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Kuwait Rising is an alternative music festival which is going to be held in Kuwait this coming weekend (Friday, 28th October) and feature artists from around the world including:

El Rass (Lebanon)
Lebanese rapper El Rass, or Mazen El Sayed’s talent is represented in switching naturally from classical Arabic language, to the spoken Lebanese dialect, tackling a wide range of sensitive subjects and realms. An emphatic on-stage performer, El Rass draws material from the ancient and the modern, the spiritual and the worldly.

Al Nather (Palestine)
Al Nather (Mohammad Masrujah), is a flautist, percussionist, vocalist and producer based in Ramallah. As a producer, Al Nather’s focus is sampling while occassionally developing original works of art. He constitutes a part of a hip-hop crew based also in Ramallah called [ – 1]. He’s produced music for numerous artists including Edd Abbas (Lebanon), El Rass (Lebanon), Abyusif (Egypt) and Bu Kulthoum (Syria). His influences range from classical Arabic music to extremely experimental works.

Muqata’a (Palestine)
Muqata’a (Boikutt) is a musician and MC based in Ramallah, Palestine. Creating sounds using sampled material, field recordings, and electronic devices, the results range between hip-hop, downtempo, glitch, ambient and experimental. He has composed and produced music for artists such as Kronos Quartet, Bukue One, Spiritchild, Tamer Abu-Ghazaleh and others, and has appeared as an MC on albums for artists such as Heliodrome, Slovo, Bonnot, and Lethal Skillz to name a few.

Nada El Shazly (Egypt)
Nada El Shazly is an Egyptian singer, composer and music producer who works and lives in Cairo. Nada is currently preparing for her first album, which is an extension of the first show she presented a few years ago in Cairo, Alexandria, Beirut and Montreal. Nada composes and produces her own music using her voice alongside various electronic technique besides playing sax and piano. Her journey is filled with transformations that give her music a profound identity and mirrors her experience in music from various places and different times.

Sulk Station (Nepal / India)
One of India’s distinctive talents, Sulk Station are creating their own brand of lush, moody and hypnotic music set in a heavenly ambience. Tanvi Rao’s sultry vocals layered over Rahul Giri’s minimalist production creates an innovative template of sounds, which allows the two to play out extremely compelling tunes. Their songs are a mix of contemporary electronic genres (trip-hop/ambient) with traces of Indian classical music, rendered by Tanvi, and unlike anything coming out of India.

The event is hosted by Zahed Sultan and will take place at DAI in Yarmouk with limited tickets costing KD15 each. For more information on the event including a link to buy tickets, click [Here]

248AM has teamed up with Zahed Sultan and Red Bull to giveaway two festival tickets to one lucky winner. All you need to do to enter the draw is leave a comment below mentioning the brand of the energy drink in the flyer above.

I will stop accepting entries in the comments section by tomorrow 9AM and then randomly choose one winner and notify them via email.

Rules: Only one entry per person and please make sure you use a working email since the winner will be contacted by email. If winner doesn’t respond, another winner will be randomly chosen.

Update: I closed the post for comments at 9AM and using random.org chose a winner which was number 42, Aziz. Winner has been contacted by email. Thank you for participating!

Back in August I posted that a Wataniya Airways representative contacted me to let me know they were planning to make a comeback sometime around December/January and it looks like they’re on track. Although no official announcement has been made, the Wataniya Airways website is now up and they’ve listed their flight destinations which are the following:

Bahrain
Egypt
India
Jordan
Lebanon
Pakistan
Saudi Arabia
UAE

Sadly, no European destinations which is what I think was their issue the first time around. Instead of competing with Kuwait Airways with direct flights to European destinations, they were flying regional and competing with a bunch of low cost airlines. I’m sure it has to do with the fact their current planes can’t do long haul flight but if they did fly to London for example, they would only be competing with Kuwait Airways and British Airways with direct flights. On the other hand, by flying to Dubai they’re competing with Kuwait Airways, FlyDubai, Jazeera Airways, Air Arabia and Emirates.

