AL ULA: Against the backdrop of rock-cut tombs and sand-swept ruins, Italian tenor Andrea Bocelli regaled revellers last week in an ancient Saudi desert city at the centre of the kingdom’s tourism push.
Bocelli performed alongside his family members at Unesco World Heritage site Hegra in the kingdom’s Al Ula governorate, a long-isolated area seen widely as an open-air museum.
Saudi Arabia has splurged billions to develop sites like it in an attempt to build a tourism industry from scratch, as
part of efforts to diversify its economy.
Bocelli, who has performed in the kingdom at least twice before, was the “first artist in known history to stage a concert within the city walls of Hegra”, organisers of the televised event said.
The singer belted out Leonard Cohen’s “Hallelujah” in a duet with his young daughter Virginia to an audience that organisers said was limited to less than 300, due to the coronavirus
pandemic.
The centuries-old Al Ula, an area roughly the size of Belgium where Nabatean tombs and art are chiselled into caramel-hued rock, is seen as the centrepiece of Saudi tourism attractions. The kingdom began issuing tourist visas for the first time in 2019.
Saudi Arabia has invited international musicians — from Janet Jackson to 50 Cent and Korean pop group BTS — for concerts.
But the pandemic has put a brake on the country’s ambitious push to revamp its global image and draw tourists. — AFP
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