Author: Mark

Samsara Rehearsals

Originally set to take place on the 13th, Samsara is now taking place this coming Monday the 18th instead. Tickets are still available and can be reserved at this [Link]

This is what you need to know about the event:

In an introspective attempt to bring the world together with music, we at Camco Global Events are producing the biggest music event in Kuwait with musical composer Nawaf Gheraibah, a local Kuwaiti musician whose music is an expression of his rich multicultural influences. He preformed his composition thesis ‘Bija’ meaning ‘seed’ in Sanskrit; at the prestigious Bayt Lothan in May 2012, where the show was enthusiastically received with standing ovations by the audience and rave reviews by the press and media. After the success of ‘Bija’; Gheraibah has focused his energy on creating the sequel to his initial project.

In his new album named “Samsara”, Sanskrit for ‘rebirth’, reflecting the rebirth of the music of the past in the present. Gheraibah attempts to fuse a variety of tribal and ancestral instruments, poetries, and theories, with more modern day musical concepts. The music is a reflection of modern fusion music, which is conceived through the combination of cultures, customs, and languages; creating a resonance of new age sound.

In this case, a rebirth of Kuwait’s musical past, which is reflected in the album, as Gheraibah experiments with fusing traditional work songs from Kuwait’s golden era of pearl diving and trade with a more modern day tunes. The music carries a variety of ethnic influences such as Indian, Thai, Moroccan, African, Middle Eastern and European, blending them into an artistic interpretation of sound and song. The songs are in a variety of languages: Arabic, French, Swahili, Portuguese, Hindi, and English, and will be sung by a variety of singers.

Approximately thirty instrumentalists and singers will be performing on stage during the concert; a majority of which are Kuwaiti students from the Higher Institute of Musical Arts, Kuwait. In addition, a variety of musical students and professionals from other countries, such as Egypt, Qatar, Bahrain, Oman, Lebanon, India, Jordan, Korea, Poland, Czechoslovakia, and Sudan will be preforming as well.

Date: Monday, November 18th 2013
Time: 7:00PM
Location: GUST University Amphitheatre, Mishref [Map]

For more information visit their Facebook Page

Update: Due to the storm the event has been postponed till November 23rd.

Either ban smoking or make smoking legal. Either ban Niqab driving or make Niqab driving legal. Do not make it illegal and then not enforce the law. That causes a violent society.

Gulf Business has published a hard hitting article by Dr. Naif Al-Mutawa on the rise of violence in Kuwait. In the article Dr. Naif talks about the recent mall crimes that have been taking place and how the lack of law enforcement in day to day life could be a possible reason behind the rise in violence. It’s a very opinionated piece which for some odd reason reminded me of the novel Lord of the Flies. The article is around a page and half long but worth the read so check it out [Here]

Cinemagic will be playing the two movies below this weekend:

Thursday November 14th, 2013 at 7:30PM
Badlands
Cinematic master Terrence Malick’s first film is a lyrical and sometimes beautiful look at disturbing events. Based on the Starkweather-Fugate killing spree of the 1958, in which a fifteen-year-old girl and her twenty-five-year-old boyfriend slaughtered her entire family and several others in the Dakota badlands, Badlands was the film to launch the career of the multiple award winning filmmaker and is still called by many critics to be his best film.

Saturday November 16th, 2013 at 7:30PM
Encounters at the End of the World
On over 15 top ten lists of 2008, and winner of Best Documentary at multiple film festivals, veteran documentarian and madman Werner Herzog takes his camera to the McMurdo Station in Antartica, looking to capture the continent’s beauty an investigate the characters living there.

For more information click [Here]

The Shakshooka nomadic farmers market is taking place tonight from 6PM to 7PM at the Tilal Gallery. If you don’t know where the place is, here it is on [Google Maps]

Don’t forget to bring cash and a carrying bag if you will be buying stuff.

Photo above by @faisalthef

This is my last post on Abu Dhabi but I actually posted it on Blog Baladi since it’s related to Lebanon as well. Those of you who visit Lebanon in the summer and party at Skybar probably know that they close down in the winter because of the weather. Well Skybar are now launching O1NE in Beirut next month and it’s basically Skybar but indoors.

