Arab music fans flock to musical slaughter as stars crash and burn for Eid concerts
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Play Image 1 of 8: Iraqi musician Majed al Muhandes shares the stage at Kuwait's Crowne Plaza Hotel with Moroccan singer Asmaa al Munawar, for a concert on the third day of Eid al Adha.
Pause Play Image 1 of 8: Saturday, 26 October was the second day of Eid Al Adha—and also the day on which Egyptian superstar Mohammed Mounir serenaded 30,000 fans in Hurgada.
Pause Play Image 1 of 8: No such luck for talented Egyptian performer Ihab Tawfik, his planned concerts at the San Mark stadium in Cairo's Shubra district had to be cancelled for “reasons outside of his control”.
Pause Play Image 1 of 8: In another part of Cairo, Lebanese diva Cyrine Abdelnour shares the stage with Egyptian performer Hani Shaker on Monday, 28 October (the fourth day of Eid) at the Al Massa Hotel.
Pause Play Image 1 of 8: Of course, there were fireworks of a whole other kind this festive season, when 3 Lebanese singers, diva Elissa, pan-Arab star Melhem Zein and show-queen Haifa Wehbe all had to cancel appearances following the blowing up of a car bomb in Beirut (in a bid to show sympathy and solidarity).
Pause Play Image 1 of 8: If Lebanese were supposed to grieve by not singing in public, nobody told Carole Samaha. The diva sang in front of crowds at Abu Dhabi's Trop Fest Arabia, in the UAE.
Pause Play Image 1 of 8: Saudi minstrel Rabih Saker stayed close to home this Eid, but managed to sway audiences at a site on Dubai's famous Jumeira Beach.
Pause Play Image 1 of 8: Sandy is another Arab performer staying home. She's going to be taking part in a competition, alongside other artists, at Egypt's springs in the Stella Di Mare. Sandy (no relation to the present-day Hurricane) will be staying close to her fans for a big shin-dig on the third day of Eid.
It was a moveable feast for some who had to make other plans when certain celebs crashed and burned on them with concert cancellations. For some down-faced revelers in Lebanon and Egypt it felt more famine than feast, as they looked to top up their holiday spirits for Eid Al Adha 2012 elsewhere. Generally the Gulf's entertainment line-up was all a-go with fireworks and smiles all round.
This Eid Al-Kabeer (Big Feast)'s entertainment world was a bittersweet brew of shows and no-shows -- entertainment buzzes and blues, as concerts went ahead from the Gulf to Egypt, while fizzling out and flopping to the tune of cancellation and commiseration announcements. Lebanese divas were mainly off the menu, while stars from Iraq, Morocco, Egypt were business as usual.
Here, we tell you all about the drama that went down this Eid Al Adha in the Arab world's star-files - who threw a party, and who left fans having to to dig deep for plan B's.
