Saudi Gazette report

RIYADH — The legendary Saudi singer Mohammed Abdu was honored in a unique and grandeur style at an event that featured his mesmerizing musical performance.

Turki Al-Sheikh, chief of the General Entertainment Authority and the Riyadh Season2, made a surprise appearance on the stage of the grand musical event to honor the “Artist of the Arabs.”

The event, titled “The Night of Al Maazeem” was held in the presence of thousands of his fans at Mohammed Abdu Arena theatre in Boulevard Riyadh City, one of the event areas of the Riyadh Season2, on the early hours of Friday.

“The Night of Al Maazeem” was a unique Arab musical night where Abdu appeared through the hologram technology for the first time on the stage after he finished filming 100 songs using this technology. It enabled Abdu to win two certificates from Guinness Book of World records – first for filming 100 songs using hologram technology and second for appearing five different pepper’s ghost illusions on stage.

After screening a documentary video that speaks about Abdu’s artistic career spanning over 50 years, the concert started with links from the most popular songs he performed by using the hologram technique, in a scene that was the audience’s first surprise. Five different pepper’s ghost illusions of Abdu appeared on stage simultaneously before revealing the real artist Abdu who then performed on stage a live concert.

Abdu took the stage and performed songs from his famous album called Al Maazeem, which was chosen as the title of the event. Abdu performed a selection of his songs, including “Al Maazeem, “Your Voice Calls Me”, “Bas A Moment”, and other songs that the audience sang along with him. The band, led by the renowned musician Walid Fayed, played the music of the song “I refuse the distance.”

After this performance, Turki Al-Sheikh entered the stage and thus constituting the biggest surprise element of the event. Al-Sheikh presented Abdu a memento and the artist handed a similar gift to the GEA chief also. An exhibition, showcasing mainly the pictures of the performances of Abdu, and telling various phases of his artistic career that spanned over half a century was held on the sidelines of the musical event.

It is noteworthy that GEA Chief Al-Sheikh took initiative in 2019 to archive the brilliant musical works of Abdu. Al-Sheikh attended on Dec. 14, 2020 the rehearsal of the holographic projection of 15 out of 100 songs of Abdu.

In what could be the first projection of its kind in the world, Abdu had his entire 100 songs recorded using volumatic capture holograms as well as virtual reality and immersive theatre. He has thus become the first artist in the world to archive his works in this way and this number. The Guinness Book of World Records awarded him a certificate because he broke the record by filming 100 songs using the hologram technology.

A hologram is a 3D image caused by light beam interference, and hologram shows are going beyond what people have seen before with volumetric capture that involves taking 30 frames a second and then using a computer algorithm to blend them into video.