Kamal Ferjani, director of the Carthage International Festival in Tunisia, said that the rumors that the Egyptian singer Sherine Abdel Wahab received $150,000 for performing at the festival are completely untrue.
Last Saturday, Sherine Abdel Wahab performed the closing ceremony of the 56th edition of the Carthage International Festival, in the presence of a large audience.
Al-Ferjani said in a radio program that the largest financial value of the concluded contracts did not exceed $90,000, which is less than the previous sessions, which amounted to $120,000.
Regarding the timing of her departure, Al-Ferjani confirmed that 80% of the performances of foreign artists last between an hour and a quarter of an hour and an hour and a half.
He added, “I thank Sherine because she was treated well and accepted to sing in Tunisia for half the amount she receives in other countries.”
The performance of the artist, Sherine, comes at the end of the Carthage International Festival, within the framework of the Tunisian-Egyptian Culture Year (2021-2022) approved by Tunisian Presidents Kais Saied and Egyptian Abdel Fattah El-Sisi.
Kamal Ferjani accused “a well-known Tunisian singer” of launching smear campaigns against Sherine Abdel Wahab and the fifty-sixth session of the festival.
He explained that the campaign was launched by this artist spreading false news that Sherine will not attend the closing ceremony, explaining that the campaign reached its climax after the ceremony through some of her journalists in Tunisia.
He revealed that this artist targeted the current session of the festival because she was not invited to it, noting that in 2019, “only 522 spectators attended.”
Al-Ferjani promised this artist to reveal and respond to her accusations soon, as he put it.
Nice show in the picture
Sources from within the Carthage Festival confirmed to “Al-Ain Al-Akhbar” that the artist Kamal Al-Ferjani is concerned with is Latifa.
On August 13, Latifa said that she was “absent” from summer performances and festivals in Tunisia, especially the Carthage Festival.
She added that the Tunisian Minister of Culture, Hayat Katat, called her to be present at the Carthage Festival this year, and then she was surprised that the show was canceled, noting that she did not know the reasons and did not want to know.
She stressed that behind the cancellation of the show, “well-known parties do not like their orientations,” without naming them.
In a press statement, Latifa revealed that it is not the first time this has happened to her, explaining that for 9 years she has not been able to hold concerts in Tunisia except for the 2019 concert in coordination with the Presidency of the Tunisian Council of Ministers.
At the same time, Latifa expressed her strong support for Sherine after her show on Saturday, where she wrote: “Congratulations, my love, my heart. Your success yesterday in Carthage is well-deserved, and we all go through difficulties in our lives, but you are an artist and a strong person, and your audience is the biggest support that I give you more and more and we are always happy with your art.” The beautiful.”