Lebanese singer Wadih Al-Safi is coming to Vancouver, B.C. in three weeks!

Date: Saturday, Sept. 8
Time: Reception 7 p.m., Dinner 8 p.m.
Place: Sheraton Hotel, Vancouver Wall Centre, 1088 Burrard Street
Click on www.sheratonvancouver.com for map and info about hotel
Cost: Tickets range from $150 to $200 CANADIAN dollars, including a complete dinner. The closer to the stage, the more seats cost.

For tickets: call sponsors Mona's Lebanese Cuisine, (604) 689-4050 or e-mail khalilchaaban@hotmail.com.

More about Wadih Al-Safi:

The 80-year-old is known to have one of the most beautiful voices in the Arab world. The great tenor Luciano Pavarotti said in an interview with a Lebanese magazine when he was asked what he thought of Wadih Al-Safi: "This man does not sing alone, it feels like somebody sings with him." Throughout 60 years, Al Safi's audiences are people of all ages, tastes, and regions, in a new school based on tradition and inspired by folklore. He performs his songs with spontaneity and simplicity aided by a flexible voice which can change form one note to another and expresses. He is called the "genuine Arab Tarab" by many. He is a great artist who has preserved the glow of his presence and the brilliance of his performance.

Al Safi was born in the town of Niha in the Chouf in 1921, and started his artistic journey at 17 when he took part in a singing contest by a local Lebanese radio station and was first among fifty other competitors. In 1947, he traveled to Brazil where he remained until 1950. HE sang for the Lebanese in the Diaspora about their motherland. He performed songs about the land of the ancestors, the countryside, the village and the family.

"Loubnan ya kotaat sama" (Lebanon a piece of heaven), Beyty (home), Ya oukhti njoum el elil dawiha (light the stars of the night, my sisiter) and Yabni (my son) are among the many nostalgic songs. After his return to Lebanon, El Safi endeavored to develop folk music and chose Poetry and Zajal to inspire patriotism and focus on love, devotion, morals and values.

He was known for his Mawals of Ataba, Mijana and Abu el Zuluf. He roamed the world singing in many languages such as Arabic, French, Brazilian and Italian. He's sang in international festivals and earned many high honors in Lebanon, Tunisia, Jordan, Yemen, Morocco, Syria, Mascat and France. He earned an honorary doctorate from the University of Kaslik.