"They're volatile, punky and genuine," says the London-based photographer Jill Furmanovsky when she thinks back to the three-year period she spent with Oasis documenting their turbulent rise to fame. Through her viewfinder, she was watching Liam Gallagher watching his brother, Noel, onstage singing Don't Look Back in Anger in San Francisco in 1997. "I originally focused on Liam, but then this figure appeared to one side so I switched focus. It happened to be Bono, who was always a very big supporter of Oasis, especially when they were starting out."
The resulting picture of a blurred Liam, the naughty little brother hamming it up, while the unshaven U2 frontman appears in sharp focus looking like a protective heavy in a hoodie, is one of the most striking images in the Rockarchive exhibition currently showing at Gallery One in Dubai.
Despite Oasis's reputation for being difficult and even violent at times, Furmanovsky's memories of photographing the band from 1994 until 1997 are very different. "I have live pics, and on the road and studio shots - they were a dream to work with," she says. "Live, they're not the most exciting band, but behind the scenes, the tremendous tension between the brothers was wonderful to shoot."
"It's about being in the presence of greatness," says Furmanovsky of her 38-year love affair with photographing musicians. The Rockarchive exhibition is showcasing not only the great artists that Furmanovsky has chronicled but also the work of 25 other rock photographers who have captured live concert images, candid backstage moments and legendary studio shots that have ended up on album covers, in the pages of music magazines and on bedroom walls around the world.
The exhibition's works date back to early pictures of the Beatles in the 1960s through to current heavy hitters such as Coldplay and Radiohead.
Furmanovsky had her first close encounter with a rock musician at her father's office in the 1970s.
"There was a strange man in loud shirts and ties, he was a bit gloomy and he worked in the architects' office where my father worked, and played in a rock band. His name was Roger Waters," says Furmanovsky of her early encounters with the Pink Floyd singer and bass player. After a two-week course in photography, Furmanovsky got her first break when the Rainbow Theatre in north London hired her to be the venue's official photographer. Pink Floyd was one of the first bands she saw and photographed during a performance. "I didn't actually get paid, but the experience was amazing," she says. "It was a great opportunity and I leapt at it."
Furmanovsky captured images of bands and artists rehearsing and doing sound checks as well as live performances. Her photographs were always on display in the theatre foyer. "It was like having a permanent exhibition," she says.
Her quickie photography course and on-the-job training made the punk era a favourite for Furmanovsky, and her images of The Clash feature in the exhibition as well as on her website, www.rockarchive.com, which sells prints of major artists, with images from 60 photographers.
"If you could play three chords, you could form a band, and in my case, if you had trained for two weeks, you could be a photographer," she says with a laugh. "I was the same age as the punks, or they were slightly younger, and so I felt more confident with them."
In the 1980s, Furmanovsky did a lot more studio work with musicians, and colour film was used more often. "I was working with the Police well into the Eighties and I shot a cover of Boy George for The Face." Furmanovsky wasn't a huge fan of the androgynous, men-in-make-up trends among bands such as Spandau Ballet and Duran Duran. "I couldn't really relate to it. And then in the Eighties, I had my daughter and I removed myself a bit from the scene. I shot actors and authors, some amazing people like Robert De Niro, Nelson Mandela and Emma Thompson, but [the interest in] music continued right through."
Her interest in the music scene was revived in the early 1990s, when grunge transformed the sound of popular culture, even though some of her best work from the time features rockers who were around before Kurt Cobain was born. Her striking profile portrait of the Rolling Stones drummer Charlie Watts with the light playing perfectly on the long, deep dimple that carves the length of his cheek was published in Q magazine. It won her the Jane Bown Observer Portrait Award in 1992 and also features in the exhibition.
"I noticed there was an ageing process going on in rock in the Nineties," Furmanovsky says. "All sorts of people - Eric Clapton, Stevie Wonder, Sting, Chrissie Hynde as well as bands like Madness - were coming back in a renewed form."
The exhibition features plenty of shots of bands that made it big in the Nineties and in this decade too. The British photographer Kevin Westenberg has pictures of Coldplay and Radiohead on display in the show.
Westenberg's brilliantly lit outdoor shot of Radiohead was used for a 2004 cover of Mojo magazine when the band was headlining Glastonbury. "Our idea was to place them in a grassy field setting and we ended up shooting this in Wormwood Scrubs in west London," he says. "The set-up for lighting took four hours, but once they arrived we shot everything in an hour and then they were off again."