But I’ve never run an airline so I’m probably wrong. Here is a link to their [Website]

For those of you who don’t know Wataniya Airways, they’re a local carrier that launched back in 2009 as a premium airline but ended up losing money and shutting down. Wikipedia have a good summary of the airlines history which you can read [Here]

The Onam Festival is back and will be taking place tomorrow Wednesday the 14th of September. Onam is the biggest and most important festival of the state of Kerala in India and it’s also celebrated here in Kuwait. A few Southern Indian restaurants in Kuwait offer the traditional vegetarian dish the Onasadya during the festival and below are some of those restaurants.

Caesar’s Dakshin Restaurant – Jeleeb Al-Shuyoukh – Al Jawhara Building
Price: KD3.500
Telephone: 24319191, 24310303 [Map]

Udupi Restaurant – Fahaheel – Green Tower
Price: KD2.250
Telephone: 25456565 [Map]

Saravanaa Bhavan – Fahaheel – Humoud Towers
Price: KD2.750
Telephone: 23929099 [Map]

If you know of any more places serving Onam please let me know.

When I launched the section Kuwestions last month I quickly found out that a lot of people were having javascript issues and weren’t able to answer any questions. Well, I think I fixed the issue, I’m not getting those errors anymore on my side so please check it out and let me know if you still run into any problems. [Link]

Last month I launched Kuwikipedia since a lot of people email me asking me questions all the time. I figured I might as well setup a website where people could ask questions related to Kuwait, and them me and other people could answer it for them. Well the site proved to my more useful than I expected it to be so I decided to integrate it into the blog as a section. A twitter follower even helped me come up with a better more descriptive name for the section which is “Kuwestions”.

I’m still fine tuning it a bit but for now it’s up an running so check it out [Here]

Update: Looks like there is a technical issue when trying to answer the questions. Working on fixing that now.

Maybe a bit too honest…

via @qatami

Kuwikipedia is a website I setup yesterday just for fun. I get people emailing me questions all the time and most of the time its questions I had previously answered which becomes frustrating. So I decided from now on anybody that asks a question related to Kuwait I’d post it up on Kuwikipedia along with the answer.

But, I’m hoping it could become community driven site where people could come in ask questions and other people from Kuwait could answer it for them. I don’t have any idea if this will work or not, might end up just being me answering all the questions but since it didn’t take much time to setup, I’m not really losing anything.

So check out Kuwikipedia [Here]

Mr.Fari (A.K.A Amin Fareed Abdal) is one of my favorite local artists as well as a friend of mine. I’ve posted about him on the blog a number of times before and I think he’s super talented (actually his whole family is) which is why I’m excited to share his latest project titled “Plastic Desert Roots”.

Plastic Desert Roots is a collaboration between Mr.Fari and Fabrice. Fabrice Mareau (whom I’ve also posted about before) produced and musically directed the EP to create a whole different folk reggae pop sound while Mr.Fari wrote the songs and melodies to add to the twist. Both Mr.Fari and Fabrice were raised in the Caribbean yet perform in the Middle East all the time. It seems like it was a matter of time they collaborated.

Two songs from “Plastic Desert Roots” are available to stream online for free (music video for one above) while the rest require to be purchased. Mr.Fari will also be playing the whole album on 99.7FM today from 1PM to 3PM and also explain the backstory behind each.

If you want to hear “Plastic Desert Roots” online and also purchase his music, check out his BandCamp page [Here]

To follow Mr.Fari on his social networks, check out the links below. Some lucky fans have received vinyls and also album leaks.

Mr.Fari on Facebook
Mr.Fari on Instagram
Mr.Fari on Twitter
and “mrfari” on Snapchat

Tonight is the final night of the Green Caravan Film Festival and it’s going to take place on the rooftop of CAP (Contemporary Art Platform). Other than short films there will also be live music and food tonight.

