“So, today is our exam,” joked Indian guitarist Debashish Bhattacharya, as he prepared to present a brave culture-crossing duet with Moroccan oud player Driss El Maloumi, at NYU Abu Dhabi on Thursday (October 27).
The two string virtuosos might have met musically on prior occasions, but this collaboration was fresh, the result of a six-day incubation period at the Saadiyat Island campus, which only made the academic test reference yet more apt.
Touchingly, both players were joined for the trip by their brothers – both also percussionists – lending a sense of synergy and symmetry to this spellbinding sea of shifting sounds.
First, each brother-pair presented a short solo set, Driss and Said El Maloumi opening the evening with the epic extrapolation Safar – appropriately, "travel" in Arabic. Utilising a brazen mix of ringing harmonics, muted staccato attacks, and vertiginous string slides – borrowing liberally from the worlds of flamenco, gypsy jazz and rock – El Maloumi took us on a journey far beyond the conventional confines of an oud recital. But for all the pyrotechnics, it never felt forced – such showy virtuosity shouldn't feel this musical.
Comparisons prove pointless, but Bhattacharya's work is no less captivating. He performs primarily on the chaturangui, a modified guitar he invented in 1978. Played in the lap with a slide, the eight main, melodic strings are supported by an additional 16 sympathetic strings, used to sustain the drone at the base of Indian classical music, not unlike those found on a sitar. It might remind listeners of the mohan veena, a similar instrument created by Vishwa Mohan Bhatt, and featured on his 1994 Grammy winning duet with Ry Cooder, A Meeting by the River.
Backed intuitively by his brother Subhasis’s tabla, the instrument allows Bhattacharya to carve out three simultaneous swathes of sound, kinetic lead slide lines, rounded with the harmonious plucked open strings, and underpinned with the hypnotic drone of the sympathetic strings. The effect is to conjure the spiraling, spiritual bliss of the raga, peppered with the passing, pleasing rural sensibility of blues and folk.
As if to prove all these strings are more than a fad or a cheat, Bhattacharya presented a beautiful version of Sufi Bhakti – from his 2009 Grammy nominated Calcutta Chronicles – on just a four string slide ukulele.
These appetisers gave the audience a taste of both artists’s backgrounds and comfort zones, before they jumped wilfully out of them for the main event, a genre-melding “string summit”. As well as meeting one another on a number of occasions since 2009, both El Maloumi and Bhattacharya have both pursued their own world fusions elsewhere, and bring a mature and gallant sensibility to the table. Despite being highly improvised, the pairing rarely felt forced, drawing deeply from both Arabic traditions and Hindustani classicism to create something new, rather than awkwardly fused, or flitted between.
As rhythms and melodies criss, cross, build and swell, the brittle brashness of the slide guitar, supported by its chiming sympathetic strings, at times overpowered the mellower sound of El Maloumi’s oud. In truth, both players’s technical gifts were on clearer display in the better-prepared solo showcases. But watching these two sets of brothers break out into ever-wider grins, passing phrases across the stage in musical conversation, there was something harmoniously heartwarming in this bottomless display of mutual respect and camaraderie.
rgarratt@thenational.ae
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.
A State of Passion
Directors: Carol Mansour and Muna Khalidi
Stars: Dr Ghassan Abu-Sittah
Rating: 4/5
UAE players with central contracts
Rohan Mustafa, Ashfaq Ahmed, Chirag Suri, Rameez Shahzad, Shaiman Anwar, Adnan Mufti, Mohammed Usman, Ghulam Shabbir, Ahmed Raza, Qadeer Ahmed, Amir Hayat, Mohammed Naveed and Imran Haider.
