Sharjah: Celebrated Lebanese musical maestro Marcel Khalifé regaled thousands of fans on Friday at his first live concert at Al Majaz Amphitheatre in the heart of Khalid Lagoon in Sharjah.
The internationally acclaimed Arab composer, singer and oud maestro belted out the choicest selection of compositions from his repertoire of music, representing a rich career spanning more than four decades.
Playing to a packed house of music lovers and passionate fans at the Al Majaz Amphitheatre late into the night, the maestro sang a number of his iconic songs and some from his latest album Andalusia of Love.
These included lyrics and poems by contemporary Arab poets, such as the legendary Palestinian poet Mahmoud Darwish, whose work celebrates universal freedom and captures the dispossession and homelessness of Palestinian people in particular and the Arab angst in general.
Khalifé presented some of the popular songs which have long been loved and sung by people across the Arab world such as Ummi (My Mother), Rita w’al-Bunduqiya (Rita and the Rifle), and Jawaz Al-Safar (Passport), all written by Darwish.
Muntasib Al-Qama Amshi (I Walk Upright) and Ya Bahareyya (O Sailor Men) were some of the other songs that had the audience singing and clapping with the maestro.
Khalifé has more than 20 albums and DVDs to his credit.
Earlier, speaking about his music, he said: “I want to light a candle and curse the darkness at the same time. I sing to break the deafening silence about children sleeping in the cold and screaming of panic and pain. Through music, poetry and songs, I try to express some sort of vague joy, some sort of happiness amid all this darkness.”
Talking about his relationship with music, he said: “I have attempted over the years to convey my message through music, poetry and singing. I start every day from scratch as if I do not know anything, just like taking a leap in the dark off a high rock.”
