Al Ain Music Festival kicks off with local and international performers

The festival will feature jazz and dance events for first time.

Al Ain Chamber Orchestra. Paolo Rossetti

Al Ain Music Festival has entered its third year of bringing talented local musicians into the spotlight. But this time, the line-up has been altered to factor in Abu Dhabi Classics, which also starts this month with concerts in Al Ain as well as Abu Dhabi.

“Now that Abu Dhabi Classics is happening at the same time, we’ve decided to veer towards other genres such as Oriental classical and folk music,” says Martin Hill, director of the Al Ain festival. “So while there is a classical element, it’s not as substantial as it might have been otherwise. We’ve got a broader palette this year.”

Although the focus has changed, it doesn’t mean the festival is losing momentum.

“The number of music events has risen from five in 2014 to eight this year,” says Hill. “We’ve got jazz for the first time and we’ve got our first dance event, too.”

Guitar grooves

Jason Carter will play his harp guitar in a gig with Al Ain-based guitarist Joan Mc Eldowney and Mark Campbell, a drummer for Al Ain band The Sounding Boards. Carter has a passion for building bridges across cultures with his music and has performed concerts in far-flung corners of the world such as North Korea and Afghanistan. He has quite a following in the UAE – the Facebook post promoting Carter’s appearance has already had over 600 likes. The British guitarist was a popular part of the hotel music scene in Dubai 20 years ago and has been hopping on the plane back to Dubai and Abu Dhabi regularly ever since – although the Garden City is not usually part of his itinerary.

“The last time I performed in Al Ain was 12 years ago,” he says. “And I remember having a wonderfully warm audience. This time I am travelling with the harp guitar as opposed to the classical guitar, playing stuff from my new album and telling some hilarious stories from my concerts in North Korea. So everyone is welcome.”

McEldowney is an Irish guitar teacher who is part of a collective called Flowing Rhythms that provide art and music workshops. She has previously played support for Ocean Colour Scene and the Hothouse Flowers, and has performed live on a BBC music show alongside Neil Hannon of The Divine Comedy.

"My last support was for James Blunt in Belfast," she says. "I am currently working on an EP called Music and Moonlight."

Musical Fantasia

The Al Ain Chamber Orchestra and the Al Ain Choral Society are performing Musical Fantasia, which will feature a collaboration between the groups on a specially arranged version of Scarborough Fair.

The choir's programme includes a range of pieces from other familiar folk songs through madrigals and classical works, including Fauré's Cantique de Jean Racine; and more contemporary choral works. The choir will sing in several different languages reflecting their international membership. Orchestra director Dan Turcanu is also its composer-in-residence, who arranges all the pieces for each instrument.

The orchestra's programme includes The Beatles' Michelle, Girl and Eleanor Rigby plus a Brazilian piece, Tico-Tico no Fubá by Zequinha de Abreu.

Hill says: “The choir and orchestra performed a winter concert for 120 people in December that was a sell out and several people had to be turned away, so we’re expecting it to be very popular this time around.”

East meets West

Flautist Camilla Hoitenga is being flown over from Cologne in Germany especially for this concert, which fuses Arabic and western sounds.

A collective of five Al Ain-based Syrian musicians, the Sharqi Ensemble, will perform specially chosen Arabic music alongside two House of Arts musicians, the Romanians Dan Turcanu on violin and Teodor Iliescu on bassoon, accompanied by Hoitenga on flute. The Sharqis are made up of Dr Hasan Wahbah on the qanun (a flat instrument with 27 strings), Dhea Al Safadi on the oud, Naser Akwan on violin, Ahmad Talland on rhythm, and singer Dana Obaid.