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Naseer Shamma to Hold First Oud Orchestra Concert in Saudi Arabia

Naseer Shamma. (AFP)
Naseer Shamma. (AFP)
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Naseer Shamma to Hold First Oud Orchestra Concert in Saudi Arabia

Naseer Shamma. (AFP)
Naseer Shamma. (AFP)

The King Abdulaziz Center for World Culture in Dhahran is set to host Iraqi oud player Naseer Shamma on December 20 to 22.

For the first time in Saudi Arabia, Shamma will lead the 35-member "Oud Orchestra" in three concerts composed by him at the "Ithra" theater.

Shamma said: "Oud is not only a musical instrument. It represents a great cultural heritage, and the concerts that I will lead in Saudi Arabia are more than just musical performance. They are a cultural journey extending from the past to the present."

He described playing in Saudi Arabia for the first time is a great achievement.

"I look forward to share my music passion with the audience at the Ithra theater. This musical program is a life… a revived soul… and a world that interacts with music to please the audience and me."

Shamma established the first Arab Oud House in both Cairo and Abu Dhabi.

He studied the instrument and developed it, creating an oud with eight strings, inspired by Al-Farabi's manuscripts on music and the Arabic instrument.

He also created methods to help children and people with special needs play oud and enjoy it with one hand.

He holds many titles like the Ambassador of the East from the German Ministry of Cultural, and received the Artistic Excellence Award from the Arab Thought Foundation.

He established many projects, such as the "Eastern Orchestra," which gathered more than 75 musicians from the Far and the Near East, and "Our Motherland", aimed at supporting peace.

Shamma performed in various world-renowned venues such as the Olympia Theater in Paris, the Gran Teatre del Liceu in Barcelona, ​​and in large cities like Sharjah and Abu Dhabi in in the Middle East.

He was also appointed as a UNESCO Goodwill Ambassador.

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More Than 100 Vultures Die in a Mass Poisoning in South Africa’s Flagship National Park 

A pair of Cape vultures is seen in their enclosure at the Vulture Program at Boekenhoutkloof near Hartbeespoort Dam, South Africa, Wednesday, Sept. 22, 2011. (AP)
A pair of Cape vultures is seen in their enclosure at the Vulture Program at Boekenhoutkloof near Hartbeespoort Dam, South Africa, Wednesday, Sept. 22, 2011. (AP)
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More Than 100 Vultures Die in a Mass Poisoning in South Africa’s Flagship National Park 

A pair of Cape vultures is seen in their enclosure at the Vulture Program at Boekenhoutkloof near Hartbeespoort Dam, South Africa, Wednesday, Sept. 22, 2011. (AP)
A pair of Cape vultures is seen in their enclosure at the Vulture Program at Boekenhoutkloof near Hartbeespoort Dam, South Africa, Wednesday, Sept. 22, 2011. (AP)

At least 123 vultures died in South Africa's flagship national park after eating the carcass of an elephant that was poisoned by poachers with agricultural pesticides, park authorities and an animal conservation group said Thursday.

Another 83 vultures that were rescued from the site and transported for treatment by helicopter or a special vulture ambulance were recovering.

The mass poisoning was one of the worst seen in the famous Kruger National Park in northern South Africa, said SANParks, the national parks agency.

Vultures are key to wildlife ecosystems because of the clean up work they do feeding on the carcasses of dead animals. But that also makes them especially vulnerable to poisoning by poachers, either intentionally or as a result of the killing of other animals. Hundreds of vultures typically feed on a carcass.

The elephant had been poisoned by poachers in a remote part of the huge park to harvest its body parts for the illegal wildlife trade, SANParks and the Endangered Wildlife Trust said.

Many vulture species are endangered in Africa because of poisoning and other threats to them. The affected birds in Kruger included Cape vultures, endangered lappet-faced vultures and critically-endangered white-backed and hooded vultures.

“This horrific incident is part of a broader crisis unfolding across southern Africa: the escalating use of poisons in wildlife poaching,” SANParks and the Endangered Wildlife Trust said in their joint statement. “Poachers increasingly use agricultural toxins to target high-value species.”

The Kruger National Park covers approximately 20,000 square kilometers (7,722 square miles) and is nearly twice the size of small countries like Jamaica and Qatar.

Rangers say they face a daily battle to guard species like rhinos, elephants and lions from poachers.

Vulture conservation organization Vulpro, which was not involved in the rescue, said the poisoning came at the start of the breeding season and many other birds that weren't found at the site could still be affected.