Dale Nichols piano concert at The Fridge

As a piano music fan, I could not miss The Fridge's latest Fridge Concert Series concert, starring pianist and composer Dale Nichols. For about an hour, Nichols played several compositions on The Fridge's stage, including "Adrift" and "Vagabond's Revenge", and most memorably, "Dreams from a Kitchen Window" and "The Sea".

His music is not typical piano concert fare; it has been described as "cinematic", and does seem to lend itself well to inclusion in soundtracks. Which is to say that it is a very mood-evoking music, incorporating themes of nature and the weather, as Nichols mentioned during his introductions. His composition also eschews repetitive motifs, and his music is distinctively dynamic, changing direction subtly ever so often.

His EP, In Full Color, includes four lovely tracks, including the haunting "October", and the calming, melodic "Blossom", with its background of nature sounds.

Raw Theatre presents Billy Bishop Goes to War

Relatively new-in-town theatre group, Raw, staged the musical "one man play", Billy Bishop Goes to War, this weekend at The Fridge. I absolutely loved it: great acting, great production, and great music.

The two acts of the play add up to about one and a half hours, during which seasoned British stage actor, James Gaddas, plays a Canadian air force veteran, the titular Billy Bishop, who narrates the story of how he came to be a star fighter pilot in World War I. This story is spellbinding, with many moments of poignancy and hilarity, told with poetic lucidity and detail. It was a time when air combat was still very new, so it's also a nice little historical trip into the golden age of this dimension of warfare.

Gaddas as Billy Bishop did a convincing Canadian accent, and jumped in and out of several roles -- across ages and genders, including voice and mannerisms -- without missing a beat. The pianist supporting him also did a great job supplying timely background music and sound effects, as well as singing in support. The music was very era-appropriate, and Gaddas' singing (including while playing other roles) was excellent. The minimal set and warm lighting were perfect too.

The Craig Perry Band rocks up The Fridge

Thanks to The Fridge, I finally got to hear the music of singer-songwriter Craig Perry, in the last concert of this season of the Fridge Concert Series.

I'd been hearing quite a bit of praise for his music, and I think it's entirely deserved. The band made music like nothing I've heard from a local group: a rock sound reminiscent of earlier decades, augmented with excellent inter-guitar and percussion composition (great drummer too), and some creative pacing and chords. While it's not my most preferred genre, it's clearly very good music.

Looming large in Dubai theatre

Visiting Loom Ensemble members Sasha Bogdanowitsch and Michael Bauer joined their now Dubai-based fellow members Raphael Sacks and Neva Cockrell at thejamjar, staging their experimental play Say I Am You for the first time here. While the Dubai-based members have been running workshops and short public performances at the same venue for some time now, this marks their debut feature play in the UAE, and is a testament to the potential of online collaboration in theatre production.

We have had plays in the genre in Dubai and Abu Dhabi, including ones featuring dance, but the ensemble brought in something fresh with laudable integration of excellent synchronized singing, and live music performance by actors who often made use of unconventional instruments like panpipes.

Multiple stories taking place in different times and places took turns onstage as they interwove on approach to a shared conclusion. Some of the cast play roles in different stories, so there had to be a lot of quick costume changes. I think the play's greatest strength is the colorful and well-written characters, along with some memorable bits of dialogue for those paying close attention. Michael's performance was especially commendable. I also liked the light use of props (which included visual projection, symbolic objects and found objects), and the use of lighting. A new semi-stepped seating arrangement greatly helped with the visibility of lower parts of stage space. After the show, the Q&A session with the cast and director answered many of our burning questions.

A couple of days later, performing as the Loom Vocal Trio at The Fridge's Fridge Concert Series, Sasha and Raphael sang together with Kate Hamilton, who also directed Say I Am You, and is herself a rather talented singer. Much of the music that night was composed by Sasha too, with cryptic and elemental lyrics sung in forms somewhere between monastic chanting and communal tribal song. Some of the instruments from the play were used in this concert, including a jaw harp in a mesmerizing solo by Sasha.

