CAIRO, 27 August 2007 — Egyptian singer Hani Shaker angrily responded in a press conference on Saturday to a comment by Lubna Al-Far, president of the recently-concluded Jerash Festival in Jordan, suggesting that the poor public turnout for his concert was due to the singer’s unpopularity with fans, Deutsche Presse-Agentur reported yesterday.
Hani refuted the accusations and said the low turnout was due to the organizers’ incompetence in managing performances. “the festival president herself told me that there were serious flaws in the organization of the festival, including the arrangements for the publicity of the programs. I did not complain about the problems I encountered at the festival out of respect for the festival,” Hani said.
He went on to complain that he had to wait for hours after his arrival at the airport in Amman before officials came and took him to the festival venue.
Lubna had said earlier that the obstacles faced by the organizers in general were that “the festival coincided with the Jordanian general elections, the publication of high school exam results and ongoing repairs on the roads leading to the Jerash theaters.”
However she denied that low turn out to concerts of singers such as Hani Shaker, Latifa and Asi Al-Halani was due to incompetence of organizers since concerts by Najwa Karam and Fadal Shakir played to packed venues.