Performances by Native Deen, Brothahood and Ehab Tawfiq amongst others on air tonight night on Al Mahabbah Youth concert

Press Release Content

Artists from all over the world delivered inspiring performances of their love and dedication to the Prophet Mohammed during the Youth Concert held as part of the Al Mahabbah Awards Festival 2008.

To be broadcast on Wednesday, July 9 at 19:35 GMT, 22:35 KSA, and repeated Thursday, July 10 at 10:00 GMT, 13:00 KSA on Al Resalah and Poet Channels, the youth concert saw acts from Australia, UK, USA, Saudi Arabia, the UAE and other countries throughout the world.

Held on April 24, immediately following the opening ceremony at the Al Raha Beach Theatre, Abu Dhabi, the youth concert featured a variety of singers and groups as well as the nine nominees of the Best Arabic and International Song categories.

Performing that night were Mesut Kurtis from Macedonia, The Sound of Reason from Canada, Malaysian Nasheed group Raihan, Emirati Singer Mohammed Al Mazem and Egyptian singers Ehab Tawfiq, Hamada Helal and Tariq Fouad. Each one of the acts delivered heartfelt performances and in the case of Hamada Helal, even managed to get a few tears from the 2000 strong audience.

Bringing the first half of the concert to a close was South African Nasheed artist Zain Bhikha, joined by his African drummer and four back-up vocalists who are most famous for being the African singers in the famous Disney cartoon “The Lion King.” Zain sang two songs, one of which ‘Peace Train,’ about peace in Islam, was written by Yusuf Islam a number of years ago.

Performing at the end of the concert were the nine nominees of the Best Arabic and International Song Categories. The nominees in the Best Arabic Song Category were ‘Sallu ala Khayer Al-Anam’ by Abdulrahman Mohammed from Saudi Arabia, ‘Gebreel’ by Egyptian Ahmad Hamdi, ‘Khair Al Bariya’ by Egyptian Maamoun El Miligy, ‘Youseer Al Qalb’ by UAE native Osama Safi and ‘La Taqoul’ by Hashem Baroum from Saudi Arabia.

The nominees in the Best International Song category were ‘Sallallahu ala Mohammed’ by UK group Shaam, ‘Light Upon Light’ by Australian group The Brothahood, ‘Tala’a Al Badru’ by USA group Native Deen and ‘Othran Mohammed’ by French singer Christian Bell.

Once the nine nominees had their moment in the spotlight, audiences had the chance to vote live from the interactive voting pods in the theatre, for their favorite nominees with results added to the final judge’s votes where three nominees where three nominees were chosen to compete in the Closing Ceremony on April 26.

The Al Mahabbah Awards were started two years ago in response to a series of disrespectful cartoons published in a Danish newspaper depicting the Prophet Mohammed. Thus, the festival was created to promote artistic expressions of love for the Prophet and inspire Muslims all over the world, especially young people, to express their deep love for the Prophet.

The three-day festival attracted a range of artists from around the world and especially Egypt. With Egyptian actor Mohammed Henedi a firm supporter of the festival, a host of actors from Egypt such as Gamal Ismael, Mahmoud Gendy and Mahmoud Yassin attended the festival as well as international guests such as Cynthia Schneider, a professor in USA’s Georgetown University and Malek Akkad, a USA-based filmmaker and son of the late filmmaker Mostapha Akkad.

The entire festival was produced by international production company Pyramedia ending with an elaborate Awards Ceremony announcing the winners in nine categories of songs, advertisements, Documentary and TV Programs, Films, Books, Photography, Graphic Arts, Mass Media and Event of the Year.

The Al Mahabbah Awards Festival 2008 was held under the patronage of His Excellency Sheikh Mohammed bin Zayed Al Nahyan, Crown Prince of Abu Dhabi and Supreme Deputy Commander of the UAE Armed Forces and under the honorary Charimanship of HE Sheikh Abdullah bin Zayed Al Nahyan, foreign minister of the UAE.

Broadcast Schedule on Al Resalah and Poet channels

Opening Ceremony: Wednesday June 25 at 19:35 GMT, 22:35 KSA. Repeated Thursday June 26 at 10:00 GMT, 13:00 KSA.

Classical Concert: Wednesday July 2 at 19:35 GMT, 22:35 KSA. Repeated Thursday July 3 at 10:00 GMT, 13:00 KSA.

Youth Concert: Wednesday July 9 at 19:35 GMT, 22:35 KSA. Repeated Thursday July 10 at 10:00 GMT, 13:00 KSA.

Closing Awards Ceremony: Wednesday July 16 at 19:35 KSA, 22:35 UAE. Repeated Thursday July 17 at 10:00 GMT, 13:00 KSA.

The Al Resalah channel can be viewed on NileSat 11.823 GHz, Vertical, 27500, ¾. The Million’s Poet channel can be viewed on NileSat 11919 MHTz, Horizontal, 27500, ¾ and Arabsat Bader 4 DL, 11804 Horizontal, 27500, ¾.

You can learn more about this press release by visiting - www.pyramedia.biz

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