KUALA LUMPUR, May 25 — The Garden of Eid Festival, a three-day Hari Raya-themed festival, is set to take place from May 27 to 29 at the Perdana Botanical Gardens in Kuala Lumpur.

Held for the first time, the festival will will have a series of performances by multiple Anugerah Industri Muzik (AIM) award winner Faizal Tahir, rap artist Altimet, renowned singer Datuk Jamal Abdillah, Naim Daniel and nasyid group Raihan.

Garden of Eid Festival founder Laila Hassan said the idea for the festival came to her while she was celebrating Hari Raya with her family.

Her friends, one of them who is an event organiser, then helped Laila to bring the idea to fruition and also to get funding.

“We planned it for 2020 but never got to realise it due to pandemic,” she said.

She said she wanted to make the festival unique whereby it would not only be entertainment-based but also an avenue for the attendees to learn about Islam.

As for the musical performances, she said festival would have exclusive no-string performances specially curated by Jennifer Thompson, the renowned event manager for the local entertainment industry and the producer of AIM.

“Most of the performances will be without accompaniment or musical instruments. Either a cappella or with light percussion,” she said.

“To showcase the raw talent of the artistes has been challenging but we have real legends in the line up and it’ll be interesting to see what they come up with under the guidance and management of Jennifer Thompson.” A footfall of 30,000 to 50,000 people is expected for the Garden of Eid Festival, she added.

One of the attractions is the Tunnel of Lights, where the walkway between Muzium Negara and Perdana Botanical Gardens will be transformed into an interactive light show.

The Vans Skatepark, sponsored by the prominent shoes and apparel company Vans, is also one of the attractions in the festival, in which attendees will get to show off their skateboarding skills.

Laila added that she hoped the festival would be a success and set a precedent with the idea of do a much bigger event next year.

The plan is to have the event in Putrajaya with new attractions as a hot air balloon show.