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Abadi al-Johar, Oumaima Taleb Create Great Eid Ambiance in Riyadh

The date of the concert coincided with the birthday of crooner Abadi al-Johar (Rotana).
The date of the concert coincided with the birthday of crooner Abadi al-Johar (Rotana).
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Abadi al-Johar, Oumaima Taleb Create Great Eid Ambiance in Riyadh

The date of the concert coincided with the birthday of crooner Abadi al-Johar (Rotana).
The date of the concert coincided with the birthday of crooner Abadi al-Johar (Rotana).

Tunisian singer Oumaima Taleb, and oud player and crooner Abadi al-Johar brought people celebrating Eid al-Fitr in Saudi Arabia more joy in an exceptional concert in Riyadh.

With his usual appearance accompanied by his oud, Abadi al-Johar celebrated both Eid al-Fitr and his 70th birthday with his fans. The Saudi crooner spent most of these years performing and became one of the most esteemed Arabic singers.

Johar started the evening with his Eid-inspired, timeless song “Ya Allah Bou’dah”, followed by “Weshfik”, and “Taakhart”. Then, he expressed his nostalgia with “Fini Hanin”, in which he recalls a lover who left.

The Saudi crooner spent the night singing and playing his best works, and by the end of the concert, the music band surprised him with a special piece that celebrates his 70th birthday. Johar didn’t try to hide his joy for celebrating this occasion for the first time with his “big family”.

After Johar, Oumaima Taleb appeared on stage with an astounding look inspired by the Eid she came to celebrate. She sat before the audience and sang “Khatam al-Ahbab”, “Beterjaa”, and “Ma Daret”, and shared many other songs with her audience until the end of the night.

By the end of the concert, the Tunisian singer said she was happy to share a concert with a legend like Abadi al-Johar, noting that the Saudi audience is dear to her heart and she’s proud to sing for them.

The concert was part of the Eid calendar launched by the Saudi General Entertainment Authority including many concerts in several Saudi cities and regions, in addition to diverse activities that run for a whole week.

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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.