Look: Musicians out of the dark in UAE

Palestinian/Jordanian Salem Roubi, 30, a digital marketing specialist based in Dubai, started playing the guitar at the age of 17. 'Spanish Romance' or 'Romanza' was the first song he played. Among the musicians, he would love to meet, and jam with, are Joe Satriani, Marty Friedman and David Gilmour (Pink Floyd). Salem aims to be a well-known session guitarist who can collaborate with some of the most prominent artists.

Nemanja Stankovic, 42, from Serbia, is a chief technology officer working in Dubai. He entered the world of music by playing the piano at the age of ten and guitar and drums when he was 15. The very first song he played was a song called 'Kad sam bio mlad' by a Serbian rock band called Riblja Corba. Stankovic would love to meet and jam with Gary Moore, Bruce Dickinson and James Hetfield, who inspired him the most. He wants to make people feel good while listening to him playing.

Dubai resident Mayssoun El Chamaa from Lebanon, operations director at an events management company, is a singer who has been performing since she was four years old. She used to sing a song of French singer Mireille Mathieu called 'Je suis une femme amoureuse' in full when she was four. Her most favourite singers are Celine Dion, Alicia Keys and Lara Fabian.

Indian expat Muthu Raman, 36, a senior sales executive in Dubai, started playing the guitar at the age of 18. 'They say dreams do come true if you believe and follow them,' Muthu said. 'I was inspired by a lot of musicians like Zak Wilde, Tim Reynolds, John Mayer, but my favourite is John Frusciante,' he added. His dream is to play for a band in rock concerts here in the UAE.

Shehzad Mukhtar, 42, a Pakistani expat and operations manager, started playing the guitar when he was nine years old. 'Satisfaction' (Rolling Stones) was the first song he learnt to play. Eric Clapton, Paul McCartney, Dave Grohl are some of his favourite musicians, while Eric Clapton inspires him the most. "I love to have a large audience singing along whenever I play, and I want to spread happiness and love" Shehzad said.

Farhad Shokri, 37, is an Iranian national and an IT distributor and general manager, resident of Dubai. He started playing the guitar when he was 18 years old. He would love to meet James Hetfield, David Gilmour, Dave Grohl, while Metallica has inspired him the most since he was nine years old. He dreams of making Rock music come back and be popular again like old times.