Shakira visits her grandmother’s village in Lebanon

Colombian singer Shakira poses for a selfie picture upon her arrival at Beirut airport in the Lebanese capital on July 12, 2018. Image: Anwar Amro/AFP

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. MKH

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