The power of creative industries to enable economic empowerment and social enterprise was highlighted in Dubai last year when it hosted the 7th edition of MOCAfest (Marketplace of Creative Arts) at the Madinat Jumeirah from October 28 to 30, 2014. For the second year running, MOCAfellows – the World Islamic Economic Forum Foundation (WIEF) art … Read more
The Australian consultant with a hybrid upbringing believes that the arts are valuable channels of participation and communication across and within communities. Of Indian descent, born in Kenya and raised in Australia, writer and consultant Tasneem Chopra know a thing or two about living across cultures. In 2014, she contributed an essay to the book … Read more
Endah N Rhesa is a musical project comprising acoustic guitar, bass and vocals. The musical nuance that Endah N Rhesa tries to bring out is folk, jazz, blues, rock and roll and ballads. They participated at the 2011 MOCAfest held in Astana. You can hear more about their and other various artists’ work on MusicCritic. … Read more
The music group’s wide-ranging influences come together in a visually stunning homage to Muslim Spain. Rarely do I hear music infused with as much heart and soul as the delightful songs by Al Firdaus Ensemble. Speaking to the group just before the release of their new video, I was fascinated to learn more about their inspiration … Read more
Amidst a book launch, a worldwide calligraffiti project, eL Seed shares nuggets of random origin with Jonathan Wilson. He might not be hiding in the shadows like Banksy, but eL Seed is still a hard man to pin down and definitely in demand. I finally managed to get hold of him for a quick-fire interview amid … Read more