For its 13th edition, the Dubai Jazz Festival is back where it began. Launched as a three-day event at Dubai Media City in 2003, the festival expanded greatly over the years, with the last three editions offering eight- and nine-day music marathons at Festival City.
But 2015 marks a homecoming, back at Media City. It is also a notably slimmed-down affair, with only three days of gigs. Also missing in action is the second Jazz Garden stage, which showcased music you could actually label as jazz.
But promoters Chillout Productions certainly have not skimped on star names, with three absolutely massive headliners. We chat to the jazziest act on the bill by far, Esperanza Spalding.
Seven things you might not know about Esperanza Spalding
Fusing elements of funk, soul and Latin music, Spalding is one of modern jazz's biggest stars, an incendiary electric and double bass player and a gifted singer who has helped put the genre back in the limelight with crossover success Radio Music Society. Here's what you need to know.
1. She was handed the first of her four Grammys, for Best New Artist in 2011, by none other that John Legend.
“He’s wonderful. He handed me my Grammy – I got to keep it and everything,” she says. “Pretty wild, right? I like him a lot. This festival is a wonderful bill – I might try to sneak in for the Sting show.”
2. In 2009, Barack Obama personally chose Spalding to perform in Oslo at his Nobel Peace Prize ceremony.
“Barack Obama – there’s like the politician, and the person, and I like him a lot. Of course, he’s obviously a larger-than-life character, the man inside of all the storm around him as a politician, a president – but the person he is is really cool and I’m really glad I have had many opportunities to just connect with that person.”
3. She sings in several languages.
“The trickiest thing about singing in another language is the poetic imagery. The words don’t have the same association as a native speaker, so it can be a little tricky to really believe and see what you’re singing. I definitely feel like Spanish, French and Portuguese feel more musical, because of the shape of your mouth when you’re making the words – but then opera is in German, so hey.”
4. Prince is a personal friend, who has invited Spalding to open for him and jam onstage.
“Prince is No 1 – what can I say? Prince is like the all-round popular musician, he’s the master of that craft by far. And he’s curious about everything from science to diet to music to history to cultures, languages – it’s really interesting to watch how he folds into his music and performance.”
5. Album number five is set to drop in August – but it's top secret.
“I don’t want anyone to make any assumptions. I want it to be heard and seen, and then people can figure it out for themselves. It’s like my Athena – everybody has an Athena in them, the way Zeus did – and this project is very personal to me.”
6. She may have been the youngest teacher ever at the incredibly influential, jazz-centric Berklee College of Music, at the age of just 20.
“It might be tie a between me and Pat Metheny. Teaching there was one of the greatest lessons in articulating the process of the inner teacher. All of us have it, this capacity to look at something that is not complete and figure out how we’re going to put the parts back together to be better than they initially were.”
7. A night after her Dubai gig, Spalding will appear with the jazz legend Wayne Shorter at Poland's Lotos Jazz Festival.
“It’s so wonderful, he’s one in a billion, and it’s just so surreal to be associated with him, to know him, to be that close to his music. Offstage he’s a light – funny, so intelligent, extremely insightful – and available. He’s always referencing music and films and books and writers – I always have a notepad nearby and I get home and have a list of all these references I want to check out. He’s such an encyclopedia of the arts.”
• Esperanza Spalding performs on Friday, February 27 at 9pm
rgarratt@thenational.ae
Business Insights
- Canada and Mexico are significant energy suppliers to the US, providing the majority of oil and natural gas imports
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How Alia's experiment will help humans get to Mars
Alia’s winning experiment examined how genes might change under the stresses caused by being in space, such as cosmic radiation and microgravity.
Her samples were placed in a machine on board the International Space Station. called a miniPCR thermal cycler, which can copy DNA multiple times.
After the samples were examined on return to Earth, scientists were able to successfully detect changes caused by being in space in the way DNA transmits instructions through proteins and other molecules in living organisms.
Although Alia’s samples were taken from nematode worms, the results have much bigger long term applications, especially for human space flight and long term missions, such as to Mars.
