Colombian pop star Shakira on Friday visited the village in Lebanon where her paternal grandmother was born, a journalist said.
“Hello Tannourine, thank you, I am happy to be here!” the 41-year-old singer said in Arabic during a visit under high security to the village of Tannourine in Lebanon’s mountainous north.
Accompanied by local officials, Shakira visited a nature reserve that grows cedar trees — Lebanon’s national emblem — and planted two saplings.
To mark the occasion, a small patch of the reserve was named Shakira Mubarak — after one of the singer’s family names, Tannourine’s mayor Bahaa Harb said.
On Friday evening, she kicked off the Cedars International Festival in Lebanon, a concert that was set to attract 13,000 people.
This is Shakira’s third visit to the country. Her first visit came in 2003 and she returned in 2011 for a concert.
The artist is in Lebanon with her two sons.
