Over 700,000 flock to Saudi Arabia's top music festival
Record crowds of over 700,000
revellers flocked to Saudi Arabia's MDLBeast Soundstorm music festival,
authorities said Monday, at the end of the four-day event in the oil-rich
desert kingdom.
The electronic music festival comes
as Saudi's leaders are pushing efforts to change its conservative image and
diversify its economy, only a few years after the country lifted a ban on music
and dancing. International entertainers and musicians -- including superstar
French DJ David Guetta-- performed at the event despite boycott calls over
Saudi Arabia's human rights record.
The festival, which ended on a
Sunday, comes as Saudi Arabia sees a spike in coronavirus cases amid increased
fears over the spread of the new omicron variant.
Saudi Arabia has recorded the
highest number of Covid-related deaths among Arab Gulf countries, with more
than 8,860 fatalities. Over the four days, 732,000 people flocked to the event,
"one of the largest music festivals in the world," said Turki
al-Sheikh, head of Saudi's General Entertainment Authority.
The festival has since its launch in
2019 witnessed large crowds, most of them young men and women, who can freely
mingle and dance to western music.
"We've never seen anything like
this in Riyadh before -- crowds, music, VIP rooms, unconventional clothing for
the kingdom," one Saudi woman, who attended the festival, told AFP.
- 'Thirsty for music' -
The rise of Saudi Arabia's de facto
ruler, Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, in 2017 has ushered in a number of
reforms. A social shift in the conservative Gulf state has included the lifting
of a ban on women driving and allowing mixed-gender concerts and other events.
Critics and rights groups have said
the kingdom is using major sports and entertainment events to whitewash its
poor human rights record, including the 2018 killing of dissident journalist
Jamal Khashoggi.
Last month, Canadian pop star Justin
Bieber was caught in the crosshairs for performing during the Grand Prix in
Saudi Arabia, with Human Rights Watch (HRW) saying that the kingdom was using
the sports event to "distract from widespread human rights
violations".
HRW released another statement ahead
of the latest festival, saying: "Performers and promoters should use their
microphones, stages and screen time to speak out about human rights abuses in
Saudi Arabia or refuse to participate in yet another one of Saudi's reputation
laundering schemes."
For the young Saudi woman, who spoke
on condition of anonymity, such events have nonetheless been beneficial in
offering younger generations an outlet.
"We are thirsty for music,
entertainment, movies, laughter and outings. It's like we're rediscovering our
country and that makes us very happy," she said.
Saudi Arabia is seeking to diversify
its economy away from oil, investing heavily in recent years in the tourism,
entertainment and sports sectors. While the sweeping social changes have been
embraced by many, some remain apprehensive.
"How is it possible that these
scenes are in the country with (Islam's) two holiest sites," tweeted one
person, alongside a video of men and women dancing together.