TANNOÛRÎNE ET TAHTA-Colombian pop star Shakira on Friday visited the village in Lebanon where her paternal grandmother was born, an AFP journalist said. “Hello Tannourine, thank you, I am happy to be here!”, the 41-year-old singer said in Arabic during a visit under high security to the village of Tannourine in Lebanon’s mountainous north. Accompanied by local officials, Shakira visited a nature reserve that grows cedar trees - Lebanon’s national emblem - and planted two saplings. To mark the occasion, a small patch of the reserve was named “Shakira Mubarak” - after one of the singer’s family names, Tannourine’s mayor Bahaa Harb said.
On Friday evening, she will kick off the Cedars International Festival in Lebanon, a concert set to attract 13,000 people.
This is Shakira’s third visit to the country. Her first visit came in 2003 and she returnec in 2011 for a concert.
The artist is in Lebanon with her two sons.