Colombian-Lebanese singer Shakira visited on Friday her father Lebanese home town of Tannourine in northern Lebanon as part of her visit where she is expected to perform at a concert – her second, in the same town – with an estimated audience of 13,000 attending.
The singer and performer arrived amid tight security to the mountainous town of Tannourine from which her grandparents immigrated to the United States, and where her father William Mebarak Chadid was born and later immigrated at the age of five with his parents to Colombia.
Shakira planted two cedar trees in the Cedar forest conservatory in the town – one tree carried her name and the other her family name – surrounded by local and diplomatic officials representing both countries, Lebanon and Colombia.
later on and at the venue of the concert, Shakira took a video of herself with the cedar mountains background and posted it on her twitter account.
Shakira has visited Lebanon for the first time in 2003 and later on in 2011 when she held a concert.
She was accompanied during this trip by her parents and two kids with her Spanish partner – football player Gerard Pique, Milan and Sasha.
On her flight to Beirut Shakira took a video of her younger son Sasha saying along with her in Arabic “Hello Lebanon.”
Shakira started her international tour on June 3 in the German city of Hamburg and it will end on August 24 in Saint Antonio in the United States.
The singer have 13 Latin Grammy awards and three International Grammy awards.
In addition to her successful singing career, Shakira is known for her activism and work against discrimination and poverty. Recently she penned an article published in TIME magazine criticizing the immigration policy adopted by US president Donald Trump.
Shakira is a UNICEF Goodwill Ambassador and is one of their global representatives. On April 3, 2006, Shakira was honored at a UN ceremony for creating the Pies Descalzos Foundation. In March 2010, she was awarded a medal by the UN International Labour Organization in recognition of being, as UN Labour Chief Juan Somavia put it, a “true ambassador for children and young people, for quality education and social justice”
Following appeals from fans and activists supporting the Palestinian campaign of boycott, divestment and sanctions against Israel (BDS), Shakira cancelled her concert scheduled for Tel Aviv on July 9, 2018.
Al-anwar Newspaper English news in Australia
