Iraqi singer Kathem Al Saher has cancelled all concerts for New Year’s Eve in Beirut at the last minute. He gave no specific reason as to why he will be unable to perform arousing suspicion among sponsors of the concerts and hotel owners.
According to the London based daily, Al Sharq Al Awsat, Lebanese singer Haifa Wahbi, who was supposed to perform with Saher, said that Kathem is experiencing health problems that forced him to stay in his bed prevented him from coming to Lebanon. One of the employees at one of the hotels, where Kathem was to perform, said that there is a big question mark regarding the health condition of Kathem and added that apparently the singer had been hospitalized for some time.
Rumors had it that the singer’s popularity has been experiencing a downfall and in fact ticket sales for the concert were so minimal that the sponsors were forced to cancel them. Haifa defended these rumors saying that on the contrary she had monitored ticket sales and the concerts were sold out to the concerts. She added that the hotel managers were put in an embarrassing situation for they had to call everyone who had bought tickets to apologize for the cancellation and reimburse their money.
Wahbi was forced to change her prior plans to host 3 different concerts and stuck to only two performances one being with Lebanese singer Yuri Imra’adi.
The Iraqi singer released his new album in June entitled “Qissat Habibain” (two lovers story). In this album he offers 12 songs that cover all forms of sung words including poem, Mawwal and pop song.
“I recorded 24 songs written by prominent poets and I had to select 12 only, which was a very difficult task. Ultimately my choice was right and I am very happy with this album for its quick success,” Saher said.
Frequently, the singer finds “composing pop songs more difficult than poems. This is due to the fact that a poem and beautiful words bring pleasure and relaxation. Here comes creativity but the difficulty in a pop song lies in the need for it to be simple in order to reach people and be close to their souls.”
Saher reiterates that he has always been calling for love and not for breaking away. He said, “I am a constant lover who search for humanitarian topics. The poem “Two Lovers” is completely new in everything and its content is different. It is a sweet song written by Karim al Iraqi and depicts the care of a woman for her lover even if they differ or depart from each other.” - Albawaba.co
