When Dorian Rogers hosted the first performance poetry night Rooftop Rhythms five years ago at Abu Dhabi’s Cafe Arabia, he expected a few dozen people to show up at best.
Fast-forward to today, and Rogers is expecting up to 300 people to turn out for the 47th Rooftop Rhythms at NYU Abu Dhabi on Friday, marking the monthly night’s triumphant fifth anniversary.
Drawing on diverse traditions – from the beat movement of the 1950s to freestyle rap battles – spoken word offers artists’ modern voices a stark and striking platform on which to share intimate ideas and experiences, unaccompanied onstage and in front of a live audience.
Rogers, a poet previously known as Paul D, calls spoken word a “new rival”, even to music’s self-expressive vehicle.
“Unfortunately rap has been dirtied down,” says the 34-year-old American expat. “But in many ways, poetry is the new hip-hop – addressing socially relevant issues that unite people.”
While the art form might be gaining greater acceptance globally, few communities can claim the kind of sudden embrace of performance poetry enjoyed in Abu Dhabi.
The biggest surprise, says Rogers, is how quickly the concept chimed with a regional audience – today, more than half of the 25 monthly performers are often Emirati or Arab poets, embracing a concept which may resonate deeply with local traditions.
“When I arrived in Abu Dhabi I turned on the TV and I was like, ‘They have poetry channels here?’,” recalls Rogers. “The Arabic crowd have really taken it, run with it, and made it their own.”
A long-term organiser of open-mics and poetry slams in the United States, Rooftop Rhythms was originally born out of a mix of boredom and homesickness, shortly after Rogers arrived in the capital to take a job teaching English, less than six years ago. “There was maybe one-fifth the number of events happening then than there is today,” he says. “I’m not saying I was the first person, but there wasn’t much going on.
“A successful poetry open-mic in the States is when 50 people come – and that’s a great night – but here we quickly got 200 or 300. I have to say that it’s not me being an amazing events planner, but shows it really hit a chord with this audience.”
The nights typically feature an open-mic format, where anyone is welcome to pre-register for three to five minutes in the spotlight. At this Friday’s anniversary event, the second-half of the evening will be turned over to an ongoing competitive “slam competition”, and will also have annual awards presented to performers and community supporters.
Since launching Rooftop Rhythms, Rogers has counted up to 10 poetry open-mics crop up across the Emirates, and credits the boom with inspiring similar shows in Kuwait, Qatar, and even as far away as the Seychelles, where young Arabs are embracing the spoken word form as a way to address self-identity issues in a public forum.
While most poets choose to perform in English, or multilingually, a standalone Rooftop Rhythms-Arabia performance has been created for Arabic speakers.
Over the past five years, Rooftop Rhythms has moved around eight venues – from the terraced Cafe Arabia which might have inspired the name. Since late-2015 it has found a home at NYUAD’s The Arts Center, where monthly events are held at campus hang-out The Marketplace, with support from the US embassy.
“Rooftop Rhythms is inspirational – demonstrating how a grassroots arts scene can uplift a city and build a community,” says Bill Bragin, The Arts Center’s executive artistic director.
That uplift – and acceptance – has been evidenced in Rooftop Rhythms’s engagement with the wider cultural community, with performers invited to participate in numerous cultural happenings, including the capital’s Mother of the Nation Festival and Abu Dhabi International Poetry Festival, as well as Dubai’s Sikka Art Fair and the Emirates Airline Festival of Literature.
Rogers has diversified the Rooftop Rhythms into music events such as Abu Dhabi Soul and Versus Hip-Hop Party, but his belief in the power of spoken word remains undiminished. “I want this movement to keep growing by leaps and bounds,” says Rogers. “I hope we continue to break into new sectors – that spoken word expands to become a household norm, and secures a place in tradition as a popular art form.”
