Jul 13, 2018

Colombian pop star Shakira on Friday visited the village in Lebanon where her paternal grandmother was born, an AFP journalist said.

"Hello Tannourine, thank you, I am happy to be here!", the 41-year-old singer said in Arabic during a visit under high security to the village of Tannourine in Lebanon's mountainous north.

inger Shakira during her visit to the northern Lebanese mountain village of Tannourine where her paternal grandmother was born (photo by: Erick Deeb/Honorary Consulate of Lebanon in Barranquilla/AFP)

Accompanied by local officials, Shakira visited a nature reserve that grows cedar trees -- Lebanon's national emblem -- and planted two saplings.

To mark the occasion, a small patch of the reserve was named "Shakira Mubarak" -- after one of the singer's family names, Tannourine's mayor Bahaa Harb said.