The Lebanese pianist Michel Fadel will be rounding off this year's Abu Dhabi Festival. Courtesy Abu Dhabi Festival
The Lebanese pianist Michel Fadel will be rounding off this year's Abu Dhabi Festival. Courtesy Abu Dhabi Festival

Tickling the ivories at the Festival’s last show



After nearly a month of performances featuring the jazz legend Herbie Hancock, the soprano Renée Fleming, the European ­Union Youth Orchestra and the American Ballet Theatre, the Abu Dhabi Festival’s concerts conclude on Monday with a look back at some of the Arab world’s most influential ­performers.

As part of Bayt Al Farabi, the festival’s Arabic concert series, the Lebanese classical pianist Michel Fadel will lead his group as he plays hits spanning 50 years, with his take on classics by the likes of the Egyptian legend Abdel Halim Hafiz to Lebanese giants such as the late Wadih Al-Safi.

“No one should be checking their watches during the performance,” he says. “I am aiming for a concert that will connect with everyone, no matter where they are from. I am all about getting the crowd involved and the show should be exciting and varied. I hope people will be swept away.”

All in the family

Fadel was born into a family of musicians who wasted no time in putting the youngster in front of a keyboard. When he was 8, Fadel won the first prize in a musical competition in Beirut, before going on to earn a master’s degree at the Lebanese Higher National Conservatory. Fadel admits the road to being a virtuoso came with a few childhood sacrifices.

“My father was tough on me and wanted me to develop my talents,” he recalls. “There were a few times where I wanted to play football and ski with friends and he wouldn’t let me because he was scared I would injure myself and particularly my hands. Eventually he would let me do them only if I practice my piano for a few hours first.”

The hard work paid off – Fadel won the Grand Champion Instrumentalist of the Year in the World Championship of Performing Arts in Hollywood in 2000. His pedigree caught the attention of the Lebanese chanteuses Fairouz, Julia Boutros and Majida El Roumi, who all enlisted him as their arranger and performance pianist.

Concert programme

The performance, expected to be just more than 90 minutes, will consist of tributes and melodies to Arab legends. The opening section is dedicated to the late Lebanese folk singer Wadih Al-Safi with a selection of his most stirring material including Jayin Ya Arz El Jabal, Melancolia and Khatarna Ala Balak.

This will be followed by a medley of Fairouz hits including Emmi Namet A Bakkir and Nassan Alayna Al Hawa. Further tributes will be extended to the Algerian-Lebanese singer Warda before Fadel looks towards Egypt with pieces from the crooners Mohammed Abdel Wahab and Abdel Halim Hafez.

Don’t expect faithful covers, Fadel warns – he aims to channel the spirit of the classics through a modern approach.

“As a musician constantly longing for renewal and change, two main factors had a considerable influence on my personality: my major in western music and my childhood, because I was raised in a household full of great passion for music,” he says. “The more you go deep into Arabic music, the more you realise that you can explore its depths and devise a personalised version of your creation without altering the original memory or basic structure.”

Look out for …

The concert’s special guest Pedro Eustache. The Venezuelan flautist and multi-instrumentalist’s creative touch has been heard on stage and at the movies. He has already amassed an impressive list of soundtracks including 2005’s Munich and the blockbuster King Kong in addition to the 2007 Hollywood-Bollywood production Marigold, starring Salman Khan.

• Michel Fadel performs on Monday at Emirates Palace Auditorium. Tickets begin at Dh125, from tickets.virginmegastore.me

The Sand Castle

Director: Matty Brown

Stars: Nadine Labaki, Ziad Bakri, Zain Al Rafeea, Riman Al Rafeea

Rating: 2.5/5

Top Hundred overseas picks

London Spirit: Kieron Pollard, Riley Meredith 

Welsh Fire: Adam Zampa, David Miller, Naseem Shah 

Manchester Originals: Andre Russell, Wanindu Hasaranga, Sean Abbott

Northern Superchargers: Dwayne Bravo, Wahab Riaz

Oval Invincibles: Sunil Narine, Rilee Rossouw

Trent Rockets: Colin Munro

Birmingham Phoenix: Matthew Wade, Kane Richardson

Southern Brave: Quinton de Kock

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Vidaamuyarchi

Director: Magizh Thirumeni

Stars: Ajith Kumar, Arjun Sarja, Trisha Krishnan, Regina Cassandra

Rating: 4/5

 

Our legal consultants

Name: Hassan Mohsen Elhais

Position: legal consultant with Al Rowaad Advocates and Legal Consultants.

The major Hashd factions linked to Iran:

Badr Organisation: Seen as the most militarily capable faction in the Hashd. Iraqi Shiite exiles opposed to Saddam Hussein set up the group in Tehran in the early 1980s as the Badr Corps under the supervision of the Iran Revolutionary Guards Corps (IRGC). The militia exalts Iran’s Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei but intermittently cooperated with the US military.

Saraya Al Salam (Peace Brigade): Comprised of former members of the officially defunct Mahdi Army, a militia that was commanded by Iraqi cleric Moqtada Al Sadr and fought US and Iraqi government and other forces between 2004 and 2008. As part of a political overhaul aimed as casting Mr Al Sadr as a more nationalist and less sectarian figure, the cleric formed Saraya Al Salam in 2014. The group’s relations with Iran has been volatile.

Kataeb Hezbollah: The group, which is fighting on behalf of the Bashar Al Assad government in Syria, traces its origins to attacks on US forces in Iraq in 2004 and adopts a tough stance against Washington, calling the United States “the enemy of humanity”.

Asaeb Ahl Al Haq: An offshoot of the Mahdi Army active in Syria. Asaeb Ahl Al Haq’s leader Qais al Khazali was a student of Mr Al Moqtada’s late father Mohammed Sadeq Al Sadr, a prominent Shiite cleric who was killed during Saddam Hussein’s rule.

Harakat Hezbollah Al Nujaba: Formed in 2013 to fight alongside Mr Al Assad’s loyalists in Syria before joining the Hashd. The group is seen as among the most ideological and sectarian-driven Hashd militias in Syria and is the major recruiter of foreign fighters to Syria.

Saraya Al Khorasani:  The ICRG formed Saraya Al Khorasani in the mid-1990s and the group is seen as the most ideologically attached to Iran among Tehran’s satellites in Iraq.

(Source: The Wilson Centre, the International Centre for the Study of Radicalisation)

Other workplace saving schemes
  • The UAE government announced a retirement savings plan for private and free zone sector employees in 2023.
  • Dubai’s savings retirement scheme for foreign employees working in the emirate’s government and public sector came into effect in 2022.
  • National Bonds unveiled a Golden Pension Scheme in 2022 to help private-sector foreign employees with their financial planning.
  • In April 2021, Hayah Insurance unveiled a workplace savings plan to help UAE employees save for their retirement.
  • Lunate, an Abu Dhabi-based investment manager, has launched a fund that will allow UAE private companies to offer employees investment returns on end-of-service benefits.
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