If you’ve never been to the rooftop of CAP it’s a great venue and the weather is perfect for it right now. Tickets cost KD5 and are available [Here]

For a map and more details of the event, click [Here]

Kuwait Rising is an alternative Arab music festival which is going to be held in Kuwait this coming weekend (March 11) and feature artists from around the world including HVOB, Perfect Timing, Bosaina and Etyen. The event is hosted by Zahed Sultan at DAI in Yarmouk with limited tickets costing KD15 each.

248AM has teamed up with Zahed Sultan and Red Bull to giveaway two festival tickets to one lucky winner. All you need to do to enter the draw is leave a comment below mentioning the brand of the energy drink in the flyer above.

I will stop accepting entries in the comments section by tomorrow (Tuesday March 8th) at 11PM and then randomly choose one winner and notify them via email.

Rules: Only one entry per person and please make sure you use a working email since the winner will be contacted by email. If winner doesn’t respond, another winner will be randomly chosen.

For more information on the event click [Here]

Update: I closed the post for comments and then using random.org drew a number. The first number was 115 (Dheeraj) but that person had left two comments so they were disqualified. The second number I drew was 49 (Kapish), but that person didn’t have the correct answer so they were also disqualified. Finally the third number I drew was 86 (Amal) so thats the winer and I just sent them an email.

Last month I posted about how I chose to Plasti Dip some of my car parts in matt black. Plasti Dip is a non-permanent paint job that can be peeled off whenever you want. Well last week I parked my car for dinner and when I got back I noticed another car had scraped my bumper peeling some of the Plasti Dip off. So I headed back to MA-FRA to get a touch up thinking it would be a time consuming job but surprisingly it ended up taking less than 15 minutes to fix. The employee used a bit of thinner at first to smoothen out the rips in the paint and then when he was done he sprayed a few layers of Plasti Dip to cover up the rips.

I’ve posted the before and after pictures here and as you can see it looks new again. I’m actually considering buying a can of Plasti Dip so I can just do it myself next time since it seemed fairly easy. I’m now definitely convinced Plasti Dip was a better option for me over foiling.

I’m glad that the Ministry has been putting a lot more effort in the past few months with regulations to sort out issues regarding foreign laborers. Unfortunately though, news outlets in the country have been reporting that the ministry has proposed new minimum wages for domestic workers and I was shocked to see the memo.

Apparently the proposed memo regarding domestic workers states the following:
Filipino: Starting salary range between KD110-120 monthly
Indian: Starting salary range between KD70-85 monthly
Sri Lankan: Starting salary KD70 monthly
Ethiopian, Nepalese, Eritrean, Ghanaian and Madagascan: Starting salary range between KD70-80 monthly

I don’t understand how this would be legal in any country yet alone Kuwait where the constitution clearly states (Article 29) that we are all equal, regardless of gender, race, color and so on. Now I know that we are unfortunately still dealing with the “white man syndrome” where certain nationalities get paid more for the same amount of work compared to other nationalities, but how is that right? And especially when it’s coming from the government itself.

Many people will argue that it’s still a lot of money compared to what they might make back in their country and since they come from different countries they should be paid according to their countries economy. But going by that logic, how would a Kuwaiti feel if they worked in London but got paid based on the the average salary for Kuwait?

If they’re insisting on fixed wages wouldn’t it make more sense the wage changes based on experience or qualifications? For example something like:

Base Salary: KD80
Speakes English: +KD10
Speaks English and Arabic: +KD25
Can Cook: +KD10
Over 5 Years Experience: +KD20
Over 10 Years Experience: +KD50

In any case I hope this all turns out to be a rumor.

Feel free to email me on [email protected] with any legal questions. I do not have the capacity to answer everyone for free (but I try), and I am happy to announce that I am currently working with a great team and therefore we are able to reply back to all emails with a reasonable time frame.

