Prominent Egyptian music ensemble Kawkab El-Sharq will pay tribute to the legendary Egyptian singer Oum Kalthoum at the 2016 Fes Festival of World Sacred Music in Morocco. The festival is currently running and will conclude Saturday.
Kawkab El-Sharq, also known as the "Orchestra of the Cairo Opera," was founded in 2014 by chairman of the Cairo Opera House Inès Abdel Daïm. The ensemble's name pays homage to Kalthoum who was known as "Kawkab El-Sharq" (Star of the East).
The Cairo Opera House musicians, who regularly perform the Arab music legend's classics in Cairo using the same orchestral structure Kalthoum herself used, will bring their tribute performance and power-house vocals Friday night to the Bab Al-Makina theater in Fez.
The festival is honoring Kaltoum because of her "enormous influence on the music scene of the east, having an amazing voice which was not only beloved by the Arab world but also captured the attention of the rest of the world," according to its official website.
The tribute to Kalthoum comes as a part of the theme of the 22nd edition of the festival, which is titled "Women Founders" and is meant to honor and celebrate pioneering Moroccan women and influential women from the rest of the Arab World.
"This year we are embarking on a journey to a world made sacred by the intelligence and grace of the women of our ancestral heritage. From a far-flung Orient, these brave women were poets and musicians who held the jewels of knowledge," says the festival of its 2016 theme.
The Fes Festival of World Sacred Music, which was designated by the United Nations in 2001 as "one of the major events contributing in remarkable fashion to the dialogue between civilizations," is one of Morocco's biggest cultural events.
The festival strives to promote cross-cultural exchange and interfaith dialogue through music, using globalization to create a culture of peace, respect and appreciation for different ethical and spiritual values from around the world.
This year, the festival featured an incredibly diverse group of musicians and singers, with many of them being women celebrating the theme of "Women Founders." These include artists from Morocco, Egypt, Palestine, Iraq, France, Bosnia, Ghana, Brazil, India, Turkey, Iran and China.
This edition also featured a special homage to India's musical heritage and its influence, which included a number of tribute concerts throughout the festival. In addition, prominent Moroccan singer Samira Said will be one of the artists closing this year's edition, performing on the last night of the festival.