BEIRUT: Singer Majida Roumi and more than 100 artists honored the late President Rafik Hariri on his birthday at the Beirut International Exhibition and Leisure Center Saturday. The ceremony was organized by Prime Minister-designate Saad Hariri, who presented it as a gift to his late father. It included several artistic performances, mainly musical entertainment presented by Roumi, Russian orchestra conductor Andrei Galanov, Lebanese orchestra conductor Elie al-Ayya and choral conductor Elie Merhej. 

The gathering was attended by Deputy Speaker Farid Makari, Caretaker Deputy Prime Minister Issam Abu Jamra, former Prime Minister Salim al-Hoss, Defense Minister Elias Murr, Culture Minister Tammam Salam, Lebanese Forces leader Samir Geagea and his wife Strida, an MP for Bsharri, Timur Jumblatt, and an array of political and social figures. 

Roumi’s emotional performance of almost 20 songs saw her accompanied by more than 100 musicians and choir singers, as well as a hologram of the portrait of the late Hariri. Some 300 people helped in the preparation of the ceremony and Lebanese artist Faeq Homaysi was responsible for directing the evening’s entertainment. 

Roumi also gave a speech during the gathering in which she said Hariri had united the Lebanese through his death. She expressed her full support for President Michel Sleiman and Prime Minister-designate Saad Hariri, saying she loved her country and its “constitutional institutions.” 

The former premier was killed in 2005 in an explosion that targeted his motorcade on a Beirut waterfront road. His assassination led to a wave of national protests accusing Syria of the crime and asking it to end its presence in Lebanon. – The Daily Star