Mashrou’ Leila are a journalist’s dream – an edgy Beirut-based indie-art band who sing strictly in Arabic, addressing regional issues of class, race, religion and sexual politics.
A band who refuse to sign to a label, instead financing their work with the #OccupyArabPop crowdfunding campaign. A band fronted by the controversy-courting lead singer Hamed Sinno, a rare voice prepared to bare his identity and interpersonal ideals in song and speech, regardless of the consequences.
And, perhaps for all these reasons, a band who rank among the most successful to emerge from the region, playing dozens of shows a year across the Middle East and Europe, despite refusing to sing in English.
It is telling to learn that Mashrou’ Leila have performed more in Paris than they have in the UAE.
After a two-year absence from the country, the quintet return tonight with a performance at Dubai’s MusicHall, wrapping up an autumn tour that has taken them to Zurich, Milan, Rabat, Cairo and even a gig at London’s Royal Albert Hall.
“The first time we go to a city, it’s mainly Arabic expats coming to the shows,” says founder and guitarist Firas Abou Fakher, “but every time we come back, the audiences get more diverse.”
It’s been a heady journey for the DIY-band, formerly a group of architecture and design students at the American University of Beirut who began playing together in 2008 and self-produced an eponymous album later that year.
Their distinct sound mixes the western guitar of bands such as Radiohead and Arctic Monkeys with elements of electronica, folk and traditional Arabic ballads, and things were starting to get serious by the time of 2011's El Hal Romancy. But they really burst onto the scene in the aftermath of last year's Raasuk, which was recorded at Montreal's Hotel2Tango studio, where Arcade Fire have famously recorded.
In April, Mashrou' Leila became the first regional band to be featured on the cover of Rolling Stone Middle East. In September, the album was released on CD in France and is set to be rolled out across Europe, sparking a fresh wave of western media interest.
Last month, the band collaborated with music legend Nile Rodgers on an Arabic-language cover of Daft Punk's Get Lucky, and this month they recorded a live performance at the BBC's London studios.
Little surprise, then, that Mashrou’ Leila are being hailed as the lost voice of a disenfranchised generation of young Arabs.
“We sing about things we think are important,” says Firas. “People might disagree with some of the things we say, but we have the legitimacy now to highlight important issues in everyday life that we would like to change.”
Beirut has plenty of great bands: Pindoll, Lazzy Lung, Who Killed Bruce Lee and recent Abu Dhabi F1 headliners The Wanton Bishops, to name just a few.
But despite the earlier successes of Soap Kills, the Arab-language Beirut trip-hop duo who found success in Europe at the beginning of the millennium, most of the scene is still in English. Mashrou’ Leila stand out as the most prominent act in a small but emerging regional scene whose members sing in their native tongues.
“When we started, we were just a band making music in our rooms – we said ‘let’s only play our own music, and only sing in our own language’,” remembers Firas. “At the time we had no idea what that meant.
“The Arabic language is a reservoir waiting to be tapped – people haven’t really experimented with it in music.
“There’s a precedent now for bands who have made it, who have broken through that strong barrier between music that never gets out of clubs, to music that gets on the radio and TV, and is exported to Europe and North America.”
When Mashrou’ Leila leave the stage tonight, it is likely to be their last gig for some time, with the band returning to Beirut to continue work on a fourth album that already sounds more ambitious, lyrically and musically, than its predecessor.
“We like to think we’re making not 10 songs that make up an album, but an album of 10 songs,” says Firas.
“What we want is to be the first band who are not just an ‘Arab indie-pop band’, but an international band that happens to be based in Lebanon.
“I don’t think that’s impossible.”
• Mashrou’ Leila perform at MusicHall Dubai tonight at 9.30pm as part of the Arab Fund for Arts and Culture’s End of Year Event. Tickets cost Dh195 from www.platinumlist.ae
rgarratt@thenational.ae
ROUTE TO TITLE
Round 1: Beat Leolia Jeanjean 6-1, 6-2
Round 2: Beat Naomi Osaka 7-6, 1-6, 7-5
Round 3: Beat Marie Bouzkova 6-4, 6-2
Round 4: Beat Anastasia Potapova 6-0, 6-0
Quarter-final: Beat Marketa Vondrousova 6-0, 6-2
Semi-final: Beat Coco Gauff 6-2, 6-4
Final: Beat Jasmine Paolini 6-2, 6-2
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Company name: Revibe
Started: 2022
Founders: Hamza Iraqui and Abdessamad Ben Zakour
Based: UAE
Industry: Refurbished electronics
Funds raised so far: $10m
Investors: Flat6Labs, Resonance and various others
Specs: 2024 McLaren Artura Spider
Engine: 3.0-litre twin-turbo V6 and electric motor
Max power: 700hp at 7,500rpm
Max torque: 720Nm at 2,250rpm
Transmission: Eight-speed dual-clutch auto
0-100km/h: 3.0sec
Top speed: 330kph
Price: From Dh1.14 million ($311,000)
On sale: Now
Final scores
18 under: Tyrrell Hatton (ENG)
- 14: Jason Scrivener (AUS)
-13: Rory McIlroy (NIR)