It also means that the first DNA experiments using human genomes can now be carried out on the ISS.
If you go
Where to stay: Courtyard by Marriott Titusville Kennedy Space Centre has unparalleled views of the Indian River. Alligators can be spotted from hotel room balconies, as can several rocket launch sites. The hotel also boasts cool space-themed decor.
When to go: Florida is best experienced during the winter months, from November to May, before the humidity kicks in.
How to get there: Emirates currently flies from Dubai to Orlando five times a week.
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Company%20Profile
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If you go
The Flights
Emirates and Etihad fly direct to Johannesburg from Dubai and Abu Dhabi respectively. Economy return tickets cost from Dh2,650, including taxes.
The trip
Worldwide Motorhoming Holidays (worldwidemotorhomingholidays.co.uk) operates fly-drive motorhome holidays in eight destinations, including South Africa. Its 14-day Kruger and the Battlefields itinerary starts from Dh17,500, including campgrounds, excursions, unit hire and flights. Bobo Campers has a range of RVs for hire, including the 4-berth Discoverer 4 from Dh600 per day.
COMPANY PROFILE
Name: HyperSpace
Started: 2020
Founders: Alexander Heller, Rama Allen and Desi Gonzalez
Based: Dubai, UAE
Sector: Entertainment
Number of staff: 210
Investment raised: $75 million from investors including Galaxy Interactive, Riyadh Season, Sega Ventures and Apis Venture Partners
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In the Restaurant: Society in Four Courses
Christoph Ribbat
Translated by Jamie Searle Romanelli
Pushkin Press
Results
5.30pm Maiden (TB) Dh82,500 (Turf) 1,400m
Winner Spirit Of Light, Clement Lecoeuvre (jockey), Erwan Charpy (trainer)
6.05pm Maiden (TB) Dh82,500 (Dirt) 1,900m
Winner Bright Start, Pat Cosgrave, Saeed bin Suroor
6.40pm Handicap (TB) Dh92,500 (D) 2,000m
Winner Twelfthofneverland, Nathan Crosse, Satish Seemar
7.15pm Handicap (TB) Dh85,000 (T) 1,600m
Winner Imperial Empire, Tadhg O’Shea, Satish Seemar
7.50pm Handicap (TB) Dh92,500 (T) 2,000m
Winner Record Man, Tadhg O’Shea, Satish Seemar
8.25pm Handicap (TB) Dh92,500 (D) 1,600m
Winner Celtic Prince, Fabrice Veron, Rashed Bouresly
COMPANY%20PROFILE
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COMPANY PROFILE
Name: Almnssa
Started: August 2020
Founder: Areej Selmi
Based: Gaza
Sectors: Internet, e-commerce
Investments: Grants/private funding
Some of Darwish's last words
"They see their tomorrows slipping out of their reach. And though it seems to them that everything outside this reality is heaven, yet they do not want to go to that heaven. They stay, because they are afflicted with hope." - Mahmoud Darwish, to attendees of the Palestine Festival of Literature, 2008
His life in brief: Born in a village near Galilee, he lived in exile for most of his life and started writing poetry after high school. He was arrested several times by Israel for what were deemed to be inciteful poems. Most of his work focused on the love and yearning for his homeland, and he was regarded the Palestinian poet of resistance. Over the course of his life, he published more than 30 poetry collections and books of prose, with his work translated into more than 20 languages. Many of his poems were set to music by Arab composers, most significantly Marcel Khalife. Darwish died on August 9, 2008 after undergoing heart surgery in the United States. He was later buried in Ramallah where a shrine was erected in his honour.
The lowdown
Badla
Rating: 2.5/5
Produced by: Red Chillies, Azure Entertainment
Director: Sujoy Ghosh
Cast: Amitabh Bachchan, Taapsee Pannu, Amrita Singh, Tony Luke
The Florida Project
Director: Sean Baker
Starring: Bria Vinaite, Brooklynn Prince, Willem Dafoe
Four stars
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