Natalie Cole appeared before her Dubai audience with all the glamour one could imagine from the Grammy-award winning singer. And it was not unexpected that she would give her fans a good show. For those who were listening to her for the first time, however, what was not as expected was the degree to which her funky jazzy musical prowess would come to the fore. But as Cole, the daughter of the late jazz legend Nat “King” Cole, glided out onto the stage at Dubai Media City amphitheatre last night for the du World Music Festival, it was evident the apple doesn’t fall far from the tree.
And her audience, soaking in the balmy spring evening, was enthralled. "It's nice to see you, it's nice to be seen," purred the singer, now in her sixties, as she appeared wearing a long black dress with sparkling Arabic writing, which she said was made especially for the occasion. "The dress has writings from the 13th century Arabic poet Rumi," she said, calling him the Shakespeare of Persia. "They are all about love," added Cole, as she proudly showed off her glittering gown.She then walked down to the edge of the stage to be closer to the audience, to the delight of her fans, who jumped up to get pictures of her as she sang a rendition of the Frank Sinatra song, The Best is Yet to Come.
Cole, after introducing her seven-member band, launched into jazz classic after jazz classic, including her personal touch of her father's famous song Route 66. Singing into a microphone that looked like it was adorned with diamonds, she also sang Smile though your Heart is Aching, Mike Franks Tell Me All About it and the tune Que Sas from her new album, which is all in Spanish.
Other bands of the evening included the Australian jazz-fusion guitarist, Frank Gambale, Indian drummer Ranjit Barot and blues rock Indian band Soulmate. The latter, which stood particularly out, garnered shouts of excitement from the audience when the front singer, Tipriti, belted out tune after tune of mesmerizingly haunting songs from their two albums, Shillong and Moving On.
German tourist Christine Shultz, who was in Dubai for a week’s vacation, said the event was unforgettable.“I love this band, the singer is amazing,” she said about Tiptriti. Ms Shultz added: “Natalie Cole was on fire right from the start. I love the fact that she walked right down to the audience, which made the concert very intimate from the beginning. She’s such a legend.”
molson@thenational.ae
The White Lotus: Season three
Creator: Mike White
Starring: Walton Goggins, Jason Isaacs, Natasha Rothwell
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
SPECS
Engine: 4-litre V8 twin-turbo
Power: 630hp
Torque: 850Nm
Transmission: 8-speed Tiptronic automatic
Price: From Dh599,000
On sale: Now
What drives subscription retailing?
Once the domain of newspaper home deliveries, subscription model retailing has combined with e-commerce to permeate myriad products and services.
The concept has grown tremendously around the world and is forecast to thrive further, according to UnivDatos Market Insights’ report on recent and predicted trends in the sector.
The global subscription e-commerce market was valued at $13.2 billion (Dh48.5bn) in 2018. It is forecast to touch $478.2bn in 2025, and include the entertainment, fitness, food, cosmetics, baby care and fashion sectors.
The report says subscription-based services currently constitute “a small trend within e-commerce”. The US hosts almost 70 per cent of recurring plan firms, including leaders Dollar Shave Club, Hello Fresh and Netflix. Walmart and Sephora are among longer established retailers entering the space.
UnivDatos cites younger and affluent urbanites as prime subscription targets, with women currently the largest share of end-users.
That’s expected to remain unchanged until 2025, when women will represent a $246.6bn market share, owing to increasing numbers of start-ups targeting women.
Personal care and beauty occupy the largest chunk of the worldwide subscription e-commerce market, with changing lifestyles, work schedules, customisation and convenience among the chief future drivers.
Women%E2%80%99s%20T20%20World%20Cup%20Qualifier
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57%20Seconds
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How much sugar is in chocolate Easter eggs?
- The 169g Crunchie egg has 15.9g of sugar per 25g serving, working out at around 107g of sugar per egg
- The 190g Maltesers Teasers egg contains 58g of sugar per 100g for the egg and 19.6g of sugar in each of the two Teasers bars that come with it
- The 188g Smarties egg has 113g of sugar per egg and 22.8g in the tube of Smarties it contains
- The Milky Bar white chocolate Egg Hunt Pack contains eight eggs at 7.7g of sugar per egg
- The Cadbury Creme Egg contains 26g of sugar per 40g egg
Lampedusa: Gateway to Europe
Pietro Bartolo and Lidia Tilotta
Quercus
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
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.
Test
Director: S Sashikanth
Cast: Nayanthara, Siddharth, Meera Jasmine, R Madhavan
Star rating: 2/5
UPI facts
More than 2.2 million Indian tourists arrived in UAE in 2023
More than 3.5 million Indians reside in UAE
Indian tourists can make purchases in UAE using rupee accounts in India through QR-code-based UPI real-time payment systems
Indian residents in UAE can use their non-resident NRO and NRE accounts held in Indian banks linked to a UAE mobile number for UPI transactions
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
List of alleged parties
- May 15 2020: Boris Johnson is said to have attended a Downing Street pizza party
- 27 Nov 2020: PM gives speech at leaving do for his staff
- Dec 10 2020: Staff party held by then-education secretary Gavin Williamson
- Dec 13 2020: Mr Johnson and his then-fiancee Carrie Symonds throw a flat party
- Dec 14 2020: Shaun Bailey holds staff party at Conservative Party headquarters
- Dec 15 2020: PM takes part in a staff quiz
- Dec 18 2020: Downing Street Christmas party