Post by Fajer Ahmed – Legal Counsel
The legal opinions expressed in this post are those of the author Fajer. Opinions expressed by Mark or any other writer on mark248am1.wpenginepowered.com are those of the individual’s and in no way reflect Fajer’s opinion.

Last week I decided I wanted some of my car parts foiled matt black. Foiling is a process where your car gets covered in a sticker like material, it’s an alternative to painting since its temporary. My FJ Cruiser had some grey colored parts which I wanted to turn black but I didn’t want to paint them incase I didn’t like the outcome. So I called a friend asking for a good foiling place and he instead recommended I get the parts Plasti Dipped at a place in Shuwaikh called Ma-Fra.

Plasti Dip falls somewhere in between painting and foiling since it has traits from both. You apply Plasti Dip to your car like paint (as in you spray it), but unlike paint, when you get bored you can peel Plasti Dip off like a sticker just as you would with foiling.

I passed by Ma-Fra on Thursday and got an appointment for Saturday morning. I had also gotten some new silver colored wheels for my car which I wanted to paint in bronze so I decided to get them Plasti Dipped as well. When dropping my car off at Ma-Fra on Saturday I found out they did detailing so had them go ahead and detail my car as well since I was planning on doing that anyway somewhere else.

Plasti Dip is fairly durable as long as you don’t scratch it or peel it off. It’s supposed to last for at least three years although I’m not sure they’ll last that long on my wheels. So how did it turn out?

I dropped my car off Saturday at 9AM and ended up picking up the car the next day at 2PM all painted and shiny. If it wasn’t for the detailing I would have been able to pick up the car on the same day, that’s whats to great about Plasti Dip, it’s fast to do. The parts I blacked out turned out great and blended really well with the rest of the black plastic parts on the car. The wheels also turned out better than I expected.

If you’re wondering how much it cost, I ended up paying KD150 for everything. Originally they wanted KD60 to paint the 9 different parts of my car black, KD50 to paint the wheels (KD10 per wheel) and another KD60 for the detailing. So I basically got a KD20 discount. They also sell cans of Plasti Dip for KD4 a pop if you’re interested to do the work yourself (it’s fairly easy but the masking process is a pain).

Ma-Fra is located in Shuwaikh behind Abyat, here is their location on [Google Maps]

I haven’t been to the animal market next to the Friday market since 2013 but it doesn’t look like anything has changed. Someone recently found the area where the shops were disposing of sick or unwanted pets and it looks horrible. According to the person who posted all the pictures on Facebook, they found 16 cats alive and some kittens sitting on top of their dead mothers corps. It’s depressing how this issue with the animal market is never going to be fixed. Check out the post with more photos [Here]

Back in September when I posted about Abdulai (the school teacher from Ghana), I had a feeling we would be hearing a lot more similar stories. With more people having access to smartphones and internet, I was confident more people would come forward to share their story. Then last week I got the following email from a domestic worker in Kuwait:

Journalism have been one of my passion since childhood but I had these infantile reasoning that being into journalism might also mean you re signing your death warrant.I have witnessed some renowned journalists being killed and other being put into prison custodies with out persecution but that doesn’t move me to give up on ma dreams of becoming one the worlds finest journalists.To be frank this blog has motivated and inspired me a lot.You have given me the reason why I shouldn’t give up on ma dreams I always say “HARDWOR AND DETERMINATION LEADS TO SUCCESS” .Am an African working in Kuwait as a househelp an I will really fight hard to accomplish my dreams when my contract is over

So after a bit of back and forth by email, I convinced her she didn’t have to wait and that she could start writing from now. I told her she should start a blog and I explained to her how she could set one up and be able to post articles from her phone. So she did that and got back to me today to let me know that not only was she able to set up her blog but she had also posted her first post. I’m not sure how often she will be updating the blog, she told me she will try to whenever she is free but in any case its still a big step forward. So check out her post and story on how she ended up in Kuwait by clicking [Here]