TANNOÛRÎNE ET TAHTA, July 14 — Colombian pop star Shakira yesterday 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.

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.

Yesterday evening, she will kick off the Cedars International Festival in Lebanon, a concert set to attract 13,000 people.

This is Shakira’s third visit to the country. Her first visit came in 2003 and she returned in 2011 for a concert.

The artist is in Lebanon with her two sons. — AFP