His 2005 Coldplay shot features the band sitting in a row in a Los Angeles studio looking pensive. It was taken at the end of a three-year period of photographing the band. "This period defined them initially to the world and I was a big part of their perception of cool, which I feel now has ended," Westenberg says. "The idea was to meld a press shot and also a live shot together. The two rarely meet."
The late Nineties heralded Furmanovsky's first forays into digital photography after decades of film and dark rooms and, as a result of changing times, the Rockarchive exhibition uses both digital and film images. She sees the digital revolution in photography as "a mixed blessing". "Olympus ran an advertisement for its first digital camera in about 1997 and it was an obituary to film. It was a sad ad," she says.
Furmanovsky acknowledges that digital technology has become more user-friendly and can be used to create stunning effect, but she is not so sure about the way electronic images are so easily deleted. The constant checking of images as you go rather than waiting to get into the dark room, as well as delayed shutter speeds, means the shots are not always as spontaneous as they used to be. "Film is good for capturing the moment, but digital captures the moment after the moment," she says.
The exhibition's delightful contact sheet of Bob Marley images from 1970 is one such example of this spur-of-the-moment alchemy - it's hard to imagine achieving the same relaxed vibe if the photographer was constantly checking, deleting and reshooting rather than just letting the reggae legend do his thing in front of the lens.
The technology may have moved on from Hasselblads and Leicas loaded with black and white film, and the endless hours spent in chemical-laden darkrooms have been replaced by the instant gratification of digital cameras. But as the exhibition shows, such technology was not always required to create visual magic.
Storm Thorgerson, another British photographer, has a reputation for creating astounding work without the aid of digital enhancement. His iconic 1994 photograph of a beach full of hospital beds, which is the gatefold for Pink Floyd's Division Bell album cover, is also in the show. "He really set up that shoot, got all those hospital beds on to the beach just for that one shot," says Furmanovsky.
The Division Bell cover takes pride of place in the exhibition, and Furmanovsky insists again there was no digital trickery involved - Thorgerson really did set up two giant head-shaped sculptures in the field of a Cambridgeshire farm. Sometimes there's no substitute for the real thing.
Rockarchive, Gallery One at The Walk at Dubai's Jumeirah Beach Residence, until Oct 15.
glewis@thenational.ae
KILLING OF QASSEM SULEIMANI
How much do leading UAE’s UK curriculum schools charge for Year 6?
- Nord Anglia International School (Dubai) – Dh85,032
- Kings School Al Barsha (Dubai) – Dh71,905
- Brighton College Abu Dhabi - Dh68,560
- Jumeirah English Speaking School (Dubai) – Dh59,728
- Gems Wellington International School – Dubai Branch – Dh58,488
- The British School Al Khubairat (Abu Dhabi) - Dh54,170
- Dubai English Speaking School – Dh51,269
*Annual tuition fees covering the 2024/2025 academic year
COMPANY PROFILE
Name: Kumulus Water
Started: 2021
Founders: Iheb Triki and Mohamed Ali Abid
Based: Tunisia
Sector: Water technology
Number of staff: 22
Investment raised: $4 million
Key facilities
- Olympic-size swimming pool with a split bulkhead for multi-use configurations, including water polo and 50m/25m training lanes
- Premier League-standard football pitch
- 400m Olympic running track
- NBA-spec basketball court with auditorium
- 600-seat auditorium
- Spaces for historical and cultural exploration
- An elevated football field that doubles as a helipad
- Specialist robotics and science laboratories
- AR and VR-enabled learning centres
- Disruption Lab and Research Centre for developing entrepreneurial skills
More from Neighbourhood Watch:
Real estate tokenisation project
Dubai launched the pilot phase of its real estate tokenisation project last month.
The initiative focuses on converting real estate assets into digital tokens recorded on blockchain technology and helps in streamlining the process of buying, selling and investing, the Dubai Land Department said.
Dubai’s real estate tokenisation market is projected to reach Dh60 billion ($16.33 billion) by 2033, representing 7 per cent of the emirate’s total property transactions, according to the DLD.
