Ellie Goulding performs at the opening ceremony of Expo 2020 Dubai. Photo: Francois Nel / Getty
Ellie Goulding performs at the opening ceremony of Expo 2020 Dubai. Photo: Francois Nel / Getty
Ellie Goulding performs at the opening ceremony of Expo 2020 Dubai. Photo: Francois Nel / Getty
Ellie Goulding performs at the opening ceremony of Expo 2020 Dubai. Photo: Francois Nel / Getty

‘Greetings from Dubai’: international music stars shine in Expo 2020 opening ceremony


Saeed Saeed
  • English
  • Arabic

It began in rhythm and ended with soul: Expo 2020 Dubai’s opening ceremony featured an array of sounds, underscoring the international flavour of the event.

From the rumbling percussion of the traditional Emirati Ayala dance starting the proceedings, to the moving closing number by Italian tenor Andrea Bocelli, artists spanning generations and genres banded together to amplify the Expo’s message of unity, optimism and perseverance.

The ceremony’s performances offered something for everyone, in addition to a few surprises.

For Arab pop listeners, the event could mark the first time Emirati star Ahlam AlShamsi has sung in English.

And fans of Ellie Goulding will be thrilled to see a rare showing by the UK star, with Expo 2020 Dubai only her second public performance in more than a year.

Italian singer Andrea Bocelli performs during the Expo 2020 Dubai opening ceremony. Photo: Mahmoud Khaled / Expo 2020 Dubai
Italian singer Andrea Bocelli performs during the Expo 2020 Dubai opening ceremony. Photo: Mahmoud Khaled / Expo 2020 Dubai

Bocelli once again demonstrated that he knew how to seize the moment.

No stranger to the event, having performed the official theme song La forza del sorriso (The Strength of a Smile) for the Milan Expo in 2015, the opera superstar took to the stage for a stirring rendition of 1999 Grammy Award-winning hit The Prayer.

Follow the latest updates on Expo 2020 Dubai here

The track’s final Italian lyrics, a plea for grace in difficult times, served as heart-warming coda for the ceremony, which by its safe and successful staging personifies the message of resilience the Expo is sending to the world amid the pandemic.

Here are four other key musical moments from the Expo 2020 Dubai opening ceremony.

1. Dubai has a new pop anthem

Who better to celebrate the Expo’s host city than one of its most loved residents?

In many ways, Emirati pop star Ahlam's music echoes Dubai’s DNA, with its keen eye for the future and respect for the past.

For the opening ceremony, the singer debuted Fi Dubai (In Dubai), a vibrant ode to the emirate.

Backed by the all-women Firdaus Orchestra, under the baton of Lebanese composer Yasmina Sabbah, the track is a sweeping and orchestral work which has Ahlam moving from Arabic to English lyrics.

The heart of the song lies in the Arabic section, in which Ahlam declares: “Greetings from Dubai, from here the future is better. Hand in hand, let’s begin a road towards a very beautiful world.”

That optimism is channeled in the English section of the song, where she sings: "We are blessed and we stand united. Rise as one and one with love.”

Considering the sentiments, it won’t be hard to imagine Fi Dubai featuring regularly throughout the Expo and major events in the emirate.

2. The view is better from the stage

From left, Emirati singers Almas and Hussain Al Jassmi with Lebanese artist Mayssa Karaa perform during the opening ceremony of the Dubai Expo 2020. Photo: Giuseppe Cacace / AFP
From left, Emirati singers Almas and Hussain Al Jassmi with Lebanese artist Mayssa Karaa perform during the opening ceremony of the Dubai Expo 2020. Photo: Giuseppe Cacace / AFP

While the live broadcast did a fine job of capturing the startling expanse of Al Wasl Plaza, the Expo site’s centrepiece, it felt more magical peering at it from the stage, one of the ceremony’s performers said.

