As we approach the end of the sixth Abu Dhabi Music and Arts Festival, the audience's attention span shows no sign of waning. A "sold out" sign on the ADMAF website had hinted at healthy numbers for Latifa Sings Naseer Shamma, a collaboration between two of the Arab world's most prolific musicians. In fact, extra seating was brought in to accommodate the hordes who flocked to the Emirates Palace on Tuesday night.
This was, on the face of it, an unlikely duo: Latifa, a Tunisian former child prodigy famous for her spirited pop music - teaming with Shamma, an Iraqi musician known for his technical brilliance and academic approach to the oud, an instrument that he has even recreated with additional strings according to a ninth-century manuscript.
Topped off with the Egyptian conductor Saeed Kamal and the mystically named Secret Orchestra, a group of Egypt's finest musicians hand-picked by Shamma, it had the makings of a heady night. It was Shamma who took centre stage for the first act. The oud virtuoso came on with a perfunctory bow before launching straight into Ala Ganah Farasha, a jauntily paced and rhythmically complex shot of adrenalin which pitched us headlong into a churning sea of swooning strings and marching percussion. It was a breathtaking opening, and one which elicited smiles of elation from most of the audience.
From there, we were lulled by the doom-laden strings of the opening bars of Ala Haffat al Alam, only to be lifted back up again by the twirling chorus of the oud. Thanks to such expert playing we were moved from misery to ecstasy in moments. Against a backdrop of swirling Arabic rhythms and bursts of woodwind and percussion, sounds were carefully layered, only to be separated out again into distinct parts.
The magnificent Secret Orchestra were dapper in slick suits and open-necked shirts, Kamal nonchalantly conducting them through a complex, undulating repertoire. All in black and bent over his oud, Shamma delivered several spine-tingling solos. Each piece was introduced with a short explanation. In Al Amriah, the final song of the first half of the concert, whirling strings and harrumphing brass built to a deafening crescendo before dropping off into the lone plucked string.
This abrupt finish was followed by a brief stunned silence before the audience erupted into applause and jumped from their seats for a standing ovation. He returned with Latifa for the second half, to accompany her through, bar one song, a set of his own compositions. A mermaid-like vision in aquamarine silk with glossy black locks flowing over her shoulders, she wafted to the front of the stage and smiled coyly at us. From now on, she was the star of the show, twirling her hands in time to the music before opening with Thonoon in a quavering alto. Her voice initially jarred a little against the simplicity of the oud. But, once into her stride, the heartfelt love song, Law Sahran Habibi, was a triumph of yearning and loss. Again, each piece was preceded with a brief introduction. Taht el Yasmenah, a lyrical tribute to the flowers of her homeland was followed by an abrupt change of mood in the finale, Ya Adowi, a scorching song in support of Palestine, for which she wore a scarf depicting the country's flag. It was an emotive performance but one which did not quite reach the level of feeling achieved in the first half.
All the while Shamma's remained present, duetting with Latifa at times and at others simply blending in with the orchestra. As the lights went down on a stage strewn with flowers, it was to a further standing ovation for a night of transcendental music.
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Stars: Vin Diesel, Michelle Rodriguez, Jason Statham, Tyrese Gibson, Ludacris, Jason Momoa, John Cena, Jordana Brewster, Nathalie Emmanuel, Sung Kang, Brie Larson, Helen Mirren and Charlize Theron
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A QUIET PLACE
Starring: Lupita Nyong'o, Joseph Quinn, Djimon Hounsou
Director: Michael Sarnoski
Rating: 4/5
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UAE currency: the story behind the money in your pockets
'Midnights'
Artist: Taylor Swift
Label: Republic Records
Rating: 4/5
Scoreline
Liverpool 4
Oxlade-Chamberlain 9', Firmino 59', Mane 61', Salah 68'
Manchester City 3
Sane 40', Bernardo Silva 84', Gundogan 90'+1
Diriyah project at a glance
- Diriyah’s 1.9km King Salman Boulevard, a Parisian Champs-Elysees-inspired avenue, is scheduled for completion in 2028
- The Royal Diriyah Opera House is expected to be completed in four years
- Diriyah’s first of 42 hotels, the Bab Samhan hotel, will open in the first quarter of 2024
- On completion in 2030, the Diriyah project is forecast to accommodate more than 100,000 people
- The $63.2 billion Diriyah project will contribute $7.2 billion to the kingdom’s GDP
- It will create more than 178,000 jobs and aims to attract more than 50 million visits a year
- About 2,000 people work for the Diriyah Company, with more than 86 per cent being Saudi citizens
COMPANY PROFILE
Company name: Revibe
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Founders: Hamza Iraqui and Abdessamad Ben Zakour
Based: UAE
Industry: Refurbished electronics
Funds raised so far: $10m
Investors: Flat6Labs, Resonance and various others
Ramez Gab Min El Akher
Creator: Ramez Galal
Starring: Ramez Galal
Streaming on: MBC Shahid
Rating: 2.5/5
Also on December 7 to 9, the third edition of the Gulf Car Festival (www.gulfcarfestival.com) will take over Dubai Festival City Mall, a new venue for the event. Last year's festival brought together about 900 cars worth more than Dh300 million from across the Emirates and wider Gulf region – and that first figure is set to swell by several hundred this time around, with between 1,000 and 1,200 cars expected. The first day is themed around American muscle; the second centres on supercars, exotics, European cars and classics; and the final day will major in JDM (Japanese domestic market) cars, tuned vehicles and trucks. Individuals and car clubs can register their vehicles, although the festival isn’t all static displays, with stunt drifting, a rev battle, car pulls and a burnout competition.