THE SPECS
Engine: 6.75-litre twin-turbocharged V12 petrol engine
Power: 420kW
Torque: 780Nm
Transmission: 8-speed automatic
Price: From Dh1,350,000
On sale: Available for preorder now
The specs
Engine: 4.0-litre flat-six
Torque: 450Nm at 6,100rpm
Transmission: 7-speed PDK auto or 6-speed manual
Fuel economy, combined: 13.8L/100km
On sale: Available to order now
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
COMPANY%20PROFILE
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Specs
Engine: Dual-motor all-wheel-drive electric
Range: Up to 610km
Power: 905hp
Torque: 985Nm
Price: From Dh439,000
Available: Now
Spider-Man: No Way Home
Director: Jon Watts
Stars: Tom Holland, Zendaya, Jacob Batalon
Rating:*****
Ms Yang's top tips for parents new to the UAE
- Join parent networks
- Look beyond school fees
- Keep an open mind
The%20specs
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2025 Fifa Club World Cup groups
Group A: Palmeiras, Porto, Al Ahly, Inter Miami.
Group B: Paris Saint-Germain, Atletico Madrid, Botafogo, Seattle.
Group C: Bayern Munich, Auckland City, Boca Juniors, Benfica.
Group D: Flamengo, ES Tunis, Chelsea, (Leon banned).
Group E: River Plate, Urawa, Monterrey, Inter Milan.
Group F: Fluminense, Borussia Dortmund, Ulsan, Mamelodi Sundowns.
Group G: Manchester City, Wydad, Al Ain, Juventus.
Group H: Real Madrid, Al Hilal, Pachuca, Salzburg.
How to turn your property into a holiday home
- Ensure decoration and styling – and portal photography – quality is high to achieve maximum rates.
- Research equivalent Airbnb homes in your location to ensure competitiveness.
- Post on all relevant platforms to reach the widest audience; whether you let personally or via an agency know your potential guest profile – aiming for the wrong demographic may leave your property empty.
- Factor in costs when working out if holiday letting is beneficial. The annual DCTM fee runs from Dh370 for a one-bedroom flat to Dh1,200. Tourism tax is Dh10-15 per bedroom, per night.
- Check your management company has a physical office, a valid DTCM licence and is licencing your property and paying tourism taxes. For transparency, regularly view your booking calendar.
The biog
Job: Fitness entrepreneur, body-builder and trainer
Favourite superhero: Batman
Favourite quote: We must become the change we want to see, by Mahatma Gandhi.
Favourite car: Lamborghini
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
Brolliology: A History of the Umbrella in Life and Literature
By Marion Rankine
Melville House
The specs: 2018 Volkswagen Teramont
Price, base / as tested Dh137,000 / Dh189,950
Engine 3.6-litre V6
Gearbox Eight-speed automatic
Power 280hp @ 6,200rpm
Torque 360Nm @ 2,750rpm
Fuel economy, combined 11.7L / 100km
The%20Genius%20of%20Their%20Age
%3Cp%3EAuthor%3A%20S%20Frederick%20Starr%3Cbr%3EPublisher%3A%20Oxford%20University%20Press%3Cbr%3EPages%3A%20290%3Cbr%3EAvailable%3A%20January%2024%3C%2Fp%3E%0A
Manikarnika: The Queen of Jhansi
Director: Kangana Ranaut, Krish Jagarlamudi
Producer: Zee Studios, Kamal Jain
Cast: Kangana Ranaut, Ankita Lokhande, Danny Denzongpa, Atul Kulkarni
Rating: 2.5/5
Australia tour of Pakistan
March 4-8: First Test, Rawalpindi
March 12-16: Second Test, Karachi
March 21-25: Third Test, Lahore
March 29: First ODI, Rawalpindi
March 31: Second ODI, Rawalpindi
April 2: Third ODI, Rawalpindi
April 5: T20I, Rawalpindi
Moving%20Out%202
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The Kites
Romain Gary
Penguin Modern Classics
Specs
Engine: Duel electric motors
Power: 659hp
Torque: 1075Nm
On sale: Available for pre-order now
Price: On request
Specs
Engine: 51.5kW electric motor
Range: 400km
Power: 134bhp
Torque: 175Nm
Price: From Dh98,800
Available: Now
