Mammoth dance-music festival Sensation returns, shifting to a new location, in the Dubai desert at Bab Al Shams.
While the 30,000-capacity party might be just another date on the performance calendar to most of the headliners, it is special to Aly & Fila, the Egyptian trance duo who have offered hope and inspiration to producers across the Middle East since breaking into the western-dominated musical mainstream.
“Aly and me are role models for a lot of people in the region,” says Fadi Wassef Naguib, or Fila, the 34-year-old co-founder who has toured the duo’s brand solo since bandmate Aly Amr Fathalah was ordered off the road seven years ago because of tinnitus.
“It wasn’t that easy for us to make a mark in the international scene. To leave your sound, have your following and be playing at the big festivals all over the world – it’s very hard. A lot of people look up to us.”
This will be your biggest show in the UAE – bigger even than Creamfields Abu Dhabi four years ago.
That was an amazing show. What I loved was the amount of people from all over the Arab world – Lebanese, Egyptians, Emiratis, even Syrians back then when people were able to travel easily – it was a big gathering of people from all over the region and a really good party. I really enjoyed it.
How did you discover dance music growing up in Egypt?
When dance was big in Europe in the 1990s, it was also big in Cairo. We had a huge scene, which not many people know about right now, because the new generation didn’t live at that time. I started clubbing at parties in Berlin and London. It started with house, then trance was really big – Paul van Dyk, Sasha – I just loved this sound, and this is the sound we continued to follow. We are just putting our own touch on it and marking a new version for 2016.
Electronic music returned with a vengeance a few years ago.
Let’s try to say something. Normal people who want to go to a party, you can’t judge their taste – they don’t care about music that much, they want to go, have a good time and leave. That’s the general audience you have, and that’s the problem with EDM – you don’t present any taste, it’s just bangers being played. You don’t try to say anything. It has no message, and no soul.
Tell us about your radio show, Future Sound of Egypt.
This year we reached 450 episodes. We’re being broadcast on more than 70 FM stations worldwide. It is very important to us, the most important thing in our brand – it shows you can really teach people, show them what’s happening. That’s what I loved about music all along: you go to a party and you don’t expect a DJ to play any track, you go to get inspired, to be surprised – now that doesn’t happen that much. You go to a festival and the DJ on the main stage is like a jukebox, and then another jukebox comes on.
You have a new album on the way next year – what will it sound like?
Like Aly & Fila, with some new inspiration, because every year we hear new stuff. This year, I went to a lot of techno parties, which I was so inspired by, so there will be a lot of influence from techno and deep house, but more melodic. That’s what we want to bring to the scene – more melody.
• Sensation Dubai is at Bab Al Shams Event Arena on Friday from 6pm. Tickets from Dh500. For more details, visit www.sensation.com
rgarratt@thenational.ae
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Director: Kangana Ranaut
Stars: Kangana Ranaut, Anupam Kher, Shreyas Talpade, Milind Soman, Mahima Chaudhry
Rating: 2/5
The Sand Castle
Director: Matty Brown
Stars: Nadine Labaki, Ziad Bakri, Zain Al Rafeea, Riman Al Rafeea
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Mercer, the investment consulting arm of US services company Marsh & McLennan, expects its wealth division to at least double its assets under management (AUM) in the Middle East as wealth in the region continues to grow despite economic headwinds, a company official said.
Mercer Wealth, which globally has $160 billion in AUM, plans to boost its AUM in the region to $2-$3bn in the next 2-3 years from the present $1bn, said Yasir AbuShaban, a Dubai-based principal with Mercer Wealth.
“Within the next two to three years, we are looking at reaching $2 to $3 billion as a conservative estimate and we do see an opportunity to do so,” said Mr AbuShaban.
Mercer does not directly make investments, but allocates clients’ money they have discretion to, to professional asset managers. They also provide advice to clients.
“We have buying power. We can negotiate on their (client’s) behalf with asset managers to provide them lower fees than they otherwise would have to get on their own,” he added.
Mercer Wealth’s clients include sovereign wealth funds, family offices, and insurance companies among others.
From its office in Dubai, Mercer also looks after Africa, India and Turkey, where they also see opportunity for growth.
Wealth creation in Middle East and Africa (MEA) grew 8.5 per cent to $8.1 trillion last year from $7.5tn in 2015, higher than last year’s global average of 6 per cent and the second-highest growth in a region after Asia-Pacific which grew 9.9 per cent, according to consultancy Boston Consulting Group (BCG). In the region, where wealth grew just 1.9 per cent in 2015 compared with 2014, a pickup in oil prices has helped in wealth generation.
BCG is forecasting MEA wealth will rise to $12tn by 2021, growing at an annual average of 8 per cent.
Drivers of wealth generation in the region will be split evenly between new wealth creation and growth of performance of existing assets, according to BCG.
Another general trend in the region is clients’ looking for a comprehensive approach to investing, according to Mr AbuShaban.
“Institutional investors or some of the families are seeing a slowdown in the available capital they have to invest and in that sense they are looking at optimizing the way they manage their portfolios and making sure they are not investing haphazardly and different parts of their investment are working together,” said Mr AbuShaban.
Some clients also have a higher appetite for risk, given the low interest-rate environment that does not provide enough yield for some institutional investors. These clients are keen to invest in illiquid assets, such as private equity and infrastructure.
“What we have seen is a desire for higher returns in what has been a low-return environment specifically in various fixed income or bonds,” he said.
“In this environment, we have seen a de facto increase in the risk that clients are taking in things like illiquid investments, private equity investments, infrastructure and private debt, those kind of investments were higher illiquidity results in incrementally higher returns.”
The Abu Dhabi Investment Authority, one of the largest sovereign wealth funds, said in its 2016 report that has gradually increased its exposure in direct private equity and private credit transactions, mainly in Asian markets and especially in China and India. The authority’s private equity department focused on structured equities owing to “their defensive characteristics.”
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.
Formula Middle East Calendar (Formula Regional and Formula 4)
Round 1: January 17-19, Yas Marina Circuit – Abu Dhabi
Round 2: January 22-23, Yas Marina Circuit – Abu Dhabi
Round 3: February 7-9, Dubai Autodrome – Dubai
Round 4: February 14-16, Yas Marina Circuit – Abu Dhabi
Round 5: February 25-27, Jeddah Corniche Circuit – Saudi Arabia
