Having led his country back into the international mainstream after renouncing ambitions to build weapons of mass destruction, Libyan leader Moammar Gadaffi is now being immortalised by a leading British opera company, it said on Thursday.
The as-yet-unnamed work, commissioned by the English National Opera (ENO), “examines the creation of a myth”, according to a statement by the London-based company.
It is about “a man of humble origin, born into a Bedouin tribe, who became a powerful and influential political leader … the volatile relationship between the Middle East and the West and … international politics and their representation in the media of both worlds”, the ENO said.
Libya announced in late 2003 that it was abandoning attempts to develop nuclear, biological and chemical weapons after months of secret negotiations with London and Washington.
This was followed the next March by a landmark trip by British Prime Minister Tony Blair to Tripoli.
However, Gadaffi remains a deeply controversial figure in Britain due to the 1988 bombing of a United States airliner over Lockerbie, Scotland, blamed on Libya. Tripoli has since paid damages to the relatives of the 270 people killed.
The new opera is being jointly composed by Steve Chandra Savele, a member of British rock group Asian Dub Foundation, and playwright Shan Khan. — AFP