Visual cello at The Courtyard Playhouse, and Al Quoz Street Night Art

The Courtyard Playhouse hosted its first musical act with a two-night free showcase performance by cellist Isis M, featuring guitarists Alex Pascoe and Adam Hoult. I went to the second show, which also happened to be during the Street Night Art event.

 The concert began with a demonstration of Alex's impressive vocals and songwriting, backed by Adam, and supported by Isis on the cello.

The stage was then left to Isis, as she played several of her own compositions to a backdrop of vintage videos of the sea, as well as a few videos produced by local artists. Although there were quite a few technical hiccups and other lapses, it was a good performance overall, and an interesting concept.

Outside and down the road, about half of street 4B had been taken over by a new street festival organized by ALL Quoz twixt the warehouses.

The artification was, however, to be thoroughly temporary; no warehouse walls were made available for graffiti. Instead, long boards were set up on stands for artists to work on.

Music and/or dance was constantly on somewhere or the other, with performers taking turns with a variety of genres across three stages.

Many activities were available for visitor participation, including bus painting, a street painting studio, a conversation chair, and others. Numerous artists also lined the street with their work, available for bidding or purchase.

Improv musician Michael Rexen at The Fridge Fringe

Although The Fridge pulled together this Michael Rexen concert at somewhat short notice, the early January lull ensured that my evening was open (after some reorganizing). Rexen has actually performed at The Fridge before, but this concert was a solo this time. He layered together a series of ethereal and anti-formulaic improvised compositions, using mostly a loop pedal and a Yamaha GL1 with whatever he picked up on an analog radio, along with his rather pleasant and versatile singing voice. Appearing with a casual thobe and a beanie, he also occasionally expounded on his philosophy of music. And notably, he composes his music using drawings instead of written notes.

Galleries night and The Fridge season launch at Al Serkal Avenue

Dubai wiped summer sweat off its brow and unpacked its suitcases on September 9th, as the Al Quoz art scene kicked off the Fall season with a galleries' night at Al Serkal Avenue.

Nation Estate still

I particularly liked Larissa Sansour's Nation Estate at Lawrie Shabibi; it was a very interesting juxtaposition of a futuristic utopia with Palestinian cultural icons.

Gallery Isabelle Van Den Eynde's exhibition of Aisha Khalid's works was highlighted by this one piece, entitled Yourself of Yourself.

Hatty Pedder returned to Mojo Gallery, this time with images of Beirut. I loved the ones with the brightly-colored pane backdrops, and her drawing is a huge plus.

At Grey Noise, the theme of the fascinating joint exhibition Intangible experiences, arrangements and manoeuvres by Charbel-Joseph H. Boutros and Stephanie Saade was the de- and re-contextualization of objects. Quite philosophical.

The Green Art Gallery was displaying the photography of Jung Lee, each piece a different word or phrase written in neon and set in natural scenery. Although they resemble hipstagrams at first glance, the quality of the photography and the choice of backdrops and colors make them stand out artistically.

Fusion violinist Elena Thedvall and vocalist Melisa Le Rue at The Fridge

Serkal resident The Fridge also launched its music season with a singer-songwriter session, followed by some of their artists and groups performing across a range of genres. These included a great demonstration of string talent by Fusion violinist Elena Thedvall, and a clappy-happy show by singer Melisa Le Rue with the choir group Dubai Vocal Ensemble.

Point of View rock concert feat. Bumblefoot at The Fridge

Although some folks pulled chairs from themselves out of the stacks at the back of The Fridge, there was still a majority standing audience when Point of View did their hard rock gig for the penultimate Fridge Concert Series concert. After performing a couple of songs, and jamming with members of Nikotin and Behold the Locus for a couple more, they were joined by the reason for the Guns N' Roses T-shirts seen on some audience members: Ron "Bumblefoot" Thal.

