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Khalil Makkawi and Magida El-Roumi |
Hundreds of AUB
students, alumni, and music fans crowded the Forum de Beirut on November 26,
2005, to hear Magida El-Roumi sing live in a concert sponsored by the AUB
Scholarship Fundraising Committee to raise money for needy students. The
much anticipated event, scheduled for 8:30 pm, was more than an hour and a
half late getting started, because of heightened security measures and the
belated arrival of the country’s Prime Minister Fouad El-Siniora and his
entourage.
Former Ambassador Khalil Makkawi, who chairs the fundraising committee,
welcomed the large audience and commended the members of the committee for
their unwavering efforts. In introducing Magida El-Roumi, he mentioned that
true to her vocation of helping “her greater family of Lebanese,” she had
previously performed a charity concert at AUB to help underprivileged
students. The acclaimed singer then made her entrance amidst thundering
applause.
El-Roumi expressed her joy at being able to sing in Beirut after a long
absence. “You will be hearing my heart singing tonight,” she said. Indeed,
the singer became visibly emotional after several songs, five of which she
was performing for the first time on stage. For two hours, she sang
non-stop, receiving standing ovations for practically every song, especially
for “Itazalit El-Gharam” (I’ve Given Up on Love) and her nationalistic hit,
“Beirut Ya Sitta Al-Dunya” (Beirut, Queen of the World). El-Roumi addressed
Prime Minister Siniora midway through the concert, proclaiming that every
member in the audience was “Siniora’s soldier” and a staunch defender of
Lebanon. As colored confetti slowly descended on the frenzied audience, El-Roumi
concluded the evening with “Tallou Hbabna Tallou” (Our Loved Ones Have
Returned), a pastoral song celebrating the happy reunion with loved ones who
have returned
to the homeland.
At a press conference held earlier in the week at AUB, the singer confirmed
what she had said on television a month earlier about joining the University
as a student of languages. The conference was jointly held with the AUB
Scholarship Fundraising Committee, which had organized the concert.
The committee, officially established in February 2000, had previously been
known as the College Hall Fundraising Committee, when the concern of its
members for several years had been to solicit funds for the rebuilding of
College Hall. When that job was completed, the same group of alumni and
friends decided to commit itself to increasing AUB’s financial aid program
by raising money for need-based scholarships. As Ambassador Makkawi remarked
at the press conference, AUB has been able to “continually increase funds
for scholarships and maintain its mission as an equal opportunity
institution of higher learning.” El-Roumi and her full-house fundraising
concert was further evidence of that ongoing effort.
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