AfricaIs aCountry

Dubai could do with a lot more of this

Africa Is a Country Podcast
African Five-a-Side Podcast

Dubai could do with a lot more of this

By
Dylan Valley

Dubai can actually be a city of gems that might surprise you. Like soul musician Hamdan Al-Abri, who is of Zanzibari descent.

A screenshot from "Falling" by Hamdan Al-Abri.

I’ve been in Dubai for the past month working on an documentary on the life of late South African political activist and Mandela confidante Fatima Meer (we filmed the documentary in South Africa but the production company is based in Dubai) and I have to say, this is one interesting place. Once you get away from the bling, the giant malls and the indoor ski slopes, Dubai can actually be a city of gems that might surprise you. One of those things would be the Dubai-based soul musician Hamdan Al-Abri, who is of Zanzibari descent.

Technically, despite being born and raised in the United Arab Emirates he is a Zanzibari citizen, due to Dubai’s archaic citizenship laws. His new video “Falling” contrasts the somewhat grittier side of Dubai life, the working class neighborhoods of Karama and Deira, with the ubiquitous Dubai Mall and Burj Khalifa, the tallest building in the world. The result is a soulful and reflective depiction of life in the UAE. All I can say is Dubai could do with a lot more of this.

Download Al-Abri’s free EP here.

Further Reading

No one should be surprised we exist

The documentary film, ‘Rolé—Histórias dos Rolezinhos’ by Afro-Brazilian filmmaker Vladimir Seixas uses sharp commentary to expose social, political, and cultural inequalities within Brazilian society.

Reading List: Barbara Boswell

While editing a collection of the writings of South African feminist Lauretta Ngcobo, Barbara Boswell found inspiration in texts that reflected Ngcobo’s sense that writing is an exercise of freedom.

Kenya’s stalemate

A fundamental contest between two orders is taking place in Kenya. Will its progressives seize the moment to catalyze a vision for social, economic, and political change?

An annual awakening

In the 1980s, the South African arts collective Vakalisa Art Associates reclaimed time as a tool of social control through their subversive calendars.

More than a building

The film ‘No Place But Here’ uses VR or 360 media to immerse a viewer inside a housing occupation in Cape Town. In the process, it wants to challenge gentrification and the capitalist logic of home ownership.