Guitar wizard Kaki King on her new show Data Not Found

One of the world's most revered guitarists is performing in Abu Dhabi tonight.

Hailed by Rolling Stone magazine as a 'genre unto herself," American composer Kaki King's new show mixes her virtuosity with technology. Performed at NYU Abu Dhabi Arts Centre, Data No Found combines new compositions, visual projections and evocative spoken text that discusses human being's relationship with technology.

Kings tells The National how she created the music to the show and her unabated love for the guitar.

How did you approach the music for Data Not Found?

The music is in service to the show. And since I always have something that I am working on, I picked snippets and develop them for this particular show. From there some pieces grew and there is some improvisation in terms of structure. So, it is really a mix of everything.

Was the process for similar to creating a movie soundtrack?

It is interesting you say that because it is similar in a way. You are thinking about various aspects such as the tone and tempo. There is also set parameters in terms of what is happening in a particular part of the performance – things that is discussed with the director in terms of what to focus on. So it less about writing in vacuum and more about writing for a particular project.

It has been four years since your eight album The Neck Is a Bridge to the Body. With the forward thinking nature of your new show, does the traditional album format appeal to you anymore?

What I have seen happening in music since then is that things are continually changing. While I am not interested in abandoning the album form, it occurred to me that I can just record seven songs, put them out. So, I am ready to play with form in that kind of way.

You have been playing the guitar for over 30 years. Does the instrument still surprise you?

It remains a total mystery to me. It still continues to beguile and make me suffer. I feel compelled to discover what this instrument can do. So from doing more normal concerts to these theatre type shows I feel like my career all along has been one of researching into what the guitar is capable of and allow it to speak in various ways.

Data Not Found by Kaki King is on tonight, November 15, at 8pm. The Black Box, NYU Abu Dhabi Arts Centre. Tickets are Dh100 from www.nyuad-artscenter.org

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Who is Mohammed Al Halbousi?

The new speaker of Iraq’s parliament Mohammed Al Halbousi is the youngest person ever to serve in the role.

The 37-year-old was born in Al Garmah in Anbar and studied civil engineering in Baghdad before going into business. His development company Al Hadeed undertook reconstruction contracts rebuilding parts of Fallujah’s infrastructure.

He entered parliament in 2014 and served as a member of the human rights and finance committees until 2017. In August last year he was appointed governor of Anbar, a role in which he has struggled to secure funding to provide services in the war-damaged province and to secure the withdrawal of Shia militias. He relinquished the post when he was sworn in as a member of parliament on September 3.

He is a member of the Al Hal Sunni-based political party and the Sunni-led Coalition of Iraqi Forces, which is Iraq’s largest Sunni alliance with 37 seats from the May 12 election.

He maintains good relations with former Prime Minister Nouri Al Maliki’s State of Law Coaliton, Hadi Al Amiri’s Badr Organisation and Iranian officials.

Mercer, the investment consulting arm of US services company Marsh & McLennan, expects its wealth division to at least double its assets under management (AUM) in the Middle East as wealth in the region continues to grow despite economic headwinds, a company official said.

Mercer Wealth, which globally has $160 billion in AUM, plans to boost its AUM in the region to $2-$3bn in the next 2-3 years from the present $1bn, said Yasir AbuShaban, a Dubai-based principal with Mercer Wealth.

“Within the next two to three years, we are looking at reaching $2 to $3 billion as a conservative estimate and we do see an opportunity to do so,” said Mr AbuShaban.

Mercer does not directly make investments, but allocates clients’ money they have discretion to, to professional asset managers. They also provide advice to clients.

“We have buying power. We can negotiate on their (client’s) behalf with asset managers to provide them lower fees than they otherwise would have to get on their own,” he added.

Mercer Wealth’s clients include sovereign wealth funds, family offices, and insurance companies among others.

From its office in Dubai, Mercer also looks after Africa, India and Turkey, where they also see opportunity for growth.

Wealth creation in Middle East and Africa (MEA) grew 8.5 per cent to $8.1 trillion last year from $7.5tn in 2015, higher than last year’s global average of 6 per cent and the second-highest growth in a region after Asia-Pacific which grew 9.9 per cent, according to consultancy Boston Consulting Group (BCG). In the region, where wealth grew just 1.9 per cent in 2015 compared with 2014, a pickup in oil prices has helped in wealth generation.

BCG is forecasting MEA wealth will rise to $12tn by 2021, growing at an annual average of 8 per cent.

Drivers of wealth generation in the region will be split evenly between new wealth creation and growth of performance of existing assets, according to BCG.

Another general trend in the region is clients’ looking for a comprehensive approach to investing, according to Mr AbuShaban.

“Institutional investors or some of the families are seeing a slowdown in the available capital they have to invest and in that sense they are looking at optimizing the way they manage their portfolios and making sure they are not investing haphazardly and different parts of their investment are working together,” said Mr AbuShaban.

Some clients also have a higher appetite for risk, given the low interest-rate environment that does not provide enough yield for some institutional investors. These clients are keen to invest in illiquid assets, such as private equity and infrastructure.

“What we have seen is a desire for higher returns in what has been a low-return environment specifically in various fixed income or bonds,” he said.

“In this environment, we have seen a de facto increase in the risk that clients are taking in things like illiquid investments, private equity investments, infrastructure and private debt, those kind of investments were higher illiquidity results in incrementally higher returns.”

The Abu Dhabi Investment Authority, one of the largest sovereign wealth funds, said in its 2016 report that has gradually increased its exposure in direct private equity and private credit transactions, mainly in Asian markets and especially in China and India. The authority’s private equity department focused on structured equities owing to “their defensive characteristics.”

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Priority access to new homes from participating developers
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DLD registration fee can be paid through banks or credit cards at zero interest rates