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Winter at Tantora Returns to AlUla on December 21

AlUla's Maraya Theater. (SPA)
AlUla's Maraya Theater. (SPA)
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Winter at Tantora Returns to AlUla on December 21

AlUla's Maraya Theater. (SPA)
AlUla's Maraya Theater. (SPA)

Saudi Arabia' premier music and cultural festival, "Winter at Tantora", will return to to AlUla, the gem of civilization and human heritage, this December. The six-week event will kick off on December 21.

A highlight of the festival will be the sophisticated new event Hegra Candlelit Classics. Located in the UNESCO World Heritage Site of Hegra, an atmospheric set up with hundreds of candles lighting up the 2,000-year-old intricately carved Nabataean tombs will provide a unique backdrop for a series of musical events on December 24 and 31.

The event will be accompanied by special music curated by Stefan Lombard, renowned South African classical pianist. He will be leading a team of global musicians to perform an exciting set of classical, contemporary and Arabic music including violinist David Best, cellist Dorette Roos and oud player Simon Stengel. The event promises an emotional and elegant experience where east meets west.

"Winter at Tantora" will offer an exciting new experience for cinema-goers, with the new Cinema ElHoush featuring an outdoor setting in the AlJadidah district adjacent to AlUla Old Town. The cinema will operate Tuesday through Saturday nights offering a choice of two movies per evening.

Movies will include those recently shown at the Cannes and Venice Film Festivals and will be premieres for the Kingdom, in addition to a number of Saudi and Afghan movies, international classics, contemporary films, and a wide range of documentaries.

On January 29, 2022, the competitive Fursan Endurance Cup returns for a third time. It is an international CEI2,120km endurance four-phase competition through the desert organized in collaboration with the Saudi Arabian Equestrian Federation.

On February 11 and 12, the Royal Commission for AlUla supported by Saudi Polo Federation is delighted to host a polo event during which four teams will compete in the Desert Polo Arena.

Other immersive experiences in the heritage sites include theater with a twist, taking place in nature or in the streets such as the Path of Poets performance in the cultural oasis, and The Traveller Ibn Battuta in Old Town. The AlUla Citrus Festival on two successive weekends in January will be a vibrant celebration of AlUla's best produce. Festivities will include artisan market stalls and music, and local farmers will showcase and sell their products.

At AlUla's Maraya Theater, concerts will continue with an exciting mix of Arabic and international names making up the music program for Winter at Tantora. AlUla favorite Andrea Bocelli returns to perform this year, alongside improvisational composer and singer Abdulrahman Mohammed, the Saudi artist who launched a YouTube channel in 2008 to share his artistic experience in the world of improvisational and experimental alternative music.

Maraya will also host the prolific Egyptian composer, conductor and pianist, Maestro Omar Khairat, followed by a special concert by the Lebanese soprano Magida El Roumi.

They will all be performing at Maraya Social, the new rooftop restaurant headed by international Michelin starred chef Jason Atherton.

Dates of musical performances are as follows: Abdulrahman Mohammed – 7th January; Omar Khairat – 14th January; Andrea Bocelli – 21st January, Magida El Roumi – 28th January.

Tickets for Maraya concert series for Abdulrahman Mohammed, Omar Khairat and Magida El Roumi went on sale as of November 25.

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Composer of Piaf's 'Non, Je Ne Regrette Rien' Dies Aged 95

Charles Dumont wrote a classic song for Edith Piaf. CHRISTOPHE ARCHAMBAULT / AFP/File
Charles Dumont wrote a classic song for Edith Piaf. CHRISTOPHE ARCHAMBAULT / AFP/File
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Composer of Piaf's 'Non, Je Ne Regrette Rien' Dies Aged 95

Charles Dumont wrote a classic song for Edith Piaf. CHRISTOPHE ARCHAMBAULT / AFP/File
Charles Dumont wrote a classic song for Edith Piaf. CHRISTOPHE ARCHAMBAULT / AFP/File

Songwriter and singer Charles Dumont, who composed the song "Non, je ne regrette rien" ("No, I do not regret anything") made world famous by Edith Piaf, has died aged 95, his partner told AFP Monday.
Dumont, who had also collaborated with American singer Barbra Streisand and French-Italian 1960s star Dalida, died at home after a long illness.
French Culture Minister Rachida Dati called Dumont "a towering figure of French chanson".
A trumpeter by training, Dumont saw his career transformed at the turn of the 1960s when he convinced the star singer Piaf to perform one of his compositions, after having been forcefully refused several times.
"We turned up at her home, and she let us in," Dumont told AFP in 2018 about the day in 1960 when he managed to see Piaf together with his lyricist, Michel Vaucaire.
"I played the piece on the piano, and ... we became inseparable," he said, adding that the song -- which he had written in 1956 aged 27 -- revived Piaf's career that he said had been flagging.
"Non, je ne regrette rien" has since become an unforgettable classic of Piaf, who died in 1963.
"My mother gave birth to me, but Edith Piaf brought me into the world," Dumont told AFP in a 2015 interview.
"Without her, I would never have done everything I did, neither as a composer nor as a singer," he added.
For Dumont, this meeting marked the beginning of a fruitful working relationship with Piaf, resulting in his writing more than 30 songs for her.
'Goodbye young man'
On occasion she straightened him out, like one night after a concert when he complained to her that the audience had not been good.
"She looked me straight in the eye and said: 'It's not them who are bad. It's you who was no good'," he remembered.
The collaboration with Piaf gave Dumont the confidence to approach Streisand, who was already a star in the 1960s and well on her way to becoming one of the biggest-selling recording artists ever.
A music publisher suggested he should offer her his services, advice he later described as "destiny" giving him "a kick in the behind".
He went to New York, and played for her on a piano in her dressing room in a Broadway theater. "She said to me 'I like this very much. I'll make the record. Goodbye young man'," he said.
Streisand released a single with Dumont's "Le Mur" sung in French on the A side, and its English version "I've Been Here" on the B side, in 1966.
Dumont's last appearance on stage was in 2019 in Paris.
"When you come back in front of an audience, who come to see you as they came 20, 30 or 40 years ago and give you the same welcome, then they give you back your 20s," he said.