Saudi Arabia has asked legendary Oscar-winning composer Hans Zimmer to work on a new version of its national anthem, according to a senior official in the country.
The move comes as the conservative Arab kingdom is reportedly trying to improve its image on the world stage as it seeks to diversify its oil-dependent economy.
Zimmer won Oscars for his film scores for The Lion King in 1995 and Dune in 2022.
He also composed the music for other classic movies including Gladiator, Rain Man and The Dark Knight Trilogy of Batman films.
Turki Alalshikh, the chairman of the General Entertainment Authority in Saudi Arabia, shared an image on X of himself meeting Zimmer and wrote: “We discussed a lot about many future projects that I hope will see the light of day soon… including rearranging the Saudi national anthem with different instruments.”
He added that they also discussed “making a musical piece called Arabia inspired by my dear country, and also making a very large concert with a new idea for the Riyadh season in the coming years”.
“I also presented to him the stage we have reached in the film The Battle of Yarmouk (Khalid bin Al-Walid) and the possibility of his participation in composing the soundtrack for it,” Mr Alalshikh said.
He added that Zimmer had “agreed on the broad outlines” of those projects and they hope to “reach a final agreement on them”.
The kingdom’s national anthem “Aash Al-Malik” (“Long Live The King”) was written in 1947 by an Egyptian composer at the request of Saudi Arabia’s founding monarch King Abdulaziz, according to nationalanthems.info.
It is not immediately clear why Saudi authorities might be considering reworking the anthem.
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Saudi Arabia, the world’s biggest oil exporter and home of Islam’s holiest sites, has reopened cinemas, allowed women to drive and admitted its first non-Muslim tourists as it reportedly seeks to improve its image.
Mr Alalshikh has been involved in a number of cultural and sporting promotions in Saudi Arabia in recent years – including heavyweight boxing title fights and concerts by foreign musicians in the country.
Saudi Arabia is also set to host the 2034 World Cup.
However, critics have alleged the country’s reforms are an attempt by authorities to gloss over fundamentally unchanged hardline policies, including limited rights for women, curbs on free speech and high numbers of executions.
