A free outdoor concert featuring local and foreign musicians is to take place in Taipei later this month to commemorate late Wall Street Journal reporter Daniel Pearl, who was captured and beheaded in Pakistan while on assignment in 2002.
As in previous years, more than a dozen performers and groups will take to two outdoor stages to present different genres of music, including rock, reggae, blues, swing and African percussion, the American Institute in Taiwan (AIT) said.
The concert is scheduled for Sept. 27 at the Taipei City Hakka Cultural Park, the AIT said.
The 13th Daniel Pearl Day of Music will start at 2pm and run through 9:30pm, the institute said.
This year’s event will feature Idan Raichel, a musician from Israel who strives to perform with artists from around the world, as well as groups including Dread Rider, Pan Africana, Blind Acid Date and Soup Mother, it added.
The festival is held in honor of Pearl, who was a musician.
While working on a story in Pakistan as South Asian bureau head for the Wall Street Journal, Pearl was kidnapped and beheaded by terrorists.
To commemorate his life, his friends and family launched the Daniel Pearl World Music Day in 2002.
“As recent events remind us, journalists around the world continue to be under threat as they perform vital work in hostile areas around the world,” AIT said.
The event follows closely after the executions of US journalists James Foley and Steven Sotloff, who were kidnapped separately while covering events in Syria.
They were beheaded last month and this month by the Islamic State, the militant group formerly known as the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant.
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