DUBAI (AlArabiya.net)
A Saudi father abandoned tradition and encouraged his daughter to change careers from a physician to a wedding singer, after she was offered the job at a friends wedding.
The girl, referred to by her initials R.I., by the Lebanese Magazine Sayedaty, was attending a friend's wedding and decided to sing for the bride. The lead singer in the band hired to perform at the wedding liked her performance and offered her a job.
Initially, R.I.'s family was against the idea, but changed their minds when they realized that being a wedding singer was one of the most lucrative jobs in the conservative kingdom.
R.I.'s father even started putting pressures on her when he realized the income was very tempting, according to the magazine.
Oum Khaled, a lead singer in a female band that performs at weddings, said that it is not an easy job since many girls in the ultra-orthodox society are too ashamed to accept it and those that do take up aliases.
"People don’t realize that this is folklore, which is a sophisticated art," Oum Khaled said.
Bands in Gulf countries can charge up to SR 3,000 (approximately U.S. $800), while bands from other Arab countries cost as much as SR 50,000 (U.S. $13,351 U.S. dollars.)
(Translated from Arabic by Sonia Farid.) |
