Method Man of Wu-Tang Clan performs at the 2013 Bonnaroo Music & Arts Festival last June in Manchester, Tennessee. Jason Merritt / Getty Images / AFP
Method Man of Wu-Tang Clan performs at the 2013 Bonnaroo Music & Arts Festival last June in Manchester, Tennessee. Jason Merritt / Getty Images / AFP
Method Man of Wu-Tang Clan performs at the 2013 Bonnaroo Music & Arts Festival last June in Manchester, Tennessee. Jason Merritt / Getty Images / AFP
Method Man of Wu-Tang Clan performs at the 2013 Bonnaroo Music & Arts Festival last June in Manchester, Tennessee. Jason Merritt / Getty Images / AFP

Creating music fit for museums


  • English
  • Arabic

The internet has been on fire over the last few days since the announcement of the hip-hop collective Wu-Tang Clan's ambitious plan for their next album. The veteran rappers hope to take music back to the status of high art by releasing Once Upon a Time in Shaolin as one single copy of the master CD, housed in a silver-and-nickel box created by the Moroccan-British artist Yahya.

Initially, the unique artefact will tour museums and galleries, where fans will be able to listen to the album in situ alongside visuals and possible appearances from Clan members. Following its world tour, the single copy will be sold to the highest bidder for what the band expects to be a multimillion dollar sum. Tarik “Cilvaringz” Azzougarh, the Morocco-based Wu-Tang member who has produced the latest opus, explains: “When I started making this album, I just wanted to make an album that paid no attention to the rules. I knew from the outset that what I was going to do with this album was bigger than me and bigger than Wu-Tang.

“Nobody else has a copy of this record, even the rest of the Clan. That secrecy is vital or the whole project is ruined.”

He adds: “I wanted to take music back to the days when a record was a moment in life to remember. The longevity of a record just doesn’t exist anymore in the era of downloading, and, in many cases, music has been devalued to the point of it being free. Artists such as Beethoven and Mozart are held in the same high esteem as Picasso and Michelangelo, so why can’t Dr Dre or RZA have a similar value to a US$50 million [Dh184m] painting by Andy Warhol? That pushed me to come up with this idea, and figure the only difference is exclusivity. There’s only one painting, and you can’t duplicate it, so I decided to take a music album and limit it to one copy in the same way.”

One part of this story that hasn’t been widely reported is that one of the album’s executive producers is the Dubai-based Wissam Khodur, by day a managing partner at Ohm Events, by night the successful rapper Eslam Jawaad.

“I was signed to the Ringz label as an artist back in 2004, and we both had a strong interest in the business side of music, so we became business partners,” Khodur recalls. “When this project came along, I took on the financial management and co-executive produced it while he produced it musically.”

It’s a fascinating concept, but the cynic in me can’t help noticing that the Wu-Tang Clan have another new album due to drop with a full commercial release in the very near future, too. Could there be an element of marketing involved here?

“When we started on this project five years ago, we just wanted to make a fantastic album,” Khodur insists. “The reception has been amazing, so it’s already achieved a lot in terms of promotion value. There were something like 60,000 tweets per minute when the news came out, but this was all about trying to bring music back to the status of high art. Of course it’ll help the follow-up album, too. No one is upset about that, but ultimately we’re trying to revolutionise how music is sold and hopefully pave the way for other artists to do similar things.”

cnewbould@thenational.ae

Overall head-to-head

Federer 6-1 Cilic

Head-to-head at Wimbledon

Federer 1-0 Cilic

Grand Slams titles

Federer 18-1 Cilic

Best Wimbledon performance

Federer: Winner (2003, 2004, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012)
Cilic: Final (2017*)

The five pillars of Islam

1. Fasting

2. Prayer

3. Hajj

4. Shahada

5. Zakat 

The burning issue

The internal combustion engine is facing a watershed moment – major manufacturer Volvo is to stop producing petroleum-powered vehicles by 2021 and countries in Europe, including the UK, have vowed to ban their sale before 2040. The National takes a look at the story of one of the most successful technologies of the last 100 years and how it has impacted life in the UAE.

Read part three: the age of the electric vehicle begins

Read part two: how climate change drove the race for an alternative 

Read part one: how cars came to the UAE

GAC GS8 Specs

Engine: 2.0-litre 4cyl turbo

Power: 248hp at 5,200rpm

Torque: 400Nm at 1,750-4,000rpm

Transmission: 8-speed auto

Fuel consumption: 9.1L/100km

On sale: Now

Price: From Dh149,900

Volvo ES90 Specs

Engine: Electric single motor (96kW), twin motor (106kW) and twin motor performance (106kW)

Power: 333hp, 449hp, 680hp

Torque: 480Nm, 670Nm, 870Nm

On sale: Later in 2025 or early 2026, depending on region

Price: Exact regional pricing TBA

UAE SQUAD

Goalkeepers: Ali Khaseif, Fahad Al Dhanhani, Mohammed Al Shamsi, Adel Al Hosani

Defenders: Bandar Al Ahbabi, Shaheen Abdulrahman, Walid Abbas, Mahmoud Khamis, Mohammed Barghash, Khalifa Al Hammadi, Hassan Al Mahrami, Yousef Jaber, Salem Rashid, Mohammed Al Attas, Alhassan Saleh

Midfielders: Ali Salmeen, Abdullah Ramadan, Abdullah Al Naqbi, Majed Hassan, Yahya Nader, Ahmed Barman, Abdullah Hamad, Khalfan Mubarak, Khalil Al Hammadi, Tahnoun Al Zaabi, Harib Abdallah, Mohammed Jumah, Yahya Al Ghassani

Forwards: Fabio De Lima, Caio Canedo, Ali Saleh, Ali Mabkhout, Sebastian Tagliabue, Zayed Al Ameri

The bio

Favourite food: Japanese

Favourite car: Lamborghini

Favourite hobby: Football

Favourite quote: If your dreams don’t scare you, they are not big enough

Favourite country: UAE

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Indoor Cricket World Cup

Venue Insportz, Dubai, September 16-23

UAE squad Saqib Nazir (captain), Aaqib Malik, Fahad Al Hashmi, Isuru Umesh, Nadir Hussain, Sachin Talwar, Nashwan Nasir, Prashath Kumara, Ramveer Rai, Sameer Nayyak, Umar Shah, Vikrant Shetty

COMPANY%20PROFILE
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It Was Just an Accident

Director: Jafar Panahi

Stars: Vahid Mobasseri, Mariam Afshari, Ebrahim Azizi, Hadis Pakbaten, Majid Panahi, Mohamad Ali Elyasmehr

Rating: 4/5

Like a Fading Shadow

Antonio Muñoz Molina

Translated from the Spanish by Camilo A. Ramirez

Tuskar Rock Press (pp. 310)

OTHER IPL BOWLING RECORDS

Best bowling figures: 6-14 – Sohail Tanvir (for Rajasthan Royals against Chennai Super Kings in 2008)

Best average: 16.36 – Andrew Tye

Best economy rate: 6.53 – Sunil Narine

Best strike-rate: 12.83 – Andrew Tye

Best strike-rate in an innings: 1.50 – Suresh Raina (for Chennai Super Kings against Rajasthan Royals in 2011)

Most runs conceded in an innings: 70 – Basil Thampi (for Sunrisers Hyderabad against Royal Challengers Bangalore in 2018)

Most hat-tricks: 3 – Amit Mishra

Most dot-balls: 1,128 – Harbhajan Singh

Most maiden overs bowled: 14 – Praveen Kumar

Most four-wicket hauls: 6 – Sunil Narine