Fresh from their collaborative India tour (by hours, in fact, with Murphy's Law ensuring some of their instruments getting lost en route), POV and Bumblefoot performed together for the rest of the night. Apart from POV originals I'd heard before, and some classic covers, including "Sweet Child of Mine" (powered by Bumblefoot's singing), we also got to hear Revolutionize the Revolutionary's 11th track "Chainsaw" live, which I really liked for its fast tempo and guitar support.

Philippe El Hage piano concert at The Fridge with the Afifs

The latest show in The Fridge's current Concert Series season featured Lebanese pianist and composer Philippe El Hage, supported by Dubai resident jazz musicians, the Afif brothers Elie and Rony.

It took some mental adjusting for me in the first couple of pieces, as the event was categorized as "Jazz" in publicity, and I therefore came primed for the kind of jazz to which I am used. But I detected hints of what I know to be jazz in only a few of the pieces he played, such as "Byblos", "Memories" and "Song For You". There was also a bit of Middle Eastern influence in some of them, such as in the solo "Hymn Variations" and in "Memories".

However, the overarching sound was one of contemporary piano-centered instrumental composition, rather like Yanni. Not that there was anything wrong with that; El Hage's compositions were beautifully vivid and uplifting to hear. He also plays with a visible passion, almost dancing and sometimes even getting up when his feet are not on the pedals. "Memories", "Song For You", "Sunday Afternoon" and "Where We Used to Hide" were especially good, I thought. Despite what seemed an odd combination, Elie Afif and Rony Afif did a commendable job in providing accompaniment.

El Hage also took the opportunity to premiere a piece called "Diane in White", dedicated to his new bride. He finished his program with a dramatic final piece, in which he put one of his hands "under the hood" and manually damped and strummed the piano strings.

Nadine Artuhanava and Viktoriya Zaharieva concert at The Fridge Concert Series

Artuhanava and Zaharieva

The Fridge's 13th Concert Series performance last week was a classic duo of strings and keys, with violinist Nadine Artuhanava (who, by the way, played a short set during BOLDTalks Woman 2013) and pianist Viktoriya Zaharieva (who has a musicology PhD) pairing up for this classical concert. After Bach's baroque violin and Chopin's piano ballade solos by the respective instrumentalists, they demonstrated practiced dexterity and good coordination as a duo with a few more pieces, including a Grieg sonata and a rapid succession of Bartok-composed Romanian folk dances, ending the evening on Brahms' Hungarian Dance No. 5 as an encore.

Stoyanov, Artuhanava and Zaharieva

One of the pieces they played - and a highlight of the evening - was the local debut of a decade-old competition-winning composition by locally-based composer and prolific pianist Stoyan Stoyanov. With its dynamic shifts and striking progressions, I think it would make a great score for a good dramatic film or such.

Oud concert by Nina for the children of Peru

With the tourism logo of Peru in the backdrop, Lebanese musician Nina skilfully strummed her oud on Saturday in a special concert at The Fridge, raising funds for education of children in Peru. There were a lot of sponsored bites (including a wheel of really good cheese) on which to nibble until the concert started. After the concert, the organizers held a raffle on some donated and sponsored prizes too.

 

Nina, backed by Shady Asfour, sang and played an enjoyable, foot-tapping series of Arabic songs, including some popular classics; a dance party erupted at the back of the venue, and many clapped to the beat.

Video from the concert: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hDo78omNVlQ

Melisa Le Rue and Dubai Vocal Ensemble at The Fridge

The 13th season of The Fridge Concert Series launched with Melisa Le Rue as the vanguard performer.

