On February 13, the Rock That Love concert at Abu Dhabi’s du Arena brought together six award-winning Filipino artists and bands – and thousands of fans – for the first of its kind gig in Abu Dhabi. Now, Zoom Artistic, the company that made it all possible, is promising to bring more acts from the Philippines as well as an all-star line-up of Bollywood A-listers to the UAE.
Asian stars in the capital
“We will be bringing in the biggest and the best Bollywood stars,” says Amgad Amir Wahba, Zoom Artistic’s general manager. “Next month the temperature will start to creep up, so we’re looking at a gig in October or maybe November. Diwali falls on November 11 this year and our aim is to get everybody together for one fun night out.”
Wahba won’t reveal the line-up, however. “I want to leave it to your imagination,” he says.
Also in the works are more concerts featuring Filipino musicians.
“When we were planning Rock That Love,” says Wahba, “we were already setting our sights on bringing in more Pinoy artists for other shows or bringing the Rock That Love concept to other Filipino communities in the region. We wanted to provide something new, targeting other segments of the population. The second-biggest expat community here is Filipino [after Indian]. We looked into the events history here and there was nothing really targeting fans of Pinoy music. So we thought about bringing the most popular artists together for Valentine’s celebrations, and thank God it was on the weekend. ”
While Abu Dhabi has played host to western musicians and bands such as The Rolling Stones, Sting and Madonna, Zoom Artistic says its aim is to provide alternative entertainment and affordable tickets. Concerts featuring western artists are usually priced from Dh295, but Rock That Love tickets cost a modest Dh95, with an early-bird price of Dh55.
A community project
Rock That Love was part of Zoom Artistic’s commitment to give back to the UAE’s Filipino community. The company worked with the Abu Dhabi-based volunteer network Feel Great Helping to provide 58 free tickets for Rock That Love to staff working for Abu Dhabi’s West Coast Company women’s labour camp.
“Even in the Philippines it is unlikely that we would get the opportunity to see these acts because the concerts tend to be held only in Manila,” says Paraluman Gonzales, one of the women in the camp who attended the concert.
“This was a once in a lifetime opportunity,” says Theresa Culianan, the camp supervisor. “Normally we don’t have enough money to attend such events. Going to the concert helps us bond, and makes it a bit less painful to be away from our families.”
It was this element of connecting expats under one roof that struck a chord with one of the concert’s stars. The singer and TV host Karylle Tatlonghari-Yuzon said that bringing acts from the Philippines “is a great way for homesick Filipinos to connect with home. It’s pretty hard to be away from home. I’m just really happy that they got everyone together.”
Catering to a wider base
Until Rock that Love, Zoom Artistic’s focus had been on concerts for an Arab audience, bringing to the UAE stars such as the Egyptian pop singer Amr Diab and Lebanese divas Nancy Ajram and Majida El Roumi. But in August, Zoom Artistic revamped its identity, adding services such as artist management, and branching out to cater to a wider music market.
So who would Filipinos like to see in their next Pinoy show? Abu Dhabi housewife Tamz Mariano Kasthuri says: “Gary Valenciano for his inspirational songs, talk-show host Vice Ganda for the laughs, Regine Velasquez for her beautiful songs. And Parokya ni Edgar again – they are my favourite band. I love to watch a show with variety.”
artslife@thenational.ae
The specs
Engine: 2-litre or 3-litre 4Motion all-wheel-drive Power: 250Nm (2-litre); 340 (3-litre) Torque: 450Nm Transmission: 8-speed automatic Starting price: From Dh212,000 On sale: Now
If you go
The flights
There are direct flights from Dubai to Sofia with FlyDubai (www.flydubai.com) and Wizz Air (www.wizzair.com), from Dh1,164 and Dh822 return including taxes, respectively.
The trip
Plovdiv is 150km from Sofia, with an hourly bus service taking around 2 hours and costing $16 (Dh58). The Rhodopes can be reached from Sofia in between 2-4hours.
The trip was organised by Bulguides (www.bulguides.com), which organises guided trips throughout Bulgaria. Guiding, accommodation, food and transfers from Plovdiv to the mountains and back costs around 170 USD for a four-day, three-night trip.
