performed by 21 hearing challenged girls and Soul of Peacock Dance by An Di.

Haitao later joined Zhu Li, a hearing challenged, and Zumalaiti on her wheel chair to sing We are the World.

In his opening speech, Shaikh Nahyan Bin Mubarak Al Nahyan, Minister of Higher Education and Scientific Research, welcomed the troupe warmly: "I applaud your originality, creativity, and your love of life and art. You clearly show that persons with disabilities have incredible strength, talents, serenity and perseverance," he said. "It is all the more special for us to see performers who have reached such a level of expertise in their discipline while working with and through challenges that we might not imagine facing," he added.