Celebrated with Dashti, Al-Blushi, Al-Iraqi and Lamjarred

For the first time since Hala February was launched 17 years ago, the festival’s administration decided to hold a musical concert on Saturday. Although the next day was a regular working day, the 2,000-seat theatre at the Ice Skating Rink was fully booked. Four singers participated in the concert, and the majority of the audience comprised of youngsters who stayed at the theatre until 4:30 am.

The third musical concert of the festival started at 10:45 pm with young Kuwaiti singer Ibrahim Dashti. He participated in the popular reality show ‘Star Academy’ in 2009, and although he didn’t win, he became famous and started producing singles, and released an album last year. He is also an actor and TV presenter. Dashti had many fans at the concert who were singing his popular songs, and he also sang a song in Turkish. As the concert started late and three other singers were on the program, the organizers made him finish soon, so he abruptly concluded at 11:35 pm while his fans were shouting for him not to leave.

The second singer to come onstage was young Kuwaiti singer Musaed Al-Blushi, who began at midnight. Blushi has released five albums, but only a few of his songs have been popular. His fans enjoyed singing with him till he concluded at 1:05 am.

The third star of this concert was the longawaited Iraqi singer Hatem Al-Iraqi, who came onstage at 1:40 am. He expressed his great honor and happiness to finally perform in Kuwait for the first time, although his songs are very popular in Kuwait. His fans couldn’t stop applauding, whistling and calling his name. He is known for his romantic sad songs and mawwals. He started singing in the early 1990s, and became the first folkloric singer in Iraq. His fame spread internationally and he released his first album in 2002, which was followed by other albums. He concluded at 3:10 am, while fans were calling on him to stay and continue singing.

Iraqi’s performance was not without controversy, as people were upset by a decision by the Ministry of Information to cut the live broadcast on KTV and radio stations 103.7 and 93.3 of the concert after Blushi finished. Some bloggers posted comments that this decision came as some people refused to have an Iraqi singer singing at the festival, while some explained that there were concerns of a repetition of the scenes that took place with Tamer Hosni the previous night.

This concert concluded with young Moroccan singer Saad Lamjarred, who came onstage at 3:45 am. Even at such a late hour, more than half of the audience was still present to enjoy the last part of the concert. He participated in the popular show ‘Super Star’ in 2007, and in 2009 released his first song in California. Lamjarred welcomed the audience in English and then said in Arabic that he was extremely happy to sing in Kuwait for the first time, and that Kuwait is the first Gulf country to invite him to hold a concert. He concluded at 4:30 am.