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.



UK Blues Legend John Mayall Dead at 90 

English blues singer John Mayall performs with his band The Bluesbreakers, on the stage of the Miles Davis hall during the 42nd Montreux Jazz Festival in Montreux, Switzerland, late Monday, July 7, 2008. (AP)
English blues singer John Mayall performs with his band The Bluesbreakers, on the stage of the Miles Davis hall during the 42nd Montreux Jazz Festival in Montreux, Switzerland, late Monday, July 7, 2008. (AP)
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UK Blues Legend John Mayall Dead at 90 

English blues singer John Mayall performs with his band The Bluesbreakers, on the stage of the Miles Davis hall during the 42nd Montreux Jazz Festival in Montreux, Switzerland, late Monday, July 7, 2008. (AP)
English blues singer John Mayall performs with his band The Bluesbreakers, on the stage of the Miles Davis hall during the 42nd Montreux Jazz Festival in Montreux, Switzerland, late Monday, July 7, 2008. (AP)

John Mayall, the British blues pioneer whose 1960s music collective the Bluesbreakers helped usher in a fertile period of rock and brought guitarists like Eric Clapton to prominence, has died at 90, his family said Tuesday.

Mayall, a singer and multi-instrumentalist who was dubbed "the godfather of British blues," and whose open-door arrangement saw some of the greats in the genre hone their craft with him and his band, "passed away peacefully in his California home" on Monday, according to a statement posted on his Facebook page.

It did not state a cause of death.

"Health issues that forced John to end his epic touring career have finally led to peace for one of this world's greatest road warriors," it said. "John Mayall gave us 90 years of tireless efforts to educate, inspire and entertain."

Mayall's influence on 1960s rock and beyond is enormous. Members of the Bluesbreakers eventually went on to join or form groups including Cream, Fleetwood Mac, the Rolling Stones and many more.

At age 30, Mayall moved to London from northern England in 1963. Sensing revolution in the air, he gave up his profession as a graphic designer to embrace a career in blues, the musical style born in Black America.

He teamed up with a series of young guitarists including Clapton, Peter Green, later of Fleetwood Mac, and Mick Taylor who helped form the Rolling Stones.

In the Bluesbreakers' debut album in 1966, "Blues Breakers With Eric Clapton," John Mayall enthralled music aficionados with a melding of soulful rock and gutsy, guitar-driven American blues featuring covers of tunes by Robert Johnson, Otis Rush and Ray Charles.

The blues music he was playing in British venues was "a novelty for white England," he told AFP in 1997.

That album was a hit, catapulting Clapton to stardom and bringing a wave of popularity to a more raw and personal blues music.

Mayall moved to California in 1968 and toured America extensively in 1972.

He recorded a number of landmark albums in the 1960s including "Crusade," "A Hard Road," and "Blues From Laurel Canyon." Dozens more followed in the 1970s and up to his latest, "The Sun Is Shining Down," in 2022.

Mayall was awarded an OBE, an Officer of the Order of the British Empire, in 2005.