18 January, 2014

Latin music was the main highlight on the 3rd day of the first Sharjah World Music Festival, organised by Al Qasba, Sharjah’s premier tourist and leisure destination, from the 15th to the 18th of January. Iraqi Qanoun player Furat Qaddouri, founder of Furat Qaddouri Music Center and Chilean Flamenco guitarist Vicente Allende entertained the audience on the third evening of this musical extravaganza, which was attended by HE Jean-Paul Tarud K., Ambassador of Chile to the UAE.   

Internationally acclaimed Qanoun player Furat Qaddori, said, "Sharjah has succeeded in organising its first music festival that featured some of the world’s most distinguished and renowned Arab musicians, most notably Iraqi Oud player Naseer Shamma, Lebanese performer Jahida Wehbe, and Jordanian singer Macadi Nahhas who will entertain the audience on the last day of the festival, as well as a number of talented musicians from across the world, some of whom are visiting the UAE for the first time.

The festival was also attended by the heads of the most important music institutes in the Arab world, including Dr Enas Abdel Dayem, Head of the Egyptian Opera House, and Mohammed Othman Sidiq, Director of the National Music Conservatory in Amman. Qaddouri said the impressive success the festival achieved in its first edition would be a strong motive for developing it to become a special event on the world's calendar of major musical events.

Qaddouri began his concert with musical pieces from his album ‘Hanging Garden’, starting with 'Ghazzal Ashtar’ and ‘Nowruz’, inspired by Kurdish heritage, and ‘Song of Rain’, one of the most popular poems by Iraqi poet Badr Shakir Al Sayyab, followed by ‘Rainy Cloud-Deema’.

In a musical narration of romantic stories, Qaddouri enthralled the audience with his musical piece, ‘Night of Shehrezad’, combining eastern and western music. He then played ‘To My Beautiful Wife’, a musical piece taken from his new album, followed by ‘Guatemala’, inspired by his tour of Latin America several years ago, all of which was enthusiastically received by the audience.

In the second half of the evening, Chilean Flamenco guitarist Vicente Allende enthralled the audience with Latin music as he sang and played different musical pieces on guitar. He performed one of the most popular songs by Spanish singer Julio Iglesias, followed by other songs in Spanish amid applause from the audience. And even though the song's lyrics were in Spanish, Allende's masterful playing and his passionate baritone voice made the music a wonderful mode of communication between the artist and his audience.

The outdoor stages saw live performances by Japanese violinist and pianist Haruka Horii who played various forms of eastern and western music, as well as French musician Alexandre Valls gave an hour long performance on guitar.