As the first guest of honour at Saudi Arabia's 12th Souk Okaz cultural festival, Egypt's Arab Music Troupe performs the third musical concert of the festival on Monday as a part of their tour to perform several concerts around the country. More than 40 Egyptian artists are taking place in the concerts, which are held in four cities in Saudi Arabia and attended by thousands of Egyptian and Saudi citizens. The festival is organised by the Saudi Commission for Tourism and National Heritage. The troupe is performing several concerts in the Saudi cities of Jeddah, Ta'if, Abha, and Dammam. Egyptian Culture Minister Inas Abdel Dayem inaugurated the festival with the Saudi culture minister, while Egypt's ambassador to Saudi Arabia made sure to attend some of the concerts performed by the troupe. The festival lasts until 13 July, and the Egyptian troupe is to perform two more concerts among the festival's various cultural events. In its second concert, held on Friday, the troupe performed several Egyptian heritage songs, widely known in the Middle East. Songs of prominent singers Umm Kulthum and Abdel Halim Hafez dominated the scene with wide acceptance and high engagement from the audience, while other folkloric songs were performed to further introduce the Saudi audience to the details of Egypt's heritage. The 12th Souk Okaz cultural festival also hosted two seminars for four Egyptian authors, who discussed the details of cultural cooperation between Egypt and Saudi Arabia.
