Rooftop Rhythms Dubai

Part of the revamp of the Boutique 7 Hotel near where I live was a new urban music and dance basement lounge they named "ego". I wanted to check it out at some point, and having previously attended a Rooftop Rhythms spoken word event in Abu Dhabi, I made their third Dubai installment (bottom) the occasion to visit the venue. The place has a cool look and the music during the post-event regular Friday night program was quite good, so I stayed afterwards a bit longer than I had originally planned (top right).

The event itself was very entertaining, including performances by spoken word artists both established in and new to the art. Two of the highlights of the evening were performances by hip hop artist Marcel Lteif (top left) and Dana Dajani (top right). Other notable performances were the first by a Filipino artist at RR, as well as a musical intermission by a talented flautist (bottom left). It also happened to be birthday of RR's founder and emcee, Dorian Paul Rogers, so the evening featured a cake moment (bottom right).

From Page to Stage poetry workshop performance

(clockwise from top left) Zeina Hashem Beck; Frank Dullaghan; Marie Dullaghan; Rosine Saad; Lara Bogdanovic

Dubai-based poet and PUNCH founder, Zeina Hashem Beck, concluded her poetry workshop at The Courtyard Playhouse with a showcase performance at the venue. The small but enthusiastic class started with a group performance of Thomas Lux's Render Render and their own responses to it, followed by individual recitals ranging from witty observational to somber emotional. Another Dubai-based poet, Frank Dullaghan, headlined the event with readings of his own works, and Beck's love poem closed the event on a saccharine note.

Punch poetry open mic at BookMunch

Zeina Hashem Beck

Punch, the newest group to appear on the country's burgeoning spoken word scene, returned to BookMunch for a second open mic on Thursday. BookMunch had already served as a venue for a few poetry reading events since many months ago; it was much more densely packed this time than at the last poetry event I attended there, especially for a Thursday night.

Some of my favorite performances:

(L-R)  Hiba Rasheed; Danabelle Gutierrez; George Mitton

Organizer and emcee Zeina Hashem Beck introduced the event, and got the proceedings underway with recitations by a few established poets (including herself, and her lovely poem "Dance"), before handing the mic to the sign-ups - a mosaic of poets drawn from diverse nationalities, each performing their just-as-diverse pieces in under three minutes.

A lyrical PechaKucha Night Sharjah IV

Maraya Art Centre (pretty much the only reason I ever make the trip to Sharjah) hosted the 4th edition of the growing Sharjah PechaKucha this weekend.

The themes for presentations at the event ranged from inspirational to entrepreneurial to social, with speakers including hearing-disabled Emirati graphic designer Mariam Wissam, e-grocery app developer Ghadir El Ghafri, and crowd-sourced tourism promotion campaigner Yorgos Kleivokiotis.

There were also some rather entertaining, if strange, presentations by amateur comedians, including an awkward (self-referential, I'm guessing) presentation about awkwardness by Mohammed J Al Serkal, and a serious-sounding presentation about esoteric popcorn conspiracies by Rami Salame.

Farah Chamma and MC Yazen, local young stalwarts of spoken word currently promoting their upcoming North African crowd-funded tour, were also presenting that evening, and closed the event with a live performance of poetry and rap.

Verse, vibe and Will at Rooftop Rhythms #17

A strange confluence of non-events permitted me a Friday evening free enough to drive down to Abu Dhabi and join the wordsmiths of the city's Rooftop Rhythms at their 17th open mic, at the Hilton Capital Grand.

Dorian

The organizer/emcee, Dorian, kept the energy up with charm and (sometimes deliberately groansome) humor, and the DJ set the mood with some wonderfully bouncy tunes. The weather was pleasant enough for the outdoor poolside section of the rooftop bar venue to be opened up -- a good thing too, because a LOT of people turned up. A projector above the stage played a (slightly distracting when performances were in progress) slideshow of images from what I presume were past open mics.

Will McInerney

We listened to several spoken word pieces about family, technology, love, and such; many of these were very relatable and clever. A couple of my favorites were the ones about sibling relationships and the one about GPS (in the case of the latter, until it started getting preachy well beyond the ceremonial deism threshold). In addition to the spoken, some sung and others rapped, adding further diversity to the talent buffet. Visiting American spoken word celebrity Will McInerney was also at the event, and delighted us with a few intense performances.

Floetics spoken and sung at PizzaExpress JLT

Dana Dajani and Layla K

Dana Dajani's spoken word and Layla K's sung lyrics mingled under blue and red light, the Floetics duo's show ringing in venue PizzaExpress JLT's first weekend as a licensed establishment. With Jeremiah & The Lucky Strikes providing accompaniment, they combined poetic stanzas with refrains from pop hits like Wicked Game and Valerie in a pleasantly unique performance, and in what I believe is their first gig as headliners since they began performing a little over a year ago.

Pizza Calabrese

PizzaExpress JLT is a fairly easy place to get to. I was happy to return after good gastronomic and musical experiences during my first visit, which was on International Jazz Day this year, and which featured a casual string of jam sessions. We tried the Calabrese pizza this time, and enjoyed its delightful piquancy, fresh cheese and delicious sausage.

Floetics ended their show with their playful original "Arabian Boy", which makes for a great showcase of their respective skills. Video of it embedded here (not my own):