Speaking to The National minutes after the closing ceremony, Lebanese singer and Berklee Abu Dhabi creative director Mayssa Karaa described the atmosphere in the venue as memorable.

“It was an amazing feeling to be up on stage and being able to perform among world-class talent," Karaa said.

"Not only was this an exceptional experience but this was truly a once-in-a-life time opportunity of being able to be part of the Expo 2020 story.

“A big thank you to the audience for also being part of this experience.”

Karaa performed the Expo’s theme song, This is Our Time, alongside pop star Hussain Al Jassmi and fellow Emirati soul singer Almas.

It is not a surprise the inspirational number went down a treat on Thursday night.

The track’s was written by Greg Wells, the Canadian composer behind Right Where I Am Supposed To Be, the official song of the 2019 Special Olympics World Games Abu Dhabi.

3. The poetry of Sheikh Zayed

Emirati singer Hussain Al Jassmi sang the 2018 patriotic track 'Hay Bel Shahama', based on the poetry of the UAE's Founding Father, Sheikh Zayed.
Emirati singer Hussain Al Jassmi sang the 2018 patriotic track 'Hay Bel Shahama', based on the poetry of the UAE's Founding Father, Sheikh Zayed.

The evocative lyricism of the UAE’s Founding Father was front and centre in the ceremony.

It served as inspiration for the event’s opening song, performed by Al Jassmi and based on the poetry of Sheikh Zayed.

The stirring piece is a staple of UAE National Day celebrations, with lyrics detailing the strength and pride of the Emirati character.

Actor Habib Ghuloom, a stalwart of Emirati theatre and television industry, also performed a passage of poetry by Sheikh Zayed.

4. Songs of resilience

US soul singer Andra Day performs 'Rise Up' amid colourful choreography at Expo 2020 Dubai. Photo: Ryan Carter / Ministry of Presidential Affairs
US soul singer Andra Day performs 'Rise Up' amid colourful choreography at Expo 2020 Dubai. Photo: Ryan Carter / Ministry of Presidential Affairs

From the Khaleeji pop sung by Saudi Arabian crooner Mohamed Abdo and ethereal playing of Chinese pianist Lang Lang, to the throbbing electro-pop Anything Can Happen by Goulding, linking all of these disparate sounds together is the common lyrical thread of resilience.

This was lovingly summarised US soul singer Andra Day.

Written in 2015 after personal struggles, Rise Up served as a rallying call to all us to preserve: "We’re going to walk it out and move mountains."

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ESSENTIALS

The flights

Emirates flies from Dubai to Phnom Penh via Yangon from Dh2,700 return including taxes. Cambodia Bayon Airlines and Cambodia Angkor Air offer return flights from Phnom Penh to Siem Reap from Dh250 return including taxes. The flight takes about 45 minutes.

The hotels

Rooms at the Raffles Le Royal in Phnom Penh cost from $225 (Dh826) per night including taxes. Rooms at the Grand Hotel d'Angkor cost from $261 (Dh960) per night including taxes.

The tours

A cyclo architecture tour of Phnom Penh costs from $20 (Dh75) per person for about three hours, with Khmer Architecture Tours. Tailor-made tours of all of Cambodia, or sites like Angkor alone, can be arranged by About Asia Travel. Emirates Holidays also offers packages. 

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Torque: 1075Nm
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Based: Manama, Bahrain

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Stage: 1 ($100,000)

Investors: Two first-round investors including, 500 Startups, Fawaz Al Gosaibi Holding (Saudi Arabia)

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Revolutionary tax: Investigators say about $2 million a year raised from ‘tax collection’ around Marseille

Extortion: Gunman convicted in 2023 of demanding $10,000 from Kurdish businessman in Stockholm

Drug trade: PKK income claimed by Turkish anti-drugs force in 2024 to be as high as $500 million a year

Denmark: PKK one of two terrorist groups along with Iranian separatists ASMLA to raise “two-digit million amounts”

Contributions: Hundreds of euros expected from typical Kurdish families and thousands from business owners

TV channel: Kurdish Roj TV accounts frozen and went bankrupt after Denmark fined it more than $1 million over PKK links in 2013 

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The burning issue

The internal combustion engine is facing a watershed moment – major manufacturer Volvo is to stop producing petroleum-powered vehicles by 2021 and countries in Europe, including the UK, have vowed to ban their sale before 2040. The National takes a look at the story of one of the most successful technologies of the last 100 years and how it has impacted life in the UAE. 

