The organizing committee of the Annual Hala (Hello)February Music Festival in Kuwait has announced that Egyptian singer Amr Diab will not participate in this year’s events. The committee stated that Diab was not nominated alongside other singers who will take part in the festival due to the fact that he demanded a wage of 200 thousand US dollar for his performance; an amount the committee felt was too high.
The committee added that Diab’s wage for last year’s performance was 80 thousand US dollars only and the enormous increase, in addition to the singer’s conditions that he would only participate if Egyptian singers Tamer Husni and Mohammad Hamaqi were not invited without revealing the reasons for such a request.
Negotiations are currently being held with other Egyptian singers, who are as popular as Amr, to participate in the events of this year’s festivals, according to the Kuwaiti based daily, Al Qabas.
© 2008 Al Bawaba (www.albawaba.com)
