The Arts Center at NYU Abu Dhabi (NYUAD) will present Raul Midón and Alex Cubaon Thursday, November 3 at 7:30pm outdoors in The East Plaza. Part of Abu Dhabi City of Music, the UAE premiere collaboration will feature internationally acclaimed singer-songwriters and instrumentalists Raul Midón and Alex Cuba, each with a solo concert and ending the night with a duet performance. Audiences can enjoy an evening of soul, jazz, and Latin pop sounds. One of the UAE’s leading musicians, Fafa, will open the show.
Executive Artistic Director at The Arts Center at NYUAD Bill Bragin said: “This concert is a fantastic example of how deep artistry can go with the most intimate of formats, great singers and instrumentalists performing songs from the heart in a stripped-down acoustic concert. Their virtuosic performances will evoke deep emotions, from love to sadness to joy, while making direct audience connections through powerful performances.”
Raul Midón is a Grammy-nominated contemporary singer-songwriter whose acoustic guitar playing — which traverses pop, jazz, soul, urban, cumbia, and flamenco — has garnered as much attention as his smooth singing and sophisticated writing. Blind since birth, Midón is known for his signature combination of silky voice and percussive guitar. His breezy style has endeared him to jazz and pop audiences and his tenor delivery and poignant, emotional phrasing have been influenced by everyone from Bill Withers and Michael Franks to Donny Hathaway and D’Angelo. He has performed previously in the UAE, on a bill with Mariah Carey at the Dubai Jazz Festival.
For their first live collaboration, Midón is joined by Alex Cuba, 2022 Grammy Award winner for Best Latin Pop Album and multiple Latin Grammy. His melodies, pop-soul hooks, and guitar riffs relinquish a conventional stereotype that exemplifies much of the Latin music landscape. Cuba’s musical evolution for years was all about searching for the simplicity and soul in Cuban music – taking apart the complex arrangements, mixing them with North American influences, adopting the melodic simplicity of pop music, and looking to Cuban folk traditions for inspiration.
Abu Dhabi’s Fafa, an Emirati-Honduran artist known for her powerful voice and warm timbre, will open the show. Her lyrics revolve around mental health and identity, meanwhile using her craft as a catalyst to heal and uplift. Her singing style is unique, gathering inspiration from artists such as Etta James, Whitney Houston, and Amy Winehouse.
As part of the event, a night souk featuring food trucks and 20 retail vendors offering locally made artisan products such as local artwork, jewellery, and home décor, among many others, will be open from 5-10pm.
On Wednesday, November 2 at 6:30pm, The Arts Center will also host a music workshop where acclaimed guitarists and singer-songwriters Cuba and Midón lead an interactive session exploring songwriting and co-writing. Participants will have the opportunity to discover their own songwriting voice by exploring techniques of composing melody, writing lyrics, and constructing stories. The workshop is open to all levels.
Bragin commented: “As part of Abu Dhabi’s City of Music, The Arts Center has a long commitment to growing the local music ecosystem. The combination of the concert and the workshop for local singer-songwriters will serve as an inspirational master class on how much can be conveyed by the most direct of presentations. It will also highlight the power of collaboration, and the refusal to let simple categories define one’s art. Each of the artists cuts across genre and style in unique and personal ways.”
