Akon to Perform Benefit Concert in Kurdistan for anti-ISIS Peshmerga Fighters

Rapper and R&B star Akon will perform a benefit concert in Kurdistan to benefit the families of Kurdish Peshmerga forces currently embroiled in a ground offensive against ISIS.

The show will take place in the Kurdish capital of Erbil next month, according to the Kurdish news agency BasNews.

“I am so excited to be there to visit that 8,000-year-old city to perform live at the Hariri Stadium,” Akon said in a video announcing the concert.

Noor Matti, operations manager for Kurdish radio station Babylon FM, told BasNews the Senegalese-American artist’s visit is a “big deal.”

“We are thankful for the Rwanga Foundation for working tirelessly to make this happen,” Matti said. “It’s a big deal because it will be the first time a famous American musician has performed in Erbil.”

According to the International Business Times, Peshmerga forces have played a critical role in repelling ISIS’s advances in the region, as well as taking back 1,160 square miles of territory in the Sinjar region. According to recent figures, nearly 1,000 Peshmerga fighters have been killed and more than 4,500 have been wounded in fighting with the terrorist group.