Le Rue has been an Ember regular for a while, and I have occasionally dropped by to catch a live performance. I was hoping to hear some more jazz-oriented songs, but, alas, that was not to be. Even so, there were a lot of good songs to hear at the concert, all of which had lyrics composed by Le Rue herself. She sang hip-hop through the cool opening number "Easy". "Lover", about open relationships, had a pleasant soul . "Different Kind of Day", which I think is to be released in the near future, was a great easy listening number. My favorite was the nice funk sound of "Here We Are".

Stoyan Stoyanov, Rami Lakkis and four other musicians provided accompaniment, and a number of the songs were sung to music composed by Stoyanov.

Her last two songs, "Lost Soul" and "Unite" were backed by "Choir of the Year 2013" winners Dubai Vocal Ensemble, who also beautifully rendered Micheal Jackson's "Man in the Mirror" in choir style.

Are You There? by STAR TOO at The Fridge

I caught the late matinee of STAR TOO's most recent play last Saturday, at The Fridge. As with all of the Dubai experimental theater troupe's productions, the play was titled with a question, the sixth and current one being "Are You There?".

Before the play started, bookkeeper Tareq Ghosheh talked introduced the concept and individually-scripted/collectively-directed methodology of STAR TOO. This play was inspired by Jules Verne's  dystopian 1863 novel Paris in the Twentieth Century, which itself only got published in the late 20th century, and is considered to be a visionary piece of writing.

The play got off to a great start by taking a page from the novel and introducing the character Michel, played by Jamal Iqbal, in the first scene. Michel is ridiculed for studying the arts in a society that has been completely taken over by technology and commerce to the point where they are the only fields of work that are considered to have any  value. The story was told using minimal and/or symbolic props and costumes, as is the style of experimental theater. The audience also got to vote between an idealistic and realistic ending.

One of the scenes was a cryptic masked dance led by Shereen Saif, and another was a sort of build-a-machine act around a stuffed corpse doll, both of which were good.

The sequence where the actors here interacted over video comm with actors in Paris was, unfortunately, difficult to follow, due to the choppy quality of the connection, and the audio in general was not too great. Part of the "enslaved to technology" theme, perhaps?

The truth officer candidate's sequence was fairly interesting to watch, with its theme of extreme technological essentialism. Sarah Dufayard was good in this one, and I think Drazen Lucic made a sincere effort. Alexandra Vareno's rantologue near the end was also nice.

Juliana Down Garage Tour Kickoff at The Fridge

Juliana Down, one of the region's biggest rock bands, kicked off their garage tour this Saturday night with a performance at The Fridge.

The opening act, The Younglings had an energetic indie rock sequence to warm things up, including a few originals. I did not see them on publicity, but the Force was definitely with them.

After a half-hour break, Juliana Down went onstage. By that time, at least 3 camera crews were in place. Guitarist and vocalist Dia Hassan's belted out JD hits in his well-trained voice. Lead guitarist Sari Ramadan (also a founding member) and bassist Andrew Gibson (who joined a couple of years ago) supported with stirring rock strings, and the new drummer Jeremiah John (who also plays the cajon, incidentally) thundered in the percussion.

This is the first show of a tour that will apparently be similar to what The Foo Fighters did a couple of years ago: organizing concerts on fans' driveways and lawns. Hence, a garage tour. I believe this is a first in these parts, so it will be interesting to see how this plays out.

Sponsors Ray Ban, who supported the gig as part of their Envision Series, chucked a bunch of balloons into the air for the crowd bounce about.

If you missed them this time, you can still check them out at their Fridge Concert Series gig next month. Until then, there's the alt rock festival this Friday at The Music Room.

Fridge Score: Katya Apekisheva

This week, I had the pleasure of attending a Katya Apekisheva piano concert. The penultimate show in The Fridge's debut classical music series The Score, it was a breathtaking demonstration of long-honed skill with my favorite musical instrument. We were treated to a few well-known compositions in the first half, a second half consisting of Mussorgsky's Pictures in an Exhibition, and a Grieg encore. The acoustics of the Madinat Theatre were also most conducive to the better appreciation of the performance.