Dubai: The regions pop culture highlights for the month of January 2019.
“Bathe You (Live)”
Gurumiran
Filmed live at The Juke studios in Kuwait, this video captures Lebanese singer-songwriter and guitar virtuoso Miran Gurunian (aka Gurumiran) at his energetic best. There’s a newfound power and confidence to his idiosyncratic vocals that — coupled with his sparse but striking guitar lines over synth arpeggios — make this twisted love song a repeater.
“Time, Money”
BLUFRANK + Lav
The stuttering video cobbled together from an old documentary about Egypt by Noha Amin goes brilliantly with the stuttering experimental art-pop of this Egyptian group led by Ragy Ahmed, whose vocals, here, are pushed through a speech synthesizer. The effect of this collaboration with Lav (Egyptian artist Hannah El-Manawhly) is unsettling and dreamlike. And intriguing.
“Carte Blanche”
Karkhana with Nadah El-Shazly
Side B of the latest album from Unrock’s “Saraswati” series features Egyptian vocalist El-Shazly collaborating with an improv-based Middle Eastern/Mediterranean ensemble of acclaimed musicians including Maurice Louca and Sam Shalabi. The astonishing and unique soundscape that results is, the label suggests, “Far Eastern post-industrial.”
