This week’s editorial musings
from magpie’s nest
The quote: Just remember: what you’re seeing and what you’re reading is not what’s happening Donald Trump …
What’s a Tamaas Festival? It’s happening this evening in NYUAD’s East Plaza, it features three terrific acts (Yasmeen Hamdan, Maruja Limón, Al-Qasar), and it looks a bargain at The Arts Center’s standard AED 105 ticket price. But what makes it so special? We asked The Arts Center’s main man Bill Bragin about the thinking behind it and why those three were selected for the programme. Here’s our feature …
Signing with Spotify Dubai Culture has signed a MoU with Spotify to support “talent development, professional growth, and long-term sustainability in the music industry”. We’re not sure what’s actually involved – the press release has lots of vaguenesses about “the exchange of insights” and “programmes that expand access for Emirati and UAE-based artists to resources and platforms that support professional growth, enhance competitiveness within the music sector, and deepen audience understanding through specialised data and analytics” as well as “practical support designed to help creatives sustain and progress their careers” and “a series of music-led projects that spotlight Dubai’s creative community”. So maybe Spotify is going to allow access to some of its voluminous data about listening habits and algorithms for pushing specific music towards the individual user; maybe they will contribute to some joint professional development programmes; and possibly there will be actual live music events. The irony of course is that Spotify famously pays artists less than just about every other streaming platform, so its lessons for musicians probably won’t include too much about actually making a living from music …
Prizes for places to go The blooloop Innovation Awards (which celebrate creativity and innovation in the visitor attractions business) include some spectacular tech and brilliant ideas. Winners included some UAE candidates – Ferrari World’s Esports Arena, Yas Waterworld, a couple for SeaWorld Yas Island, and first place in the ‘Immersive Experience – Culture’ category for teamLab Phenomena Abu Dhabi (which is as it should be) …
All that glitters Someone hasn’t got the message about Dubai being keen to moderate its international image – a key feature of the newly announced Dubai Gold District will be “the world’s first Gold Street”. Yep, that’s a street constructed from gold, “created as a distinctive attraction for tourists and visitors to the district” …
UAE does AI The UAE has an AI adoption rate of 64%, the highest in the world in 2025. That number is the proportion of the country’s working-age population that used AI at least once during the second half of 2025. Singapore is 2nd at 60.9%, with other early adopters like Singapore, Norway, Ireland, France, and Spain in the 40-47% range. Microsoft’s Global AI Adoption in 2025 report looked at AI usage across 147 countries worldwide; the average was just 16.3%, with the US sitting at 28.3% despite all the tech bro promotion …
Capital laughs Abu Dhabi is getting a new standup venue – Dubomedy is bringing its Friday Night Comedy format to Nalu, the restaurant/lounge in the Surf Abu Dhabi complex on Al Hudayriyat. First night of what we’re told will be a regular gig is tomorrow. The Dubai original at Social Distrikt has become a staple of the city’s live entertainment scene, particularly because of the surprise drop-ins by big names. For Abu Dhabi, we’re told that “audiences can expect big laughs, rotating killer line-ups, and a weekly comedy experience done right …” It’ll be interesting to see how well this venue holds up, given that it’s a bit of a schlep from downtown Abu Dhabi. Details here …
Diary dates Art Basel Qatar opens 5 Feb; Vivaldi rescored for Arabic instruments is next for the UAENO’s repertoire (7 Feb); the Jameel’s Creative Career Days are back to point the young in the right direction (7-8 Feb); Animenia returns to Manarat Al Saadiyat 11-15 Feb for five days of cosplay and J-pop culture …
Useful app of the week ScreenLight transforms any Chrome browser tab into a beautiful minimal light source — good for video calls, but also handy for photography or just ambient lighting while you work. Select colour and hue, temperature, ambient presets, and the ability to add notes or doodles to the screen. It’s great to have running behind a video call app like Zoom. More here …
Something for the weekend With Chains you link one word to another to create … well, a chain. Links might be synonyms, related terms, parts of a name … You can set the degree of difficulty, and there’s a cryptic version too which is pretty fiendish. Try it here …
Things we didn’t know no.94 Dubai is estimated to have 30% of all of the cranes in the world …
Earworm of the week Al-Qasar ft. Mamani Keita & Cheick Tidiane Seck : Promises
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