Islamic Song Festival @ Kuala Lumpur Convention Centre, Kuala Lumpur City Centre, Kuala Lumpur

The annual festival serves as a vehicle for Nasyid Artistes/Groups/Talents from around the world to showcase their songs/works on a single platform. The festival aims to bring to the fore new genres of Nasyid that is fast gaining a following within Muslims worldwide.

During the first edition of the festival, Waleed Hilal and Nader Khan from Canada enchanted the audience with their 30 minute solo sets respectively performing contemporary Nasyid. Hamzah Robertson from United Kingdom wooed the crowd with his folk flavoured nasyid songs. Macedonian, Mesut Kurtis graced the festival and Shaam Group from United Kingdom brought back memories of Nasyid’s early days with their presentation of traditional nasyid songs.

The audience were left asking for more when the quartet of Aashiq al-Rasul from Birmingham, United Kingdom and duo Fez Meghani & Aftab Ali took the stage. Their uptempo nasyid songs with modern pop and Hindi flavoured music influence had the audience singing along.

The two day festival would not have been complete without the performance of Malaysia’s very own soloist Yasin, soloist Muadz and Kumpulan Saujana. The three Malaysian acts certainly reiterated the fact that Malaysian Nasyid artistes are a force to be reckoned with in the International arena.

The success of the festival in 2010 meant that Islamic Song Festival is here to stay and be a permanent fixture on the International Nasyid calendar.

The stage is set for the 2nd Edition of the Festival that will be held at the Plenary Hall, KLCC Convention Centre on Saturday, 30 April and Sunday, 1 May 2011. The Festival that is scheduled to start at 7.45pm each day will witness a larger roster of artistes/groups performing each night.

A total of 12 international solo artistes/groups and 2 Malaysian solo artistes/group will take centre stage over the two days. Each night will feature a different roster of 7 solo artistes/groups performing various genres of Nasyid.

On Saturday, 30 April 2011 Indonesia’s Nasyid Ambassador Opick whose song Tombo Ati sold over 800,000 copies, Australia’s The Brothahood, a group that is fast gaining a following for their Rap Nasyid, France’s Khalid Belrhouzi ably backed by Bennami (Morocco) & Ziryab (Brazil) on percussions, soulful Khaleed Muhamad (United Kingdom), contemporary duo Fez Meghani & Aftab Ali from Dallas, USA and France’s La Rappel will take centre stage. Kumpulan Brothers of Malaysia completes the night’s line up.