Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman's (MBS) regime continues to spend billions of dollars on entertainment events throughout the Kingdom, violating the Kingdom's sanctity.
Head of the Saudi Entertainment Authority, Turki Al-Sheikh, recently decided to organise an urgent music concert for the Egyptian artist and head of the Union of Music Professions, Mustafa Kamel, after the latter wrote a pro-Saudi song hailing MBS.
Sources familiar with the matter affirmed that the upcoming party will cost 3 million Saudi riyals.
Last week, Australian rapper Iggy Azalea came under fire for controversial lyrics about prophets and asking people to “bow down to a goddess” during her $2 million-cost performance in Saudi Arabia.
Her lyrics were widely condemned for contradicting Islamic values, both inside and outside Saudi Arabia, with the lines “preaching about prophets, it ain't no one man can stop us, bow down to a goddess” generating the biggest backlash.
The performance comes as Saudi Arabia increasingly opens up to entertainment, as part of MBS’s Vision 2030, an effort to diversify the kingdom away from oil and welcome more tourists.
Private sources earlier revealed that MBS has ordered Turki Al-Sheikh to produce entertainment series in Saudi Arabia with the help of pornographic stars.
The initial budget allocated for the project is estimated at about $3 billion, the sources added.
In 2016, Saudi Arabia established the General Entertainment Authority within Vision 2030 – the crown prince’s plan to diversify its economy beyond oil, which accounts for more than half of the government’s revenue.
Among its goals was to almost double household spending on cultural and entertainment activities within the kingdom. Riyadh is now seeing more than $64 billion in entertainment investment, with a significant proportion of that going to the live music industry.
MBS's Vision 2030 prides itself on offering “world-class entertainment” and says that it has organized up to 3,800 entertainment events in the country, attended by more than 80 million people.
Al Sheikh orlier organised the Cassette 90's concert during the Riyadh season.
He wrote on his personal account on Facebook: “I am happy with the success achieved by the Cassette 90's concert, which brought back our beautiful memories with a wonderful gathering of stars.”
«As a result of this success and in appreciation of these stars, it was decided to hold the concert again on a larger scale during the Riyadh season».
The Cassette 90's concert, which was held under the auspices of the General Authority for Entertainment, included prominent stars of the nineties, including Hamid Al Shaeri, Ihab Tawfiq, Muhammad Mohi, Mustafa Qamar, Hisham Abbas, Simon, Khaled Ajaj and Hossam Hosni.
Sources familiar with the matter revealed that the concert cost one billion Saudi riyals because the General Authority for Entertainment paid for the travel expenses and hotel accommodations in the most opulent establishments.
