At first glance, Shakira seems an unusual sort of Latin music performer. After all, she has an Arabic first name, a father of Lebanese descent and a heritage on her mother's side that reaches as far as Catalonia and Italy. Her full birth name only underscores her heritage: Shakira Isabel Mebarak Ripoll.
If Middle Eastern audiences are familiar with her - she is playing the Emirates Palace in Abu Dhabi tonight - it is partly because of her family ties to this region, and partly because of her musical influences. She first heard the doumbek at the age of four, when her father took her to a Middle Eastern restaurant in her native Colombia, and the rhythms of the east permeate much of her music, including her hit albums Laundry Service (2002) and Oral Fixation (2005).
Shakira is certainly unusual because of the sheer extent of her appeal. She is Colombia's best-selling performer. She has Grammys and Latin Grammys by the fistful, as well as the promise of a star on Hollywood's Walk of Fame, due to be unveiled sometime next year.
But the Shakira phenomenon is not so much an exception as a sign of the irresistible rise of Latin music, in the North American market and beyond. At a time when the recording industry is struggling to come to terms with the switch from CDs and vinyl to MP3s, iTunes and the rest of the digital universe - shedding artists, shutting down labels and rethinking everything it does - Latin music has shown consistent growth.
Besides, Shakira's cultural heritage and musical interests do not really make her much of an exception at all. The hallmark of popular Latin music has long been the diversity of its inspirations and influences.
America - the continent, not just the country - has always been a big melting pot, where innovative ideas are formed in a crucible filled with disparate elements and ingredients.
The tango was born more than a century ago when Argentinian musicians took the body language of Buenos Aires and grafted it on to the dancing style of the European waltz and polka.
The mambo, which hit Cuba in the 1940s and became a craze in the United States in the 1950s, started out as a fusion of rumba and big-band jazz, with a few borrowings from the Congo.
Much more recently, developments such as reggaeton - a blend of Jamaican reggae rhythms and North American hip-hop - attest to both the eclectic roots of Latin music and also the musical reality of our globalised world, which is that everybody is listening to everything and blending it into their local musical culture.
But Shakira is also something else, an altogether more recent phenomenon - a Latino musician who is a bona fide pop superstar. What she has managed in the United States is to cross over into the English-speaking market and put herself on a par with top-selling North American artists.
Partly, of course, that is a matter of her talent and musical interests. She openly expresses her admiration for the likes of Led Zeppelin and The Police, and frequently performs a cover of AC/DC's heavy metal classic Back in Black.
But it is also about the ways America is changing - musically, politically and demographically. While it is certainly true that Latin music has been a presence north of the border for more than a century, there is a big difference between Joao Gilberto and Antonio Carlos Jobim hooking up with a prominent jazz musician such as Stan Getz to promulgate the bossa nova back in the 1960s, and the sort of multi-platinum record sales that Shakira has managed to rack up.
The difference is that Latinos are much more numerous now in the United States, and their music has seeped into their culture to such an extent that it seems a lot less foreign than it might once have.
The first big Latino pop star in the United States was Gloria Estefan, in the 1980s, who made it to the top by blending salsa rhythms with mainstream pop. She found a ready and willing audience in the expatriate Cuban community in Miami, where she grew up. Her father had worked as a bodyguard to the family of Fulgenico Batista, the Cuban leader overthrown by Fidel Castro in 1958, and she became a willing spokeswoman for the anti-Castro cause.
A few years later, the Tejano tradition of blending Mexican music with country and rock sounds from Texas found its own superstar in the precocious Selena, once dubbed the "Mexican Madonna". She too burst into the mainstream until her promising career was cut down at the age of 23, when the president of her Texas fan club pulled out a gun in the middle of a financial dispute and shot her in the back.
That was in 1995, when Shakira was first beginning to emerge and about to record her breakthrough Spanish-language album Dónde Están Los Ladrones?. America had already been briefly swept by other Latin crazes, such as the lambada, a form of dance that came and went, and the macarena, essentially a Latino version of the chicken dance.
By the end of the 1990s, other crazes had taken over: big mainstream hits recorded by Ricky Martin (whose Livin' La Vida Loca raced to the top of the charts) and Lou Bega (a pseudo-Latin musician - he is Italian and Nigerian - who took an old Perez Prado mambo and added witty words and new rhythms to make his Mambo #5).