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Read part three: the age of the electric vehicle begins

Read part two: how climate change drove the race for an alternative 

THREE
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Jeff Buckley: From Hallelujah To The Last Goodbye
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Some of Darwish's last words

"They see their tomorrows slipping out of their reach. And though it seems to them that everything outside this reality is heaven, yet they do not want to go to that heaven. They stay, because they are afflicted with hope." - Mahmoud Darwish, to attendees of the Palestine Festival of Literature, 2008

His life in brief: Born in a village near Galilee, he lived in exile for most of his life and started writing poetry after high school. He was arrested several times by Israel for what were deemed to be inciteful poems. Most of his work focused on the love and yearning for his homeland, and he was regarded the Palestinian poet of resistance. Over the course of his life, he published more than 30 poetry collections and books of prose, with his work translated into more than 20 languages. Many of his poems were set to music by Arab composers, most significantly Marcel Khalife. Darwish died on August 9, 2008 after undergoing heart surgery in the United States. He was later buried in Ramallah where a shrine was erected in his honour.

Salah in numbers

€39 million: Liverpool agreed a fee, including add-ons, in the region of 39m (nearly Dh176m) to sign Salah from Roma last year. The exchange rate at the time meant that cost the Reds £34.3m - a bargain given his performances since.

13: The 25-year-old player was not a complete stranger to the Premier League when he arrived at Liverpool this summer. However, during his previous stint at Chelsea, he made just 13 Premier League appearances, seven of which were off the bench, and scored only twice.

57: It was in the 57th minute of his Liverpool bow when Salah opened his account for the Reds in the 3-3 draw with Watford back in August. The Egyptian prodded the ball over the line from close range after latching onto Roberto Firmino's attempted lob.

7: Salah's best scoring streak of the season occurred between an FA Cup tie against West Brom on January 27 and a Premier League win over Newcastle on March 3. He scored for seven games running in all competitions and struck twice against Tottenham.

3: This season Salah became the first player in Premier League history to win the player of the month award three times during a term. He was voted as the division's best player in November, February and March.

40: Salah joined Roger Hunt and Ian Rush as the only players in Liverpool's history to have scored 40 times in a single season when he headed home against Bournemouth at Anfield earlier this month.

30: The goal against Bournemouth ensured the Egyptian achieved another milestone in becoming the first African player to score 30 times across one Premier League campaign.

8: As well as his fine form in England, Salah has also scored eight times in the tournament phase of this season's Champions League. Only Real Madrid's Cristiano Ronaldo, with 15 to his credit, has found the net more often in the group stages and knockout rounds of Europe's premier club competition.

Recipe: Spirulina Coconut Brothie

Ingredients
1 tbsp Spirulina powder
1 banana
1 cup unsweetened coconut milk (full fat preferable)
1 tbsp fresh turmeric or turmeric powder
½ cup fresh spinach leaves
½ cup vegan broth
2 crushed ice cubes (optional)

Method
Blend all the ingredients together on high in a high-speed blender until smooth and creamy. 

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Price, base: Dh183,900 / Dh249,000
Engine: 2.0L, turbocharged in-line four-cylinder /  3.0L, turbocharged V6
Gearbox: Seven-speed automatic / Eight-speed automatic
Power: 252hp @ 5,000rpm / 354hp @ 5,400rpm
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Updated: September 30, 2021, 9:23 PM`