Beirut Holidays continue at the Beirut Waterfront Biel, but this time with one of the top singers of the Middle East; Elissa. Her appearance on the Waterfront stage on Thursday the 21^st of August, took the crowds by storm. It was a full house with fans even climbing the back stage fence to get a glimpse of her.

Elissa, born as Elissar Zakaria Khoury to a Lebanese father and a Syrian mother, made her first debut in Studio el Fan in 1992 sweeping away the silver medal. In 2004, Elissa signed with Rotana records after her hit Ayshalak, and since then, she has had a prosperous musical career. She has had many collaborations; she was the first Arabic artist to collaborate with Dior for her video Ayshalak, and later teamed with the famous Chris de Burg to release “Lebanese Nights.” In 2002, she was awarded the Murex d'Or for Best Female Artist, and "Ajmal Ihsas" clip won the best video clip at the Arabic Music Awards, in Dubai. Ahla Donia ablum led her to win the World Music Award for Best Selling Middle East Artist, and Bastanak gave her the same title a second year in a row. The list of achievements goes on to include her as the ambassadress for Samsung Mobiles, and she was named amongst the100 Most Powerful Arab Business Women.

All those achievements can be summarized by the crowd’s reaction when Elissa hits the stages. At the Waterfront, and after the Lebanese National Anthem was sung along with her diversified band, Elissa walked in to honor the army with her start up song. After which, she paused to say a few words, to state that it’s sad that we always party to prove that we are people who enjoys living, while our army is shedding blood to keep us under a safe roof. She added that all the income from the concert will be donated to the army because I want my country to remain beautiful “7elwa ya balady!” She later thanked all the celebrity attendees for their presence. Elissa performed with diversity, she didn’t stick to her albums, but she performed songs for Abdel el Halim, Salwa el Katrib, Fairouz and others. She made the crowds enjoy the mixture of modern pop music and old Tarab, which we all hope will last forever.

Elissa, we look forward to your upcoming events…

By Stephany B.