SAUDI ARABIA WANTS NEW ANTHEM
Famous composer Hans Zimmer has been asked to create a new national anthem for Saudi Arabia.
While Zimmer is no stranger to massive challenges like writing the score for movies like The Lion King and Gladiator, this is the first time that he’s been asked to write a national anthem for a country.
Zimmer was approached by Turki Alalshikh, the chairman of the General Entertainment Authority in Saudi Arabia.
Alalshikh posted a photo of him and Zimmer on X with the caption: “We discussed a lot about many future projects that I hope will see the light of day soon… Including rearranging the Saudi national anthem with different instruments.”
He also added that the pair discussed “making a musical piece called Arabia inspired by my dear country, and also making a very large concert with a new idea for the Riyadh season in the coming years”.
Saudi Arabia’s current national anthem is titled Aash Al-Malik and was written in 1947 by an Egyptian composer. At the time, the composer was requested to do so by the kingdom’s founding monarch King Abdulaziz.
Alalshikh didn’t disclose why the kingdom has requested a new national anthem.
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