The participating musicians at the end of the Oud Festival, organized by the General Authority for Entertainment in cooperation with the Music Commission and held yesterday in the Music Square in Boulevard Riyadh City, presented excellent and distinctive performances, making the jury’s task difficult while selecting the winners. Saud bin Nayef achieved first place in the amateur category, Muhannad Talal in the professional category, and Shahad Hisham in the female musicians category.
Abdul Rahman Al-Harbi won second place in the festival, which is the largest Arab gathering of oud players, in the amateur category, Kinan Ednawi came second in the professional category, while Islam Al-Dedari won in the female musicians category. The third place went to Joseph Rouhana in the amateur category, Mohammed Jisri in the professional category, and Amal Mina in the female musicians category.
The winners at the end of the Oud Festival were awarded financial prizes amounting to hundreds of thousands of Saudi riyals. The winner of first place in the professional category won SAR150,000, SAR100,000 for second place, and SAR50,000 for third place. The award for first place for both the amateur and female musicians categories amounted to SAR75,000, the second place prize was SAR50,000, and the third place prize was SAR25,000.
The Oud Festival lasted for three days, during which the participating contestants presented distinguished performances that added musical creativity to all parts of the Music zone, amidst a big turnout of music lovers.
The singing star Abadi Al-Johar participated in the closing ceremony of the Oud Festival and entertained the audience with some of his songs before announcing the winners. At the end of the festival, the audience also enjoyed listening to musical pieces presented by skilled musicians.
The Oud Festival is one of the entertainment musical events that are organized within Riyadh Calendar to motivate musicians and allow them to present their experiences and help them reach impressive and advanced levels.