The National's picks
4.35pm: Tilal Al Khalediah
5.10pm: Continous
5.45pm: Raging Torrent
6.20pm: West Acre
7pm: Flood Zone
7.40pm: Straight No Chaser
8.15pm: Romantic Warrior
8.50pm: Calandogan
9.30pm: Forever Young
Volvo ES90 Specs
Engine: Electric single motor (96kW), twin motor (106kW) and twin motor performance (106kW)
Power: 333hp, 449hp, 680hp
Torque: 480Nm, 670Nm, 870Nm
On sale: Later in 2025 or early 2026, depending on region
Price: Exact regional pricing TBA
The White Lotus: Season three
Creator: Mike White
Starring: Walton Goggins, Jason Isaacs, Natasha Rothwell
Rating: 4.5/5
A State of Passion
Directors: Carol Mansour and Muna Khalidi
Stars: Dr Ghassan Abu-Sittah
Rating: 4/5
NO OTHER LAND
Director: Basel Adra, Yuval Abraham, Rachel Szor, Hamdan Ballal
Stars: Basel Adra, Yuval Abraham
Rating: 3.5/5
Test
Director: S Sashikanth
Cast: Nayanthara, Siddharth, Meera Jasmine, R Madhavan
Star rating: 2/5
Squid Game season two
Director: Hwang Dong-hyuk
Stars: Lee Jung-jae, Wi Ha-joon and Lee Byung-hun
Rating: 4.5/5
At a glance
Global events: Much of the UK’s economic woes were blamed on “increased global uncertainty”, which can be interpreted as the economic impact of the Ukraine war and the uncertainty over Donald Trump’s tariffs.
Growth forecasts: Cut for 2025 from 2 per cent to 1 per cent. The OBR watchdog also estimated inflation will average 3.2 per cent this year
Welfare: Universal credit health element cut by 50 per cent and frozen for new claimants, building on cuts to the disability and incapacity bill set out earlier this month
Spending cuts: Overall day-to day-spending across government cut by £6.1bn in 2029-30
Tax evasion: Steps to crack down on tax evasion to raise “£6.5bn per year” for the public purse
Defence: New high-tech weaponry, upgrading HM Naval Base in Portsmouth
Housing: Housebuilding to reach its highest in 40 years, with planning reforms helping generate an extra £3.4bn for public finances
UAE currency: the story behind the money in your pockets
Skewed figures
In the village of Mevagissey in southwest England the housing stock has doubled in the last century while the number of residents is half the historic high. The village's Neighbourhood Development Plan states that 26% of homes are holiday retreats. Prices are high, averaging around £300,000, £50,000 more than the Cornish average of £250,000. The local average wage is £15,458.
The specs
AT4 Ultimate, as tested
Engine: 6.2-litre V8
Power: 420hp
Torque: 623Nm
Transmission: 10-speed automatic
Price: From Dh330,800 (Elevation: Dh236,400; AT4: Dh286,800; Denali: Dh345,800)
On sale: Now
Poacher
%3Cp%3E%3Cstrong%3EDirector%3A%20%3C%2Fstrong%3ERichie%20Mehta%26nbsp%3B%3C%2Fp%3E%0A%3Cp%3E%3Cstrong%3EStarring%3A%3C%2Fstrong%3E%20Nimisha%20Sajayan%2C%20Roshan%20Mathew%2C%20Dibyendu%20Bhattacharya%3C%2Fp%3E%0A%3Cp%3E%3Cstrong%3ERating%3A%20%3C%2Fstrong%3E3%2F5%3C%2Fp%3E%0A
David Haye record
Total fights: 32
Wins: 28
Wins by KO: 26
Losses: 4
Bundesliga fixtures
Saturday, May 16 (kick-offs UAE time)
Borussia Dortmund v Schalke (4.30pm)
RB Leipzig v Freiburg (4.30pm)
Hoffenheim v Hertha Berlin (4.30pm)
Fortuna Dusseldorf v Paderborn (4.30pm)
Augsburg v Wolfsburg (4.30pm)
Eintracht Frankfurt v Borussia Monchengladbach (7.30pm)
Sunday, May 17
Cologne v Mainz (4.30pm),
Union Berlin v Bayern Munich (7pm)
Monday, May 18
Werder Bremen v Bayer Leverkusen (9.30pm)
Tori Amos
Native Invader
Decca
Specs
Engine: Duel electric motors
Power: 659hp
Torque: 1075Nm
On sale: Available for pre-order now
Price: On request
How to wear a kandura
Dos
- Wear the right fabric for the right season and occasion
- Always ask for the dress code if you don’t know
- Wear a white kandura, white ghutra / shemagh (headwear) and black shoes for work
- Wear 100 per cent cotton under the kandura as most fabrics are polyester
Don’ts
- Wear hamdania for work, always wear a ghutra and agal
- Buy a kandura only based on how it feels; ask questions about the fabric and understand what you are buying
UAE currency: the story behind the money in your pockets
Business Insights
- As per the document, there are six filing options, including choosing to report on a realisation basis and transitional rules for pre-tax period gains or losses.
