The Arts Center at NYU Abu Dhabi (NYUAD) is set to host the fourth annual edition of Barzakh Festival on Friday, January 31 at 6pm. The festival brings together global sounds from critically acclaimed bands for a night that will blend cultures, styles, and genres.
Featuring four debuts and a world premiere, this year the audience will enjoy the newly re-envisioned festival; three stages, six bands, and locally based DJ’s, in one night. The festival which combines global musical streams, supports The Arts Center at NYUAD’s mission towards bridging the gap between diverse cultures through art and cultural exploration.
Executive Artistic Director at The Arts Center at NYUAD Bill Bragin said, “The Barzakh Festival has become one of the most anticipated annual events in our season. This year, we are taking advantage of The Arts Center’s unique multi-venue design to offer the festival on multiple stages. Audiences can experience full sets of some of the incredibly innovative and boundary-pushing artists on the line-up, or they can explore as they go from stage to stage. We’re hoping that audiences will really experience the excitement of discovery, leaving inspired by the one brilliant set after another, ranging from Arab electronica to Cuban hip-hop, to undefinable world jazz.”
This year, Barzakh Festival features the UAE debuts AMMAR 808 and Sofiane Saidi & Mazalda, the Middle East debuts of BCUC and Bokanté, a world premiere commissioned by The Arts Center at NYUAD, Dubai’s NOON playing inventive arrangements of the music of Umm Kulthum, and La Dame Blanche. The night will also include some of the UAE’s leading globally infused DJ’s, karrouhat and Marise Cardoso aka Djiva, playing between band sets.
The line-up for the fourth annual edition of Barzakh Festival is as follows:
- AMMAR 808
In the UAE debut of AMMAR 808, Tunisia meets Belgium where Brussels-based Tunisian producer Sofyann Ben Yousef presents his electronic alter ego. This performance combines Deep TR-808 Bass, Pan-Maghreb beats, timeless voices and futurist visions.
- BCUC
The Middle East debut of BCUC, a South African band hailing from Soweto, draws inspiration from indigenous music that is not exposed in the mainstream. BCUC’s music includes ritual songs, shebeen songs, and church songs that are infused with rap and a rock n roll attitude.
- Bokanté
The Middle East debut of Grammy-nominated Bokanté features nine musicians from four continents. Bokanté’s unusual but evocative instrumentation blends musical worlds conveying an urgent message of social awareness against the rising tide of exclusion and human indifference. The international music ensemble builds on the relationship that began with Malika Tirolien and the founder of Snarky Puppy Michael League on the Grammy Winning album Family Dinner.
- La Dame Blanche
The Cuban singer, flautist and percussionist Yaite Ramos Rodriguez, also known as La Dame Blanche, delivers an Afro-Cuban explosive mix of hip-hop, cumbia, dancehall and reggae.
- NOON – Play Umm Kulthum
NOON, the Dubai-based oriental jazz-prog-fusion band presents the world premiere commissioned by The Arts Center interpreting the work of Umm Kulthum. NOON resembles an audio approximation of the UAE’s cluttered cosmopolitanism and contemporary, borderless ethos.
- Sofiane Saidi & Mazalda
The UAE debut of Sofiane Saidi & Mazalda presents a new electro-Maghreb vision headed by The French-Algerian Prince of Rai 2.0 Sofiane Saidi. Saidi blends oriental science and contemporary urgency with the vivid and colourful sound of the band Mazalda. analogue synthesizers, saz and horns accompanied by phrases from the mezoued, the gasbah, and an ultra-danceable rhythm built around deep grooves.
The festival expands Off The Stage with two events designed to build the skills and knowledge of musicians in the UAE community. On the day prior to the performances, there will be an Arts Chat entitled Know your rights: Building your career as a musician on January 30 at 6:30pm, presented in conjunction with NYUAD’s Career Development Center. Aspiring musicians will hear from members and creatives from the bands at the festival as well as a representative of performance rights society SACEM on artist sustainability and understanding their funding streams and rights.
Following the festival, UAE musicians will have an exceptional opportunity to participate in a full day musicians’ intensive workshop hosted by Bokanté. Participants, who were selected from an open call, will include local musicians alongside musicians who are part of the NYUAD community.
Barzakh Festival is presented with support from Society of Authors, Composers and Publishers of Music (SACEM).
For more information on the festival and Off The Stage events, please visit the website.
The Arts Center at NYUAD is a performing arts center that presents distinguished professional artists from around the world alongside student, faculty, and community productions.
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