UAE | Heritage and Culture

Abu Dhabi continues contemporary world music concerts this month

Flamenco phenomenon Diego Amador and Badila Ensemble's mystical Sufi blend featured.

  • Staff Report
  • Published: 23:35 January 4, 2009
  • Gulf News

  • Image Credit: Supplied picture
  • The Badila Ensemble will be performing on January 15.

Abu Dhabi: The Abu Dhabi Authority for Culture and Heritage (ADACH) continues its highly acclaimed series of contemporary world music concerts this month with the avant-garde flamenco of Diego Amador and the mystical Sufi blend of the Badila Ensemble.

"We have been impressed by the response of the audience that has filled Al Dhafra Auditorium on every single occasion: a diverse mix of nationalities, ethnicities, ages and social backgrounds, united by a love of music from jazz to folk to fusion. They gave standing ovations and demanded encores from such a variety of artists as Liu Fang, Dennys Baptiste and Taksim Trio," the ADACH's director of arts and culture Abdullah Salim Al Amiri said in a press statement.

Encouraged

"With this kind of audience on board we are encouraged to continue bringing to Abu Dhabi the superb artists we have engaged this year, hoping that we make a small contribution to people's understanding of the incredible uniting force that is music around the world," he said.

On Thursday Diego Amador, a Spanish musical phenomenon, will play at the Cultural Foundation auditorium. His music is popular for mixing the traditional with vanguard flamenco in a truly original style.

A self-taught pianist and composer, he also sings and plays almost every possible instrument from guitar to percussion. His sound has elements of jazz but above all is unmistakably marked by its flamenco passion.

On January 15 the Badila Ensemble/France, India, Pakistan will perform.

The show is an extraordinary intercontinental ensemble. Initiated by the French percussionist Bastien Lagatta, it is a project of refined fusion between Western and Eastern soundscapes, where Islamic influences merge with Hindu traditions and Indian rhythms converge with Arab and Iranian melodies.

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