Jeddah Season 2022 Kicks Off

The second edition of Jeddah Season kicked off on Monday. (SPA)
The second edition of Jeddah Season kicked off on Monday. (SPA)
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Jeddah Season 2022 Kicks Off

The second edition of Jeddah Season kicked off on Monday. (SPA)
The second edition of Jeddah Season kicked off on Monday. (SPA)

The second edition of the Jeddah Season kicked off on Monday at the Jeddah Art Promenade, reported the Saudi Press Agency.

The 60-day event will feature 2,800 activities held at nine main venues.

The launch featured drone performances and a fireworks show that lit up the Jeddah sky as people flocked to the event on the first day of the Eid al-Fitr holiday.

Cirque du Soleil was the inaugural show of the season. It held a performance in the circus area of King Abdullah Sports City.

The program for Jeddah Season 2022 features international and Arab events, artistic and theatrical performances, concerts and games.

The organizers were keen on investing in all the aspects of the tourist, historical, marine, and cultural city of Jeddah to offer an array of recreational options to people of all ages.

Cirque du Soleil will perform an exclusive show for the Jeddah Season. Four international exhibits, seven Arab plays, two international plays, and a number of Arab and international concerts will be held. For the first time, the season will include 70 interactive events, more than 60 entertainment games, several marine programs and activities, and numerous surprises that will delight Jeddah's residents and visitors.

Nawaf Qumusani, Director-General of the Jeddah Season 2022, confirmed that this year's edition will provide more diverse activities.

They will be held across the nine main venues: the Jeddah Art Promenade, Cirque du Soleil, Jeddah Yacht Club, Jeddah Al Balad, Jeddah Pier, Jeddah Jungle, Jeddah Superdome, Prince Majid Park, and City Walk.



Lady Gaga, Celine Dion, Aya Nakamura: Set for Olympics Opening Ceremony?

Lady Gaga said she was recording a new album. Tolga Akmen / AFP/File
Lady Gaga said she was recording a new album. Tolga Akmen / AFP/File
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Lady Gaga, Celine Dion, Aya Nakamura: Set for Olympics Opening Ceremony?

Lady Gaga said she was recording a new album. Tolga Akmen / AFP/File
Lady Gaga said she was recording a new album. Tolga Akmen / AFP/File

World-famous stars are in line to perform at Friday's opening ceremony of the Paris Olympics, which will take place along the Seine river.
The exact line-up is a tightly guarded secret, but here are three performers strongly rumored to be appearing:
Lady Gaga
One of the world's biggest-selling artists, pop queen Lady Gaga -- real name Stefani Germanotta -- brings extravagant showmanship and costumes to the stage, along with her infectious electropop beats.
She won an Oscar for "Shallow", a song she co-wrote for the 2018 film remake "A Star is Born".
In that film she sang the classic "La Vie en rose" by French legend Edith Piaf -- whose songs are expected to feature in the Olympics extravaganza.
Lady Gaga was seen arriving at a hotel in the French capital days ahead of the opening bash.
Her anticipated Olympic turn comes during a busy year for the Oscar-winning US songwriter, 38.
Earlier this month she announced she was back in the studio at work on a new album.
She also appears as love-interest Harley Quinn in the new "Joker" movie, screening at the Venice Film Festival that starts in late August.
"Music is one of the most powerful things the world has to offer," she said prior to her electrifying 2017 Super Bowl halftime show performance.
"No matter what race or religion or nationality or sexual orientation or gender that you are, it has the power to unite us."
Celine Dion
Canadian superstar singer Dion is set to return to the spotlight after her fight against a rare illness was laid bare in a recent documentary.
She has been posing for selfies with fans around Paris since the start of the week.
Sources have indicated she may sing Piaf's stirring love anthem "Hymne A l'Amour" at the ceremony.
If she performs it will be the 56-year-old Dion's second time at the Games, after the 1996 Atlanta Olympics.
Last month she vowed she would fight her way back from the debilitating rare neurological condition that has kept her off stage.
Dion first disclosed in December 2022 that she had been diagnosed with Stiff Person Syndrome, an incurable autoimmune disorder.
But she told US network NBC in June: "I'm going to go back onstage, even if I have to crawl. Even if I have to talk with my hands, I will. I will."
She has sold more than 250 million albums during a career spanning decades, and picked up two Grammys for her rendition of "My Heart Will Go On", the hit song from the 1997 epic "Titanic".
Aya Nakamura
Franco-Malian R&B superstar Aya Nakamura, 29, is the most listened to French-speaking singer in the world, with seven billion streams online.
She is known for hits such as "Djadja", which has close to a billion streams on YouTube alone, and "Pookie".
She faced down a wave of abuse from right-wing activists over her mooted Olympics appearance.
The backlash came after media reports suggested she had discussed performing a song by Piaf at a meeting with President Emmanuel Macron.
Neither party confirmed the claim but Macron publicly backed the singer for the Olympics ceremony.
Far-right politicians and conservatives have accused her of "vulgarity" and disrespecting the French language in her lyrics.
Born Aya Danioko in the Malian capital Bamako in 1995 into a family of traditional musicians, she moved with her parents to the Paris suburbs as a child.
She told AFP in an interview in 2020 her music was about "feelings of love in all their aspects".
"I have made my own musical universe and that is what I am most proud of. I make the music I like, even if people try to pigeon-hole me."