It is rather apt that South African band Habit To's latest single is called Dreaming. While it has been garnering radio play in their home country, two members of the group have been living their musical "dream" in Ajman.
However, when husband and wife musicians Michelle Stent and Dale Wardell were brainstorming the next step of a career that has had them play to thousands, a nightly residency in an emirate they'd never heard of wasn't exactly on the agenda.
"We've gigged mostly in South Africa and have travelled abroad, but usually for festivals," says Stent, 34. "We were always throwing biographies out to agents, but one said, 'How would you like a gig in Ajman?' We were like, 'Where the heck is that?'"
There's an Emirates pilot who came for the brunch and had seen us 20 years ago when we were playing a pub in Durban
With their world map consulted, the couple – who have released two albums – had a fortnight to pack up their lives when they moved to the UAE just under a year ago.
It was a gamble, not least for Wardell, 39, whose sound engineering side-career had him working at South African star Johnny Clegg's final Durban show. "On top of gigging weekly, we also started a recording studio. We recorded Ladysmith Black Mambazo and many others and it snowballed into a great business," says Wardell, who despite regarding their UAE adventure as "serendipity shining her beautiful face", says it wasn't an easy decision.
“We had built a niche for ourselves, but decided it was the right thing to do … we could go on to perform and take Habit To further.”
With 11,000 kilometres between Durban and Ajman, the troubadours – whose drums and bass-playing third member, Yasindra Naidoo, remained in South Africa – weren't expecting many in the audience to recognise them.
But a few months into their residency, at McGettigan's in the Radisson Blu complex, a few long-lost Habit To fans appeared as word reached Ajman's South African community.
“There’s an Emirates pilot who came for the brunch and had seen us 20 years ago when we were playing a pub in Durban,” says Wardell, whose set list mixes covers of rock and pop hits as well as Habit To originals.
“And two or three couples come regularly and tell us they feel like they’re back home because we play songs they recognise. We’ve definitely made relationships and friendships.”
Wardell, a promising youth tennis player until music trumped sporting aspirations, says he and Stent feel they're "living the dream" because they now devote more time to their passion, playing live six nights while writing new music or learning covers during the day. "As Habit To we normally only play our originals, but during the past two years back home we played a lot of biker festivals and they'd want three or four sets over a weekend.
"We realised they wanted to hear some classic tunes, so we got a lot of our repertoire together from that. Ajman is welcoming of the original stuff, and I love our own music, but I love playing covers … I grew up learning Nirvana, Pearl Jam, the Eagles."
Stent says her mission is to spread Habit To's music beyond South Africa. "Guests are going on to our website, downloading stuff and requesting an original. For us, that's super-cool, we want people to know we wrote every last thing you hear. It's nice to say 'this song's playing on a station back home'."
The couple also say not being constantly on the road – eight hours travelling daily, and waking up early for radio interviews the morning after gigs – has yielded time to work on music for their next album, Heaven Sent. "Our job now is to completely hone our craft," she says. "We're spending six hours minimum a day on our instruments, not having to organise a tour; we're 'on tour', even though we're at the same place every day. That's made it easier for us to be creative."
While Habit To have played to larger audiences at home since breaking out in 2004 – to as many as 10,000 at festivals such as Splashy Fen – they say the Ajman shows can be rewarding.
"Back home there's a live music culture and such a turnover of bands, people become numb to it," says Wardell. "Here, people tend to appreciate it more. There are fewer live musicians, so it's really valued. Over the years we've developed the ability, once on stage, whether there are two people or 2,000 … we perform the same."
Some don't quite get the live band etiquette, however. The couple recall dealing with men getting on stage to "share" vocals, while another stood in the front requesting songs as they were midway through one. They also say it helps to be married.
"A lot of people ask, 'How do you live and work together?' We're best friends, we've been together for more than 20 years, married for seven. We know our strengths and weaknesses."
