BEITEDDINE, Lebanon, July 16 (UPI) -- Neither a boycott threat nor a broken leg stopped Algerian-born international singing star Khaled from performing Monday night -- well, early Tuesday -- at Lebanon's famous Beiteddine festival.
Khaled was warmly applauded by a joyful Lebanese audience who waited for him until the wee hours of Tuesday morning to appear on stage on crutches. He broke his leg when he jumped in excitement at a concert in Frankfurt last week.
The "king of rai" appeared with two other famous Arab artists, Palestinian musician Simon Shaheen and Egyptian popular singer Hakim, at the historical palace of Beiteddine in the southeastern Chouf mountains.
But Khaled stole the limelight at Beiteddine. He has gained international fame for introducing "rai" -- North Africa's traditional music -- to the world. He also provoked boycott calls after he appeared next to Israeli singer Noah at a peace concert in Rome last May.
Upon his arrival in Beirut Sunday, Khaled defended himself against potential boycotters, saying he made "no mistake" by performing on stage with the Israeli singer. He said he has "a dream to sing in Palestine."
Khaled explained that he was among 33 artists who were invited to Rome to perform a song for peace. All participant artists came from countries with problems, including the Palestinian territories, Bosnia, Algeria and Argentina.
The trio also were the first Arab artists who went ahead with a planned joint tour in the United States following Sept. 11 terror attacks on the World Trade Center in New York and the Pentagon just outside of Washington that killed more than 2,800 people.
On Sept. 11, Khaled, Shaheen and Hakim were on their way to begin a 10-concert tour in the United States. Shaheen and his Qantara group performed at the Riverside Cathedral in Manhattan four days after the Sept. 11 terror attacks.
The tour was pushed back to Jan. 30 after being initially set for mid-September.
"All expectations indicated at that time that our tour was to be completely cancelled," said Shaheen. "While most artists -- not only the Arabs -- authors and even politicians from what is called the Third World went somehow into hiding, we decided the contrary that we should go ahead with our tour at any cost to show our art and music.
"The response was great and the most important was that we established a very beautiful relationship with the U.S. people who warmly welcomed us and attended our concerts," Shaheen said.
A New York Times article even named Khaled as the "ambassador of North Africa and the Arab world."
Khaled said the joint concerts in the U.S. were meant "to show the true image of the Arab and Muslim and not the terrorist" after "all doors were closed before the Arabs who could not travel to the U.S.
"Terrorists are everywhere. Why don't you talk about the Jewish, French or Spanish terrorists?" he said. "Music is universal, and we are trying to show that our mixed music is not racist but rather for the whole world."
The trio have gained international fame for merging Arab music with an international assortment of rythms and instruments. Shaheen's latest album "Blue Flame," which mixed Arabic music with jazz, received 11 Grammy nominations.
"These three Arab artists managed to capture the western rhythm and create something new while maintaining the integrity of Arabic music," said artist manager Dawn Elder, who organized the joint concerts in the United States and Beiteddine.
