Jordan Festival to begin today

By Mohammad Ghazal

AMMAN – The Jordan Festival opens today, with organisers expecting the annual event to attract over 50,000 people.

The month-long event, organised by the Friends of Jordan Festivals (FJF) society in cooperation with organisers of the Beiteddine Festival, features a variety of Jordanian, Arab and international artists and will take place at Jabal Al Qalaa (the Citadel), with ticket prices starting at JD10.

One of the highlights of this year’s festival is a tribute to Um Kulthoum, seen by many as most renowned Arab diva in the 20th century. Egyptian singer Amaal Maher, accompanied by Salim Sahhab’s orchestra, will perform Um Kulthoum’s songs on the opening night.

The festival will also feature a concert by prominent Iraqi singer Kathem Al Saher, who will pay homage to the late Syrian poet Nizar Qabbani.

In addition, Pink Martini, Il Divo, Rafael Amargo, the Syrian jazz band Itar Shame’, the Palestine Youth Orchestra, the Shaolin Monks, the Khoury Brothers, Makadi Nahhas, Whirling Dervishes Dede, and Farida and the Iraqi Maqams will participate in the festival. Jadal, Humam Ammari, Salam Hmoud, Aziz Maraqa and stand-up comedians will present the festival’s “Jordanian night”.

In a related development, the Jordanian Writers Association (JWA) on Tuesday called for boycotting the festival, alleging it does not represent Jordanian culture.

“We have issued a joint statement recently with the Jordanian Artists Association calling for boycotting the Jordan Festival. It is organised and run by people who have nothing to do with art and culture; it is merely a list of concerts and no cultural events are included,” Saud Qubeilat, head of JWA, told The Jordan Times at Tuesday.

The association also protested the decision not to hold the festival’s activities at Jerash theatres.

Founded in March 2010 by a group of businessmen and women, the FJF is a nonprofit organisation that seeks to promote Jordan as a cultural destination.

Commenting on the association’s remarks, Souha Bawab, executive director of FJF, said: “We are all a group of volunteers of businesspeople partnering with the private sector to organise the festival.”

“We work from morning till midnight to render this festival a success and we receive no salaries. The festival includes many Jordanian singers and artists as well as Arabs and Westernersة We have all types of music: rock, jazz, classical, oriental, Arabic…” Bawab told The Jordan Times yesterday.

Asked about why activities are taking place only at the Citadel, she explained: “We started preparing for the festival only two months ago. We decided to focus on one place as we did not have enough time.”

“We have already planned activities and concerts for the Dead Sea and the Baptism Site, as well as plans for Petra and Jerash,” Bawab added.

jordantimes