Having been in the UAE since last summer, Habit To's next residency looks likely to be in Dubai, possibly with their drummer. For now, there's no time limit on their overseas adventure. "Wherever it takes us. We've met so many people from all over the world who say you should come play in France or Australia," says Wardell. "We've already made connections that may lead to something. Whether it works out down the line …"
Even if there's a danger they'll get forgotten by a home following they spent so long cultivating? Wardell says South Africa is a country you've got to leave to become famous. "We've seen it happen with many bands on the edge of success; they'd go overseas and, coming back, use that as publicity to relaunch their career to the next level."
Either way, Stent sees the UAE as part of a mission common to all musicians; to make a living out of music. "We spent so much time back home pushing and gigging every nook and cranny," she says with a smile. "Distance makes the heart grow fonder, for us and the crowd. We do miss home, but there are so many more experiences out there. It's good to be missed."
Habit To play at McGettigan’s in the Radisson Blu Complex, Ajman, every Sunday to Thursday, 9am-midnight and Friday, 2pm-5pm, until Thursday, April 23. More information on the band is at www.habittoband.com
Key facilities
- Olympic-size swimming pool with a split bulkhead for multi-use configurations, including water polo and 50m/25m training lanes
- Premier League-standard football pitch
- 400m Olympic running track
- NBA-spec basketball court with auditorium
- 600-seat auditorium
- Spaces for historical and cultural exploration
- An elevated football field that doubles as a helipad
- Specialist robotics and science laboratories
- AR and VR-enabled learning centres
- Disruption Lab and Research Centre for developing entrepreneurial skills
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Infiniti QX80 specs
Engine: twin-turbocharged 3.5-liter V6
Power: 450hp
Torque: 700Nm
Price: From Dh450,000, Autograph model from Dh510,000
Available: Now
MOUNTAINHEAD REVIEW
Starring: Ramy Youssef, Steve Carell, Jason Schwartzman
Director: Jesse Armstrong
Rating: 3.5/5
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What can you do?
Document everything immediately; including dates, times, locations and witnesses
Seek professional advice from a legal expert
You can report an incident to HR or an immediate supervisor
You can use the Ministry of Human Resources and Emiratisation’s dedicated hotline
In criminal cases, you can contact the police for additional support
How to help
Send “thenational” to the following numbers or call the hotline on: 0502955999
2289 – Dh10
2252 – Dh 50
6025 – Dh20
6027 – Dh 100
6026 – Dh 200
How the UAE gratuity payment is calculated now
Employees leaving an organisation are entitled to an end-of-service gratuity after completing at least one year of service.
The tenure is calculated on the number of days worked and does not include lengthy leave periods, such as a sabbatical. If you have worked for a company between one and five years, you are paid 21 days of pay based on your final basic salary. After five years, however, you are entitled to 30 days of pay. The total lump sum you receive is based on the duration of your employment.
1. For those who have worked between one and five years, on a basic salary of Dh10,000 (calculation based on 30 days):
a. Dh10,000 ÷ 30 = Dh333.33. Your daily wage is Dh333.33
b. Dh333.33 x 21 = Dh7,000. So 21 days salary equates to Dh7,000 in gratuity entitlement for each year of service. Multiply this figure for every year of service up to five years.
2. For those who have worked more than five years
c. 333.33 x 30 = Dh10,000. So 30 days’ salary is Dh10,000 in gratuity entitlement for each year of service.
Note: The maximum figure cannot exceed two years total salary figure.
Attacks on Egypt’s long rooted Copts
Egypt’s Copts belong to one of the world’s oldest Christian communities, with Mark the Evangelist credited with founding their church around 300 AD. Orthodox Christians account for the overwhelming majority of Christians in Egypt, with the rest mainly made up of Greek Orthodox, Catholics and Anglicans.
The community accounts for some 10 per cent of Egypt’s 100 million people, with the largest concentrations of Christians found in Cairo, Alexandria and the provinces of Minya and Assiut south of Cairo.
