TEHRAN – Iranian qari Yunis Shahmoradi is one of the eight contestants who have managed to advance to the semifinal of the Otr Elkalam Qur’an competition in Saudi Arabia.
Abdullah al-Dughri from Morocco and Hamid al-Raisi from the UAE were the last two competitors to qualify for the semifinals of the World Competition for Qur’an (recitation) and Azan (announcing the call for prayers), an initiative of the General Entertainment Authority (GEA).
Sixteen participants from 13 countries have now qualified for the competition’s semifinals, aired on the GEA-sponsored Otr Elkalam TV show of Ramadan on the MBC TV channel.
Semifinals qualifiers are from Saudi Arabia, the UAE, Morocco, Egypt, Lebanon, Iran, Yemen, the United Kingdom, Ethiopia, Indonesia, Germany, and Spain, Saudi Press Agency reported.
The semifinals in Qur’an kicked off on Saturday with the participation of Muhammad Nour from Ethiopia, Salah Edin Metebid from Germany, Ahmad Alsayyed Ismail from Egypt, Abdulaziz al-Faqih from Saudi Arabia, Abdullah al-Dughri and Zakariya al-Zirk from Morocco, Yunis Shahmoradi from Iran, and Muhammad al-Habti from Spain.
The Azan category in Otr Elkalam contest will see the participation of Muhammad Hafez al-Rahman and Ibrahim Assad from the UK, Issa al-Jaadi from Yemen, Muhammad al-Sharif from Saudi Arabia, Hamid al-Raisi from the UAE, Rahif al-Haj from Lebanon, Dialdin from Indonesia, and Riyan Hosawi, from Nigeria.
Launched on the first day of Ramadan, the show is the largest of its kind in the world; it is an initiative of Saudi Arabia’s General Entertainment Authority.
This year, the contest attracted 50,000 Muslim entrants from more than 100 countries, all vying for qualification. Of the 2,116 contestants who made the cut, 36 participants (18 from Quran recitation and 18 specializing in the call to prayer) qualified for the final stages.
Participants demonstrate their vocal capabilities by reciting verses of the Quran before a jury composed of experts in recitation, phonetics and maqamat (music structures).
The total prize money for the competition exceeds 12 million Saudi riyals ($3.2 million).