Seb-i Arus approaches

By Anadolu News Agency, Konya/Zaman Online - Istanbul, Turkey
Tuesday, September 12, 2006

A total of 60,000 tickets have been sold for the 23 Semah performances that will be held this year in Konya as part of 18-day long celebrations commemorating Rumi.

The number of tickets sold is expected to exceed 100, 000 by the end of September. Culture director for the Konya municipality, Abdussettar Yarar said the popular commemorative activates were extended this year, and added that the 733rd International Commemoration Activities for Rumi (Seb-i Arus)will last one week longer than past celebrations.

Yarar said they are enthusiastically preparing for the ceremonies, and emphasized that this year’s colorful activities will only improve with future performances.

Yarar said in previous years they started ticket sales just a few weeks ahead of the events; however, this year they began promotion and sales immediately after last year’s activities ended on 18 December 2005.

So far, the number of tickets sold has reached about 60,000 and this number continues to increase as the festival date approaches. The venue where the Semah performances are held seats about 2,700 people, and the number of tickets sold has already well exceeded the capacity of the hall where performances will take place.

Yarar said that though he prefers not want to give a specific number when forecasting the number of tickets that will be sold overall, a figure of around 100,000 would not be impossible to reach.