Egypt’s Christians have had a somewhat turbulent history in the Muslim majority Arab nation, with the community occasionally suffering outright persecution but generally living in peace with their Muslim compatriots. But radical Muslims who have first emerged in the 1970s have whipped up anti-Christian sentiments, something that has, in turn, led to an upsurge in attacks against their places of worship, church-linked facilities as well as their businesses and homes.
More recently, ISIS has vowed to go after the Christians, claiming responsibility for a series of attacks against churches packed with worshippers starting December 2016.
The discrimination many Christians complain about and the shift towards religious conservatism by many Egyptian Muslims over the last 50 years have forced hundreds of thousands of Christians to migrate, starting new lives in growing communities in places as far afield as Australia, Canada and the United States.
Here is a look at major attacks against Egypt's Coptic Christians in recent years:
November 2: Masked gunmen riding pickup trucks opened fire on three buses carrying pilgrims to the remote desert monastery of St. Samuel the Confessor south of Cairo, killing 7 and wounding about 20. IS claimed responsibility for the attack.
May 26, 2017: Masked militants riding in three all-terrain cars open fire on a bus carrying pilgrims on their way to the Monastery of St. Samuel the Confessor, killing 29 and wounding 22. ISIS claimed responsibility for the attack.
April 2017: Twin attacks by suicide bombers hit churches in the coastal city of Alexandria and the Nile Delta city of Tanta. At least 43 people are killed and scores of worshippers injured in the Palm Sunday attack, which narrowly missed a ceremony presided over by Pope Tawadros II, spiritual leader of Egypt Orthodox Copts, in Alexandria's St. Mark's Cathedral. ISIS claimed responsibility for the attacks.
February 2017: Hundreds of Egyptian Christians flee their homes in the northern part of the Sinai Peninsula, fearing attacks by ISIS. The group's North Sinai affiliate had killed at least seven Coptic Christians in the restive peninsula in less than a month.
December 2016: A bombing at a chapel adjacent to Egypt's main Coptic Christian cathedral in Cairo kills 30 people and wounds dozens during Sunday Mass in one of the deadliest attacks carried out against the religious minority in recent memory. ISIS claimed responsibility.
July 2016: Pope Tawadros II says that since 2013 there were 37 sectarian attacks on Christians in Egypt, nearly one incident a month. A Muslim mob stabs to death a 27-year-old Coptic Christian man, Fam Khalaf, in the central city of Minya over a personal feud.
May 2016: A Muslim mob ransacks and torches seven Christian homes in Minya after rumours spread that a Christian man had an affair with a Muslim woman. The elderly mother of the Christian man was stripped naked and dragged through a street by the mob.
New Year's Eve 2011: A bomb explodes in a Coptic Christian church in Alexandria as worshippers leave after a midnight mass, killing more than 20 people.
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The bio:
Favourite film:
Declan: It was The Commitments but now it’s Bohemian Rhapsody.
Heidi: The Long Kiss Goodnight.
Favourite holiday destination:
Declan: Las Vegas but I also love getting home to Ireland and seeing everyone back home.
Heidi: Australia but my dream destination would be to go to Cuba.
Favourite pastime:
Declan: I love brunching and socializing. Just basically having the craic.
Heidi: Paddleboarding and swimming.
Personal motto:
Declan: Take chances.
Heidi: Live, love, laugh and have no regrets.
Real estate tokenisation project
Dubai launched the pilot phase of its real estate tokenisation project last month.
The initiative focuses on converting real estate assets into digital tokens recorded on blockchain technology and helps in streamlining the process of buying, selling and investing, the Dubai Land Department said.
Dubai’s real estate tokenisation market is projected to reach Dh60 billion ($16.33 billion) by 2033, representing 7 per cent of the emirate’s total property transactions, according to the DLD.
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