Under the auspices of Princess Adila, the daughter of the late King Abdullah bin Abdul-Aziz and head of the Saudi Heritage Preservation Society, the Saudi capital, Riyadh, witnessed a concert by the Saudi singer Waad on Feb. 14. The concert was a women-only event held in honor of the late singer Tarek Abdel Hakim, who died in 2012. Several Saudi princesses were in attendance.
The Waad concert came about following a Saudi Twitter campaign launched in early February with an Arabic hashtag that would translate into #We_Want_Mohammed_Abdo_in_Riyadh. On Jan. 30, Saudi singer Mohammed Abdo performed in Jeddah for 6,000 men. A decision by the General Authority for Entertainment — catering to Saudi Arabia's religious establishment, which opposes gender mixing — forbade women from attending.