Tribune News Network
Doha
The 10-day ‘Community Days Festival’ held at the newly inaugurated Flag Plaza hosted more than 1,200 performers representing 33 countries and thousands of guests who came together to support their communities.
The Years of Culture initiative launched Flag Plaza on October 4 with support from the Museum of Islamic Art team as it continues to celebrate its 10-year anniversary and the remarkable cultures that make up Middle East, North Africa and Southeast Asia during the Qatar-MENASA 2022 Year of Culture.
The final day of the ‘Community Days Festival’ welcomed performers from Palestine, Morocco, Russia, Pakistan, Thailand and Haiti with video presentations from Nepal, Salvador, Egypt and Haiti.
Najla El Zein’s Us, Her, Him public installation was an additional crowd favourite. Composed of a series of sculptural benches, the installation is an abstract reflection on human interactions which conveys the complexity and fundamental importance of human connections.
Flag Plaza, located near the Museum of Islamic Art Park, will serve as a community gathering space and a location for festivals, celebrations and other events for the people of Qatar. The first of these events was the ‘Community Days Festival’, which celebrated the many cultures and people who call Qatar home. Each embassy presented a different programme of events, ranging from stage performances to videos and exhibit panels with information on different countries.
The embassies bringing live performances to Flag Plaza included Qatar, Tanzania, Djibouti, India, Ghana, Ecuador, Japan, Somalia, Lebanon, Greece, Malaysia, Libya, Yemen, Cuba, Palestine, Nepal, Sri Lanka, Kenya, Tunisia, Turkey, Egypt, France, Italy, Eritrea, Sudan, Ukraine, Indonesia, the Philippines, Morocco, Russia, Pakistan, Thailand, Haiti.
In addition, the following countries featured in videos during the festival: Qatar, Nigeria, Hungary, Georgia, Ghana, Yemen, Greece, Australia, Guyana, Austria, Eswatini, Armenia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Republic of Korea, Peru, Kazakhstan, Azerbaijan Belgium, Panama, Bangladesh, Sri Lanka, Ukraine, Romania, Belarus, Gambia, France, Mozambique, Djibouti, Spain, Uruguay, Venezuela, Paraguay, Malawi, Albania, Italy, Cuba, Rwanda, Vietnam, Portugal, Kenya, Sweden, Senegal, Haiti, Serbia, Thailand, Angola, Bulgaria, Indonesia, Somalia, Costa Rica, Argentina, Nepal, Egypt, El Salvador and Uganda.