-12: Rafa Cabrera Bello (ESP)
-11: David Lipsky (USA), Marc Warren (SCO)
-10: Tommy Fleetwood (ENG), Chris Paisley (ENG), Matt Wallace (ENG), Fabrizio Zanotti (PAR)
TECH SPECS: APPLE IPHONE 14 PLUS
Display: 6.1" Super Retina XDR OLED, 2778 x 1284, 458ppi, HDR, True Tone, P3, 1200 nits
Processor: A15 Bionic, 6-core CPU, 5-core GPU, 16-core Neural Engine
Memory: 6GB
Capacity: 128/256/512GB
Platform: iOS 16
Main camera: Dual 12MP main (f/1.5) + 12MP ultra-wide (f/2.4); 2x optical, 5x digital; Photonic Engine, Deep Fusion, Smart HDR 4, Portrait Lighting
Main camera video: 4K @ 24/25/3060fps, full-HD @ 25/30/60fps, HD @ 30fps; HD slo-mo @ 120/240fps; night, time lapse, cinematic, action modes; Dolby Vision, 4K HDR
Front camera: 12MP TrueDepth (f/1.9), Photonic Engine, Deep Fusion, Smart HDR 4; Animoji, Memoji; Portrait Lighting
Front camera video: 4K @ 24/25/3060fps, full-HD @ 25/30/60fps, HD slo-mo @ 120fps; night, time lapse, cinematic, action modes; Dolby Vision, 4K HDR
Battery: 4323 mAh, up to 26h video, 20h streaming video, 100h audio; fast charge to 50% in 30m; MagSafe, Qi wireless charging
Connectivity: Wi-Fi, Bluetooth 5.3, NFC (Apple Pay)
Biometrics: Face ID
I/O: Lightning
Cards: Dual eSIM / eSIM + SIM (US models use eSIMs only)
Colours: Blue, midnight, purple, starlight, Product Red
In the box: iPhone 14, USB-C-to-Lightning cable, one Apple sticker
Price: Dh3,799 / Dh4,199 / Dh5,049
The specs: 2019 Subaru Forester
Price, base: Dh105,900 (Premium); Dh115,900 (Sport)
Engine: 2.5-litre four-cylinder
Transmission: Continuously variable transmission
Power: 182hp @ 5,800rpm
Torque: 239Nm @ 4,400rpm
Fuel economy, combined: 8.1L / 100km (estimated)
COMPANY PROFILE
Company name: Klipit
Started: 2022
Founders: Venkat Reddy, Mohammed Al Bulooki, Bilal Merchant, Asif Ahmed, Ovais Merchant
Based: Dubai, UAE
Industry: Digital receipts, finance, blockchain
Funding: $4 million
Investors: Privately/self-funded
Types of fraud
Phishing: Fraudsters send an unsolicited email that appears to be from a financial institution or online retailer. The hoax email requests that you provide sensitive information, often by clicking on to a link leading to a fake website.
Smishing: The SMS equivalent of phishing. Fraudsters falsify the telephone number through “text spoofing,” so that it appears to be a genuine text from the bank.
Vishing: The telephone equivalent of phishing and smishing. Fraudsters may pose as bank staff, police or government officials. They may persuade the consumer to transfer money or divulge personal information.
SIM swap: Fraudsters duplicate the SIM of your mobile number without your knowledge or authorisation, allowing them to conduct financial transactions with your bank.
Identity theft: Someone illegally obtains your confidential information, through various ways, such as theft of your wallet, bank and utility bill statements, computer intrusion and social networks.
Prize scams: Fraudsters claiming to be authorised representatives from well-known organisations (such as Etisalat, du, Dubai Shopping Festival, Expo2020, Lulu Hypermarket etc) contact victims to tell them they have won a cash prize and request them to share confidential banking details to transfer the prize money.
* Nada El Sawy
Company profile
Company name: Fasset
Started: 2019
Founders: Mohammad Raafi Hossain, Daniel Ahmed
Based: Dubai
Sector: FinTech
Initial investment: $2.45 million
Current number of staff: 86
Investment stage: Pre-series B
Investors: Investcorp, Liberty City Ventures, Fatima Gobi Ventures, Primal Capital, Wealthwell Ventures, FHS Capital, VN2 Capital, local family offices
Company Profile
Company name: Big Farm Brothers
Started: September 2020
Founders: Vishal Mahajan and Navneet Kaur
Based: Dubai Investment Park 1
Industry: food and agriculture
Initial investment: $205,000
Current staff: eight to 10
Future plan: to expand to other GCC markets
Rocketman
Director: Dexter Fletcher
Starring: Taron Egerton, Richard Madden, Jamie Bell
Rating: 3 out of 5 stars
Recipe
Garlicky shrimp in olive oil
Gambas Al Ajillo
Preparation time: 5 to 10 minutes
Cooking time: 5 minutes
Serves 4
Ingredients
180ml extra virgin olive oil; 4 to 5 large cloves of garlic, minced or pureed (or 3 to 4 garlic scapes, roughly chopped); 1 or 2 small hot red chillies, dried (or ¼ teaspoon dried red chilli flakes); 400g raw prawns, deveined, heads removed and tails left intact; a generous splash of sweet chilli vinegar; sea salt flakes for seasoning; a small handful of fresh flat-leaf parsley, roughly chopped
Method
▶ Heat the oil in a terracotta dish or frying pan. Once the oil is sizzling hot, add the garlic and chilli, stirring continuously for about 10 seconds until golden and aromatic.
▶ Add a splash of sweet chilli vinegar and as it vigorously simmers, releasing perfumed aromas, add the prawns and cook, stirring a few times.
▶ Once the prawns turn pink, after 1 or 2 minutes of cooking, remove from the heat and season with sea salt flakes.
▶ Once the prawns are cool enough to eat, scatter with parsley and serve with small forks or toothpicks as the perfect sharing starter. Finish off with crusty bread to soak up all that flavour-infused olive oil.
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.
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Read part one: how cars came to the UAE