‘Viva Palestine’ is the cry for Mohammed Assaf at Fifa Congress

Dressed with a traditional scarf wrapped around his neck, last year’s ‘Arab Idol’ winner Mohammed Assaf took his moment in the spotlight to give a shout out to his homeland with a cry of ‘Viva Palenstine’.

The former wedding singer from Gaza, who won hearts around the globe with his rags-to-riches tale, performed live at the FIFA Congress, becoming the first Arab artist to perform at this global platform.

Playing to an audience that included some of the top football players around the world, along with FIFA President Sepp Blatter, Assaf crooned the lyrics ‘Yallah Yallah’, singing in both Arabic and English in the ‘Assaf360’ track that was conceptualised and recorded in Dubai.

Assaf had collaborated with Grammy Award-winning producer Rodney Jerkins, known for his work with Michael Jackson, Mariah Carey, Whitney Houston and many others, in collaboration with leading Lebanese producer, Michel Fadl and Walid al Fayed, and Arabic lyricist Nizar Francis, for a 24-hour interactive recording session at the beginning of the month, creating content for the track with the aid of crowd-sourcing from fans online. The event was hosted by Platinum Records.

The 24-year-old Assaf’s journey to the football World Cup stage has not been without hurdles, with the singer telling media in Gaza on Friday that he had been banned by FIFA from performing at the World Cup main event; however, after the singer from a refugee camp spoke to the media, he was thus invited once again to perform at the FIFA Congress.

Assaf’s songs, which are largely about peace and freedom struggle, have also landed him as the United Nation’s first Palestinian goodwill ambassador.

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