• Rooftop Rhythms #47 takes place at The Marketplace, New York University Abu Dhabi on Friday from 8pm, register for free tickets at www.nyuad-artscenter.org
rgarratt@thenational.ae
New schools in Dubai
MATCH INFO
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Newcastle United 0
The smuggler
Eldarir had arrived at JFK in January 2020 with three suitcases, containing goods he valued at $300, when he was directed to a search area.
Officers found 41 gold artefacts among the bags, including amulets from a funerary set which prepared the deceased for the afterlife.
Also found was a cartouche of a Ptolemaic king on a relief that was originally part of a royal building or temple.
The largest single group of items found in Eldarir’s cases were 400 shabtis, or figurines.
Khouli conviction
Khouli smuggled items into the US by making false declarations to customs about the country of origin and value of the items.
According to Immigration and Customs Enforcement, he provided “false provenances which stated that [two] Egyptian antiquities were part of a collection assembled by Khouli's father in Israel in the 1960s” when in fact “Khouli acquired the Egyptian antiquities from other dealers”.
He was sentenced to one year of probation, six months of home confinement and 200 hours of community service in 2012 after admitting buying and smuggling Egyptian antiquities, including coffins, funerary boats and limestone figures.
For sale
A number of other items said to come from the collection of Ezeldeen Taha Eldarir are currently or recently for sale.
Their provenance is described in near identical terms as the British Museum shabti: bought from Salahaddin Sirmali, "authenticated and appraised" by Hossen Rashed, then imported to the US in 1948.
- An Egyptian Mummy mask dating from 700BC-30BC, is on offer for £11,807 ($15,275) online by a seller in Mexico
- A coffin lid dating back to 664BC-332BC was offered for sale by a Colorado-based art dealer, with a starting price of $65,000
- A shabti that was on sale through a Chicago-based coin dealer, dating from 1567BC-1085BC, is up for $1,950
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
Ticket prices
General admission Dh295 (under-three free)
Buy a four-person Family & Friends ticket and pay for only three tickets, so the fourth family member is free
Buy tickets at: wbworldabudhabi.com/en/tickets
BACK%20TO%20ALEXANDRIA
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A MINECRAFT MOVIE
Director: Jared Hess
Starring: Jack Black, Jennifer Coolidge, Jason Momoa
Rating: 3/5
In numbers: PKK’s money network in Europe
Germany: PKK collectors typically bring in $18 million in cash a year – amount has trebled since 2010
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
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
COMPANY%20PROFILE
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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.”
Jewel of the Expo 2020
252 projectors installed on Al Wasl dome
13.6km of steel used in the structure that makes it equal in length to 16 Burj Khalifas
550 tonnes of moulded steel were raised last year to cap the dome
724,000 cubic metres is the space it encloses
Stands taller than the leaning tower of Pisa
Steel trellis dome is one of the largest single structures on site
The size of 16 tennis courts and weighs as much as 500 elephants
Al Wasl means connection in Arabic
World’s largest 360-degree projection surface
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UAE v Gibraltar
What: International friendly
When: 7pm kick off
Where: Rugby Park, Dubai Sports City
Admission: Free
Online: The match will be broadcast live on Dubai Exiles’ Facebook page
UAE squad: Lucas Waddington (Dubai Exiles), Gio Fourie (Exiles), Craig Nutt (Abu Dhabi Harlequins), Phil Brady (Harlequins), Daniel Perry (Dubai Hurricanes), Esekaia Dranibota (Harlequins), Matt Mills (Exiles), Jaen Botes (Exiles), Kristian Stinson (Exiles), Murray Reason (Abu Dhabi Saracens), Dave Knight (Hurricanes), Ross Samson (Jebel Ali Dragons), DuRandt Gerber (Exiles), Saki Naisau (Dragons), Andrew Powell (Hurricanes), Emosi Vacanau (Harlequins), Niko Volavola (Dragons), Matt Richards (Dragons), Luke Stevenson (Harlequins), Josh Ives (Dubai Sports City Eagles), Sean Stevens (Saracens), Thinus Steyn (Exiles)
