Akon, the multi-platinum hip-hop artist best known for hits like “Smack That” and “Belly Dancer,” is set to perform in Iraqi Kurdistan. In a video posted on Thursday morning, he announced plans to perform a charity concert in the city of Erbil. Tickets will be free, though any proceeds from the March concert will go to family members of Kurdistan’s unofficial military, the Peshmerga. Despite having its own government and ethnic identity, the Kurdish people have struggled for years to attain official statehood. When ISIS seized portions of Syria and Iraq last summer, the Kurdish Peshmerga forces worked with Iraqi government units to fight against the extremist group.