This was also the period when an older generation of Cuban musicians was rediscovered by Ry Cooder for the album and documentary film The Buena Vista Social Club. Marc Anthony, even before he married Jennifer Lopez, was creating a stir over his brand of salsa - itself a new twist on the work of older artists such as Ruben Blades. And Lopez, rebranding herself as J-Lo, was also launching a musical career with her tough, street-kid image and matching musical style in hits like Jenny From the Block.
Taken together, these developments caused the North American recording industry to sit up and take notice. By 2000, they had launched the Latin Grammys, an offshoot of the US recording industry's annual awards ceremony targeted specifically at acts from south of the border.
This was, of course, principally a marketing ploy, designed to help promote new artists with language or other musical barriers to overcome in the world's biggest music market. And it almost came unstuck before it started because of the tensions that exist between the anti-Castro Cuban community in Miami and Latinos in the rest of the United States. The Cubans, naturally, wanted the Latin Grammys to take place in Miami. Almost everyone else favoured Los Angeles, where the Latino population is principally Mexican but also includes less ideologically strident Cubans who care less about the politics of their home island than they do the opportunity to make and record music.
In the end, the Latin Grammys struck a compromise, and the venue now skips between different cities in border states - the 2008 event was held in Houston, Texas.
Strangely, though, the urgent need for a special platform to showcase Latin music may well have come and gone. Nothing is more normal now for mainstream English-language artists to sample Latin beats, or for Americans of all backgrounds and ethnicities to spend their weekend nights salsa-dancing. Nothing is more normal, too, for music industry executives to pay attention to new crazes, such as the bachata, which originated in the Dominican Republic, and think up ways to promote it and create a roster of new stars.
The politics of Latin music remain as fraught as ever, as the Cuban question has taken a back seat to the broader problem of immigration. An increasing hostility, among some Americans, towards the influx of new arrivals across the Rio Grande has been counterbalanced by a surge in political activism among Latino immigrants.
Spanish-language radio stations in California and the other border states have developed a profile as community forums for discontent and a potent organising tool for pro-immigrant protest marches. The music, meanwhile, plays on, its rhythms and vocal passions becoming an ever bigger part of our global sound system.
Ziina users can donate to relief efforts in Beirut
Ziina users will be able to use the app to help relief efforts in Beirut, which has been left reeling after an August blast caused an estimated $15 billion in damage and left thousands homeless. Ziina has partnered with the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees to raise money for the Lebanese capital, co-founder Faisal Toukan says. “As of October 1, the UNHCR has the first certified badge on Ziina and is automatically part of user's top friends' list during this campaign. Users can now donate any amount to the Beirut relief with two clicks. The money raised will go towards rebuilding houses for the families that were impacted by the explosion.”
The specs
Engine: 2.9-litre twin-turbo V6
Power: 540hp at 6,500rpm
Torque: 600Nm at 2,500rpm
Transmission: Eight-speed auto
Kerb weight: 1580kg
Price: From Dh750k
On sale: via special order
A MINECRAFT MOVIE
Director: Jared Hess
Starring: Jack Black, Jennifer Coolidge, Jason Momoa
Rating: 3/5
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.”
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
NO OTHER LAND
Director: Basel Adra, Yuval Abraham, Rachel Szor, Hamdan Ballal
Stars: Basel Adra, Yuval Abraham
Rating: 3.5/5
Specs
Engine: 51.5kW electric motor
Range: 400km
Power: 134bhp
Torque: 175Nm
Price: From Dh98,800
Available: Now
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.
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
PRO BASH
Thursday’s fixtures
6pm: Hyderabad Nawabs v Pakhtoon Warriors
10pm: Lahore Sikandars v Pakhtoon Blasters
Teams
Chennai Knights, Lahore Sikandars, Pakhtoon Blasters, Abu Dhabi Stars, Abu Dhabi Dragons, Pakhtoon Warriors and Hyderabad Nawabs.
Squad rules
All teams consist of 15-player squads that include those contracted in the diamond (3), platinum (2) and gold (2) categories, plus eight free to sign team members.
Tournament rules
The matches are of 25 over-a-side with an 8-over power play in which only two fielders allowed outside the 30-yard circle. Teams play in a single round robin league followed by the semi-finals and final. The league toppers will feature in the semi-final eliminator.
