Music in the desert

Cheb Mami to headline three-hour festival in Dubai

Desert Rhythms will be performing in Dubai on November 12 with a line-up that sees five of the hottest Arabic chart-topping artists of the moment - Yuri Mrakadi, Elissa, Aline Khalaf, Maysam Nahass and Cheb Mami performing under the same billing at a three-hour Arabic music festival.

The festival will be held at the Dubai Tennis Stadium, in association with the Aviation Club, Dubai. It is the first of what organisers, CSM, plan to make an annual event, bringing a line-up of four or five chart-topping Arabic artistes to perform at each show.

"When we brought Cheb Mami to perform with Sting in April, he proved to be a tremendous success and was one of the highlights of the concert," said Jackie Wartanian, vice-president, CSM. "We had then spoken to him about scheduling another concert later in the year with him receiving top billing and he was very keen. The idea then developed into a festival of Arabic music, with other top artists of the moment joining Cheb on stage," she added.

Tickets for the show are priced at Dhs 350 for VIP, Dhs 150 for Arena standing and Dhs 170 for Grandstand seating. Doors open at 8.00pm with the first performance scheduled to begin at 9.30pm, Tickets are available from Planet Hollywood, Virgin Megastores or online with www.csmshows.com and www.godubai.com.

Algerian-born Cheb Mami, also widely-known as the Little Prince of Rai, has secured phenomenal success and crossed international boundaries through his albums such.

as Mama and Meli Meli, his fourth album, and the hit recording with Sting, Desert Rose. Mami's new album Dellali, since its release earlier this year, has also gone on to secure international acclaim.