On the Use of English in Arab(ic) Music

Ahdaf Soueif once said that “the use of English by Arab authors is expanding at a faster rate than the use of French." I haven't seen any empirical evidence for this, but it seems likely -- or if not exactly faster than French, than at least at an equal rate. Watching 47soul’s recent release “Raf Etair” …

From Mathaf to Madrid

The exhibition Looking at the World Around You: Contemporary Works from Qatar Museums is being held from 9 February to 19 June 2016 at the Santander Art Gallery in Boadilla del Monte, Madrid, the "first major loan exhibition in Europe of works from Mathaf, the Arab Museum of Contemporary Art in Doha."   This selection, more …

Art in the “New York” of the Arab World

Chilean photographer Jaime Puebla, speaking about his project "TV" which includes photographs of "futuristic" UAE studios, describes “The UAE, and Dubai especially" as "like the New York of the Arab world, where most young Arabs dream of going to make it.” I've heard this kind of description before, and though I think it's exaggerated, it is certainly true …

Arab Film Festival Australia

The Australian Arab Film Festival kicked off a few days ago and goes on to the 30th of August. The festival runs in Sydney until 16th August, Melbourne from 21st -23rd August and Canberra from 28th -30th August. The full program is here. Among the films on show are:   In a small Lebanese coastal village …

UAE’s Writer Exchange Program

The Gulf Today writes about "the first partnership under the Writer Exchange category of MBRF’s Dubai International Program for Writing." Under the Writer Exchange category, MBRF will tie up with literary and knowledge entities worldwide to enable writers from the UAE and other countries to gain deeper understanding about each other’s cultures and express their …

Documenting Arab Performance Art

The Delfina Foundation in London has  launched an initiative to document the history of performance art from the Arab world.The foundation has launched a Kickstarter campaign in order to raise funds for the project (Staging History: performance art in the Arab world). The project will only be funded if at least £15,000 is pledged by …

On Emirati Literature: What is Political?

Anna Zacharias writes in The National about the shift in Emirati literature, from subjects such as "political Islam, pan-Arabism and colonialism" to "modern stories of wedding hall romances and shopping mall dramas."The title of the article is somewhat misleading however, since Zacharias goes on to note:Nationalism is still discussed, often framed in terms of development and …