Blackpink World Tour [Born Pink] In Cinemas
Starring: Rose, Jisoo, Jennie, Lisa
Directors: Min Geun, Oh Yoon-Dong
Rating: 3/5
COMPANY%20PROFILE
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How to watch Ireland v Pakistan in UAE
When: The one-off Test starts on Friday, May 11
What time: Each day’s play is scheduled to start at 2pm UAE time.
TV: The match will be broadcast on OSN Sports Cricket HD. Subscribers to the channel can also stream the action live on OSN Play.
Specs
Engine: Duel electric motors
Power: 659hp
Torque: 1075Nm
On sale: Available for pre-order now
Price: On request
Tenet
Director: Christopher Nolan
Stars: John David Washington, Robert Pattinson, Elizabeth Debicki, Dimple Kapadia, Michael Caine, Kenneth Branagh
Rating: 5/5
Company profile
Date started: Founded in May 2017 and operational since April 2018
Founders: co-founder and chief executive, Doaa Aref; Dr Rasha Rady, co-founder and chief operating officer.
Based: Cairo, Egypt
Sector: Health-tech
Size: 22 employees
Funding: Seed funding
Investors: Flat6labs, 500 Falcons, three angel investors
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
THE%C2%A0SPECS
%3Cp%3E%3Cstrong%3EEngine%3A%20%3C%2Fstrong%3E2.4-litre%20four-cylinder%0D%3Cbr%3E%3Cstrong%3EPower%3A%3C%2Fstrong%3E%20210hp%0D%3Cbr%3E%3Cstrong%3ETorque%3A%3C%2Fstrong%3E%20320Nm%0D%3Cbr%3E%3Cstrong%3EPrice%3A%3C%2Fstrong%3E%20Starting%20from%20Dh89%2C900%0D%3Cbr%3E%3Cstrong%3EOn%20sale%3A%20%3C%2Fstrong%3ENow%0D%3Cbr%3E%3C%2Fp%3E%0A
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.
Mountain%20Boy
%3Cp%3E%3Cstrong%3EDirector%3A%3C%2Fstrong%3E%20Zainab%20Shaheen%3C%2Fp%3E%0A%3Cp%3E%3Cstrong%3EStarring%3A%3C%2Fstrong%3E%20Naser%20Al%20Messabi%3C%2Fp%3E%0A%3Cp%3E%3Cstrong%3ERating%3C%2Fstrong%3E%3A%203%2F5%3C%2Fp%3E%0A
SQUAD
Ali Khaseif, Fahad Al Dhanhani, Adel Al Hosani, Mohammed Al Shamsi, Bandar Al Ahbabi, Mohammed Barghash, Salem Rashid, Khalifa Al Hammadi, Shaheen Abdulrahman, Hassan Al Mahrami, Walid Abbas, Mahmoud Khamis, Yousef Jaber, Saeed Ahmed, Majed Sorour, Majed Hassan, Ali Salmeen, Abdullah Ramadan, Khalil Al Hammadi, Fabio De Lima, Khalfan Mubarak, Tahnoun Al Zaabi, Ali Saleh, Caio Canedo, Muhammed Jumah, Ali Mabkhout, Sebastian Tagliabue, Zayed Al Ameri
Test
Director: S Sashikanth
Cast: Nayanthara, Siddharth, Meera Jasmine, R Madhavan
Star rating: 2/5
Specs
Engine: Dual-motor all-wheel-drive electric
Range: Up to 610km
Power: 905hp
Torque: 985Nm
Price: From Dh439,000
Available: Now
The specs
Engine: 2.0-litre turbo 4-cyl
Transmission: eight-speed auto
Power: 190bhp
Torque: 300Nm
Price: Dh169,900
On sale: now
Visit Abu Dhabi culinary team's top Emirati restaurants in Abu Dhabi
Yadoo’s House Restaurant & Cafe
For the karak and Yoodo's house platter with includes eggs, balaleet, khamir and chebab bread.
Golden Dallah
For the cappuccino, luqaimat and aseeda.
Al Mrzab Restaurant
For the shrimp murabian and Kuwaiti options including Kuwaiti machboos with kebab and spicy sauce.
Al Derwaza
For the fish hubul, regag bread, biryani and special seafood soup.
