Festival draws region's talent to capital

Musicians from across the Arab world are performing at the first-ever Ramadan music festival in Abu Dhabi..

The Munshidin chanters played at the Cultural Foundation.

Musicians from across the Arab world are performing at the first-ever Ramadan music festival to be held in Abu Dhabi. The Nafahat Ramadania, or Blossoms of Ramadan, which opened on Thursday night, is part of an effort to have a greater variety of events during the holy month. The festival began with a recital by Sheikh Hamza Shakour, the renowned choirmaster of the Munshidin chanters at the Umayyad Mosque of Damascus. Wearing Damascene robes and a red fez, the 54-year-old vocalist led a dozen chanters and instrumentalists in devotional singing accompanied by traditional instruments including the kanoon, oud, ney, riqq and mezar. Hundreds of enthusiasts from across the UAE gathered to hear Sheikh Shakour, who has performed his Sufi chants in the US, Canada, Spain, India and China. The festival continues tonight at 9.30pm with the Ibn Arabi Band from Tangier, Morocco, an instrumental group named after an Andalusian Sufi mystic and philosopher born in 1165. The six-member group has released several albums and toured worldwide. Other performers will include the Religious Heritage Chanting Ensemble from Lebanon on Sept 11 and the Sham Troupe, a popular young group from Damascus who play a modern blend of Sufi and Andalusian music. The festival ends on Sept 18 with a concert by Ahmad Bukhatir, a 33-year-old Emirati singer. Ibrahim Alaaiddin, 24, a procurement officer from Syria who attended Sheikh Shakour's concert, said he became interested in Sufi music because his father was a fan of the chanter for more than two decades ago. "We feel so much inside when he chants. He speaks to us inside. We feel the meaning of God and the Prophet Mohammed," said Mr Alaaiddin. "Ramadan is the best month. It's easy when you fast because you don't just try to do it, you say to yourself I want to fast because my Allah tells me to fast. It's about your relationship with God. It's the same with this music." Muna Hijazi, 26, from Saudi Arabia, said Sheikh Shakour's concert was the first time she had heard Sufi music. "I only caught the last 15 minutes but it was beautiful," she said. "The voice, the instruments, the delivery, everything was top notch." The Abu Dhabi Authority for Culture and Heritage said it was already planning next year's event, which it expected to be even bigger. "This year we are expecting about 500 people every night, but next year we hope to target larger and wider groups," said the authority's Abdulla al Amri. "Next year's event we hope will be more cultural. We hope to have lectures in English and French, from international universities on Islamic art and other issues. "We are planning even more concerts with artists from Turkey, Pakistan and India, for people from Arabic and non-Arabic countries." @Email:[e-mail]