- SMEs with revenue below Dh3 million per annum can opt for transitional relief until 2026, treating them as having no taxable income.
- Larger entities have specific provisions for asset and liability movements, business restructuring, and handling foreign permanent establishments.
Mercer, the investment consulting arm of US services company Marsh & McLennan, expects its wealth division to at least double its assets under management (AUM) in the Middle East as wealth in the region continues to grow despite economic headwinds, a company official said.
Mercer Wealth, which globally has $160 billion in AUM, plans to boost its AUM in the region to $2-$3bn in the next 2-3 years from the present $1bn, said Yasir AbuShaban, a Dubai-based principal with Mercer Wealth.
“Within the next two to three years, we are looking at reaching $2 to $3 billion as a conservative estimate and we do see an opportunity to do so,” said Mr AbuShaban.
Mercer does not directly make investments, but allocates clients’ money they have discretion to, to professional asset managers. They also provide advice to clients.
“We have buying power. We can negotiate on their (client’s) behalf with asset managers to provide them lower fees than they otherwise would have to get on their own,” he added.
Mercer Wealth’s clients include sovereign wealth funds, family offices, and insurance companies among others.
From its office in Dubai, Mercer also looks after Africa, India and Turkey, where they also see opportunity for growth.
Wealth creation in Middle East and Africa (MEA) grew 8.5 per cent to $8.1 trillion last year from $7.5tn in 2015, higher than last year’s global average of 6 per cent and the second-highest growth in a region after Asia-Pacific which grew 9.9 per cent, according to consultancy Boston Consulting Group (BCG). In the region, where wealth grew just 1.9 per cent in 2015 compared with 2014, a pickup in oil prices has helped in wealth generation.
BCG is forecasting MEA wealth will rise to $12tn by 2021, growing at an annual average of 8 per cent.
Drivers of wealth generation in the region will be split evenly between new wealth creation and growth of performance of existing assets, according to BCG.
Another general trend in the region is clients’ looking for a comprehensive approach to investing, according to Mr AbuShaban.
“Institutional investors or some of the families are seeing a slowdown in the available capital they have to invest and in that sense they are looking at optimizing the way they manage their portfolios and making sure they are not investing haphazardly and different parts of their investment are working together,” said Mr AbuShaban.
Some clients also have a higher appetite for risk, given the low interest-rate environment that does not provide enough yield for some institutional investors. These clients are keen to invest in illiquid assets, such as private equity and infrastructure.
“What we have seen is a desire for higher returns in what has been a low-return environment specifically in various fixed income or bonds,” he said.
“In this environment, we have seen a de facto increase in the risk that clients are taking in things like illiquid investments, private equity investments, infrastructure and private debt, those kind of investments were higher illiquidity results in incrementally higher returns.”
The Abu Dhabi Investment Authority, one of the largest sovereign wealth funds, said in its 2016 report that has gradually increased its exposure in direct private equity and private credit transactions, mainly in Asian markets and especially in China and India. The authority’s private equity department focused on structured equities owing to “their defensive characteristics.”
A MINECRAFT MOVIE
Director: Jared Hess
Starring: Jack Black, Jennifer Coolidge, Jason Momoa
Rating: 3/5
Auron Mein Kahan Dum Tha
Starring: Ajay Devgn, Tabu, Shantanu Maheshwari, Jimmy Shergill, Saiee Manjrekar
Director: Neeraj Pandey
Rating: 2.5/5
Sunday's Super Four matches
Dubai, 3.30pm
India v Pakistan
Abu Dhabi, 3.30pm
Bangladesh v Afghanistan