THE APPRENTICE
Director: Ali Abbasi
Starring: Sebastian Stan, Maria Bakalova, Jeremy Strong
Rating: 3/5
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Results for Stage 2
Stage 2 Yas Island to Abu Dhabi, 184 km, Road race
Overall leader: Primoz Roglic SLO (Team Jumbo - Visma)
Stage winners: 1. Fernando Gaviria COL (UAE Team Emirates) 2. Elia Viviani ITA (Deceuninck - Quick-Step) 3. Caleb Ewan AUS (Lotto - Soudal)
Company profile
Name: Tharb
Started: December 2016
Founder: Eisa Alsubousi
Based: Abu Dhabi
Sector: Luxury leather goods
Initial investment: Dh150,000 from personal savings
Timeline
2012-2015
The company offers payments/bribes to win key contracts in the Middle East
May 2017
The UK SFO officially opens investigation into Petrofac’s use of agents, corruption, and potential bribery to secure contracts
September 2021
Petrofac pleads guilty to seven counts of failing to prevent bribery under the UK Bribery Act
October 2021
Court fines Petrofac £77 million for bribery. Former executive receives a two-year suspended sentence
December 2024
Petrofac enters into comprehensive restructuring to strengthen the financial position of the group
May 2025
The High Court of England and Wales approves the company’s restructuring plan
July 2025
The Court of Appeal issues a judgment challenging parts of the restructuring plan
August 2025
Petrofac issues a business update to execute the restructuring and confirms it will appeal the Court of Appeal decision
October 2025
Petrofac loses a major TenneT offshore wind contract worth €13 billion. Holding company files for administration in the UK. Petrofac delisted from the London Stock Exchange
November 2025
180 Petrofac employees laid off in the UAE
UK’s AI plan
- AI ambassadors such as MIT economist Simon Johnson, Monzo cofounder Tom Blomfield and Google DeepMind’s Raia Hadsell
- £10bn AI growth zone in South Wales to create 5,000 jobs
- £100m of government support for startups building AI hardware products
- £250m to train new AI models
The specs: 2018 Nissan 370Z Nismo
The specs: 2018 Nissan 370Z Nismo
Price, base / as tested: Dh182,178
Engine: 3.7-litre V6
Power: 350hp @ 7,400rpm
Torque: 374Nm @ 5,200rpm
Transmission: Seven-speed automatic
Fuel consumption, combined: 10.5L / 100km
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.”
Dolittle
Director: Stephen Gaghan
Stars: Robert Downey Jr, Michael Sheen
One-and-a-half out of five stars
WOMAN AND CHILD
Director: Saeed Roustaee
Starring: Parinaz Izadyar, Payman Maadi
Rating: 4/5
Best Foreign Language Film nominees
Capernaum (Lebanon)
Cold War (Poland)
Never Look Away (Germany)
Roma (Mexico)
Shoplifters (Japan)
Some of Darwish's last words
"They see their tomorrows slipping out of their reach. And though it seems to them that everything outside this reality is heaven, yet they do not want to go to that heaven. They stay, because they are afflicted with hope." - Mahmoud Darwish, to attendees of the Palestine Festival of Literature, 2008
His life in brief: Born in a village near Galilee, he lived in exile for most of his life and started writing poetry after high school. He was arrested several times by Israel for what were deemed to be inciteful poems. Most of his work focused on the love and yearning for his homeland, and he was regarded the Palestinian poet of resistance. Over the course of his life, he published more than 30 poetry collections and books of prose, with his work translated into more than 20 languages. Many of his poems were set to music by Arab composers, most significantly Marcel Khalife. Darwish died on August 9, 2008 after undergoing heart surgery in the United States. He was later buried in Ramallah where a shrine was erected in his honour.
What is type-1 diabetes
Type 1 diabetes is a genetic and unavoidable condition, rather than the lifestyle-related type 2 diabetes.
It occurs mostly in people under 40 and a result of the pancreas failing to produce enough insulin to regulate blood sugars.
Too much or too little blood sugar can result in an attack where sufferers lose consciousness in serious cases.
Being overweight or obese increases the chances of developing the more common type 2 diabetes.
Company%20profile
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