From Parekh & Singh to Jaye & Foe: Expo 2020 Dubai announces live music programme

Expo Beats will kick off alongside the Expo 2020 on October 1, running on a monthly basis until March

Six-piece Dubai band Jaye & Foe will perform at the Late Nights @ Expo series. Photo: Jaye & Foe

Expo 2020 Dubai has announced a music programme tomatch the global nature of the event.

The centrepiece of the programme is the Expo Beats music festival, which will kick off alongside the exposition on October 1, running on a monthly basis until March 2022.

Each of the six events that comprise Expo Beats will be held under a distinct musical theme.

The festival will kick off with the World Beats event, bringing together disparate talents from around the world. November’s Jubilee Beats will be held in honour of the UAE’s Golden Jubilee and focus on artists with ties to the country. The Tribal Beats event in December will explore the music of dance from countries such as Tanzania and Bangladesh.

City Beats in January will celebrate artists from some of the most teeming metropolises including New York and New Delhi. February’s Desert Beats will focus on the Mena region and feature musicians from desert-dwelling communities. The concluding event, Island Beats, in March, will explore the island influences of Hawaii, the Philippines and the Caribbean.

The series will take place once a month at Expo 2020 Dubai's Jubilee Stage, typically running for eight hours.

The performances will blend genres and create fusions, allowing the exhibition’s visitors to experience traditional and contemporary sounds in novel ways. The festival programme will also include dance, visual, lyrical and narrative performances.

The line-up includes Indian dream pop duo Parekh & Singh, and the finalist of the Australian version of The X Factor, Jaymie Deville. Talents from around the country will also be featured in the festival, including Dubai singer-songwriter Rony Sarkis, indie outfit As Per Casper, as well as the three-piece band Noon, known for electronic sounds infused with funk, African and Indian grooves.

There will also be a weekly musical series, Late Nights @ Expo, held every Thursday and Friday on the Jubilee Stage throughout the exhibition. The aim of the series is to push artists from different parts of the world to collaborate and perform together.

Those performing include Syrian composer Iyad Rimawi, Jordanian songwriter Dina Stars, the funk rock act from Dubai Carl & The Reda Mafia, Chilean singer Sergio Catalan, Serbian songwriter Aleksandra Krstic, and Colombian singer Fatiniza, as well as Jaye & Foe, the six-piece Dubai band known for their jazz and reggae-infused sound.

The musical events of Expo 2020 Dubai will all be held in accordance with Covid-19 health and safety measures as mandated by the government.