Anasheed Festival set to open at Katara

Mishari al-Afsy, Osama al-Safi and Samir al-Bashiri

Katara, the Cultural Village, is set to present Anasheed Festival featuring eight well-known artists who will perform traditional Anasheed (Islamic vocal music) in the run-up to Ramadan. The five-day festival starts at 8:30pm on July 15 until July 19 at Katara’s Opera House, Building 16. The festival is part of a series of concerts by a group of artistes who will perform a diverse collection of songs over the course of five days. Swedish artiste Maher Zain, best known for his hit single “Thank you Allah”, will open the festival. Some of the artistes participating in the festival have sung in many different languages, including the Emarati nasheed singer Ahmed Bukhatir, who has sung in Arabic, English and French. He is also the only nasheed artiste from the UAE who was able to top the Virgin music chart.

Ahmed Bukhatir, Ameen Hameen and Hummod al-Khuhder

Macedonian nasheed singer Mesut Kurtis is the artiste who released the “Beloved” album, which is considered one of the most important albums in the world of Islamic music and nasheed.Emad Sultan, director, cultural affairs at Katara, commented: “We at Katara are very glad to be able to gather a group of some of the most prominent international nasheed singers to perform in Qatar. This is part of Katara’s vision to celebrate the Arab and Islamic cultures, and to give all people living in Doha the chance to learn more about them.”For more information about the festival: http://www.katara.net/english/event/anasheed-festival/ Tickets for all concerts are available for sale at Virgin Megastore in Landmark.