Top tips
Create and maintain a strong bond between yourself and your child, through sensitivity, responsiveness, touch, talk and play. “The bond you have with your kids is the blueprint for the relationships they will have later on in life,” says Dr Sarah Rasmi, a psychologist.
Set a good example. Practise what you preach, so if you want to raise kind children, they need to see you being kind and hear you explaining to them what kindness is. So, “narrate your behaviour”.
Praise the positive rather than focusing on the negative. Catch them when they’re being good and acknowledge it.
Show empathy towards your child’s needs as well as your own. Take care of yourself so that you can be calm, loving and respectful, rather than angry and frustrated.
Be open to communication, goal-setting and problem-solving, says Dr Thoraiya Kanafani. “It is important to recognise that there is a fine line between positive parenting and becoming parents who overanalyse their children and provide more emotional context than what is in the child’s emotional development to understand.”
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Company Profile
Company name: Namara
Started: June 2022
Founder: Mohammed Alnamara
Based: Dubai
Sector: Microfinance
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Investment stage: Series A
Investors: Family offices
MATCH INFO
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COMPANY PROFILE
Name: SupplyVan
Based: Dubai, UAE
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COMPANY PROFILE
Name: DarDoc
Based: Abu Dhabi
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Sector: HealthTech
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Cases of coronavirus in the GCC as of March 15
Saudi Arabia – 103 infected, 0 dead, 1 recovered
UAE – 86 infected, 0 dead, 23 recovered
Bahrain – 210 infected, 0 dead, 44 recovered
Kuwait – 104 infected, 0 dead, 5 recovered
Qatar – 337 infected, 0 dead, 4 recovered
Oman – 19 infected, 0 dead, 9 recovered
The five stages of early child’s play
From Dubai-based clinical psychologist Daniella Salazar:
1. Solitary Play: This is where Infants and toddlers start to play on their own without seeming to notice the people around them. This is the beginning of play.
2. Onlooker play: This occurs where the toddler enjoys watching other people play. There doesn’t necessarily need to be any effort to begin play. They are learning how to imitate behaviours from others. This type of play may also appear in children who are more shy and introverted.
3. Parallel Play: This generally starts when children begin playing side-by-side without any interaction. Even though they aren’t physically interacting they are paying attention to each other. This is the beginning of the desire to be with other children.
4. Associative Play: At around age four or five, children become more interested in each other than in toys and begin to interact more. In this stage children start asking questions and talking about the different activities they are engaging in. They realise they have similar goals in play such as building a tower or playing with cars.
5. Social Play: In this stage children are starting to socialise more. They begin to share ideas and follow certain rules in a game. They slowly learn the definition of teamwork. They get to engage in basic social skills and interests begin to lead social interactions.
COMPANY PROFILE
Name: Qureos
Based: UAE
Launch year: 2021
Number of employees: 33
Sector: Software and technology
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UAE currency: the story behind the money in your pockets
BACK TO ALEXANDRIA
Director: Tamer Ruggli
Starring: Nadine Labaki, Fanny Ardant
Rating: 3.5/5
COMPANY PROFILE
Company name: Alaan
Started: 2021
Based: Dubai
Founders: Parthi Duraisamy and Karun Kurien
Sector: FinTech
Investment stage: $7 million raised in total — $2.5 million in a seed round and $4.5 million in a pre-series A round
UAE squad
Humaira Tasneem (c), Chamani Senevirathne (vc), Subha Srinivasan, NIsha Ali, Udeni Kuruppuarachchi, Chaya Mughal, Roopa Nagraj, Esha Oza, Ishani Senevirathne, Heena Hotchandani, Keveesha Kumari, Judith Cleetus, Chavi Bhatt, Namita D’Souza.