Rock out to alternative music at Meet d3 2016’s opening night on December 8, as Red Bull Music Academy brings you a treasure trove of regional talent.
What: Over 50 activations, installations and performances from across the worlds of art, design, fashion, music & food
When: December 8 to 10, 2016
Where: Dubai Design District
How much: Open to all & free admission
Headlined by Lebanese garage rockers The Wanton Bishops, the bill will include UAE-based singer-songwriter Hadi Sarieddine, Pakistani electronic musician-producer Noah’s Heark, Jordanian trio Za’ed Na’es, Lebanese indie-electronica artist Etyen, and Iraqi-Canadian MC Narcy.
Meet d3 is Dubai Design District’s annual three-day festival, which showcases creativity from across the GCC and wider region in many diverse forms.
The opening night will feature an exclusive set of performances curated by Red Bull Music Academy. RBMA is an annual event that brings world-renowned producers, composers and performers together with some of the world’s most talented up-and-coming young artists for lectures, workshops and collaborative recording sessions.
Alumni from the Academy include UK artist Katy B, LA soul singer Aloe Blacc, Lebanese indie veteran Zeid Hamdan, Egyptian electro artist Bosaina, and Bahraini producer Cosmo.
Each year, the Academy takes place in a different city.
Lebanese artist Etyen (Samer Etienne Chami) recently returned from this year’s Academy in Montreal, where he was one of only 70 participants selected from thousands of applicants from around the world.
Meeting musicians and producers who are really pushing the envelope and shaping the global soundscape. It was truly incredible and, honestly, words cannot express what it really felt like.
Etyen will bring his downtempo blend of indie, electronica and ambient sounds to the UAE, having just released his second record, Out of Love and Other Stories.
He is joined by another RBMA alumnus, Noah’s Heark (Ziyad Habib), from Pakistan, a similarly experimental electronic act drawing acclaim from underground music fans. Habib started making music in a band called Mole with Danial Hyatt. Their debut release, 2008’s We’re Always Home, saw the teenagers signed to Karachi indie label Mooshy Moo. His solo work, though, is less of a conventional sound:
Representing the UAE, Hadi Sarieddine is perhaps best known as the guitarist (and producer) of metal band Benevolent, but his work as a singer-songwriter is very different to the hard-hitting sound of his band, offering reflective lyrics and an intimate ambience with the melodic sensibilities of indie-pop.
Genre-hopping Jordanian electronic collective – and prolific collaborators – Za’ed Na’es have won critical acclaim for their sweeping soundscapes which sound like no one else in the region.
Narcy (Yassin Alsalman, aka The Narcicyst) is one of the most influential figures in Arab hip-hop. Since the early 2000s, he has consistently delivered smart, conscious rap that balances righteous fury with smart humour and informed opinion.
His most recent album, World War Free, united many of his work’s most prevalent themes and was accompanied by a limited-edition comic book of the same name.
The night’s headline act, Lebanese rockers The Wanton Bishops, are arguably the most successful English-language band from the Middle East. Since the release of their stunning debut album, 2012’s Sleep With The Lights On, they have enjoyed a meteoric rise, touring North America and Europe and receiving rave reviews for their high-energy live shows.
The Bishops recently dropped a new EP, Nowhere Everywhere, which showcased an expansive and exciting new sound, still heavily influenced by frontman Nader Mansour’s blues roots, but with subtle Oriental flourishes and electronic ambience that suggests they are forging their own unique sound with roots firmly in their homeland.
There are few more thrilling live acts in the region than The Wanton Bishops, and they will guarantee a fitting climax to the night’s stellar performances.
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