While I was in Abu Dhabi last weekend I found out they had opened up there so I ended up passing by to check it out. What I really wanted to see was the interior since a friend of mine who works for Skybar had previously told me they designed the interior with the concept to project visuals across the full 360 degrees of the interior. The outcome looks pretty great and if you’re curious to see how O1NE in Beirut will end up looking like check out my post [Here]

The local real estate website Re.com.kw have launched an iPhone app that allows you to view and search through their directory using your iPhone. I played with it for a bit and found it practical to use but also spotted some limitations compared to using the actual website from your desktop browser. For one thing the app doesn’t show you multiple pictures of a location and secondly the search function is more limited. In any case the app is for free and you can download it from the Apple Store either by searching for re.com.kw or by clicking this [Link]

Teams Association for Cricket in Kuwait (TACK) is holding a “Four Nations Tournament” this coming Friday over at the cricket grounds near Entertainment City. The four nations competing are Kuwait, India, Pakistan and Sri Lanka and the schedule is as follows:

Date: Friday, November 15th 2013

Match 1 – 7:00AM
Kuwait vs India

Match 2 – 10:30AM
Pakistan vs Sri Lanka

Match 3 – 2:00PM
3rd & 4th posiiton match

Match 4 – 6:00PM
Finals

Other than the thrilling T20 matches there will also be entertainment shows, food stalls, quizzes, traditional stalls, face painting and much more. It’s going to be a fun day outdoors basically. For more details including the map of the location check out the flyer [Here]

Red Bull just uploaded a video of their Car Park Drift event which took place in Kuwait last month. Two of the winners were eventually flown to Dubai to compete against other winners from the region. A drifter from Lebanon ended up winning the event a few days ago. [YouTube]

I don’t really have that much information on this other than a friend of mine accidentally revealing to me in a conversation that a friend of theirs is getting Chipotle to Kuwait. I couldn’t dig out any more information so take this news with a grain of salt. Chipotle if you aren’t aware is a chain of restaurants specializing in burritos and tacos. I’ve personally never tried it before but everyone who has says they’re ridiculously good. If I find out anything more I’ll let you know.

You can follow @twofortyeightam if you’d like to know whenever a new post is up. The account is strictly connected to the blog while @mark248am is my personal twitter account.

If you’re in London this month you’re in for a treat since Out of Kuwait is an exhibit based in London that brings together the works of thirteen emerging Kuwaiti artists who have examined and reinterpreted the theme of landscape. The Kuwaiti artists are:

Adel Ashkanani
Ahmad Alshammeri
Amani Althuwaini
Aseel Al Yaqoub
AbdulAziz Alhumaidhi
Mohammed Sharaf
Mona Al-Qanai
Mohammed Alkouh
Muneera Alsharhan
Nima Algooneh
Roa Alshaheen
Thuraya Lynn
Zahra Al-Muhdi

Out of Kuwait is the culmination of a two-year project between the British Council, the Royal College of Art (RCA), the National Council for Culture, Arts and Letters (NCCAL) in Kuwait and Kuwait’s Contemporary Art Platform (CAP).

Private Viewing: Wednesday 13th November, 2013
Exhibition Discussion: Thursday 14th November, 2013 (2 to 5PM)
Exhibition Dates: 14 – 28 November 2013 (closed Mondays)
Exhibition Time: 10AM to 6PM
Location: Edge of Arabia, 40 Elcho Street, London, SW11 4AU
Admission is free. [email protected]

Here is a link to the event’s Facebook Page

It’s like KD6 for just milk…

I don’t remember exactly when I heard this story for the very first time and there are different variations but the one I remember went something like this:

Supposedly a man who wasn’t dressed well walked into the Rolls Royce dealer and was checking out the cars. The man asked the salesman how much the car cost and the salesman replied you wouldn’t be able to afford it. The man upset left the dealership and came back another day, purchased the Rolls Royce, had it painted orange and turned it into a taxi cab.

I always thought it was just a myth but I got the photograph above today on Whatsapp and turns out the story did happen although not like the one I had heard. The story apparently is that the local dealerships were at a car show in Geneva and the Rolls Royce dealer teased the Buick dealer telling him that he was practically selling taxis. The Buick dealer got bothered and bought the Rolls Royce and turned it into a taxi to piss him off.

Update: Added more photographs

On the occasion of Movember my friend put together the video above. [YouTube]

Thanks Infinite Driver

There’s an interesting lecture this coming Wednesday at AUK called Kuwait’s Urban Crisis that will be presented by Dr. Farah Al-Nakib.

Over the past couple of years Kuwait has witnessed fatal stabbings of young men in shopping malls and an escalation of similar violent crimes in so-called “public” places, prompting valid questions over the rise in youth violence in Kuwait. Rather than positing answers, this talk identifies these stabbings and the public reactions to them as symptoms of a broader social malaise and urban crisis in Kuwait, and situates them within a historical context of Kuwait’s evolving urbanism and the loss of what French urban theorist Henri Lefebvre refers to as a “right to the city.” The talk then highlights seemingly disparate and unrelated sites, practices, and movements emerging in Kuwait today that have the potential to collectively create an urban alternative and alleviate this looming crisis.

Date: Wednesday, 13 November 2013
Time: 5:00PM
Location: AUK Auditorium