What to expect at Dubai Music Week 2015

Dubai Music Week offers concerts, panel discussions and special documentary screening by Jared Leto.

Ellie Goulding will be performing tomorrow. Ross Gilmore / Redferns

The gigs

Jason Derulo and Two Tone

• Wednesday, September 23

A UAE regular, Derulo performed a show in Abu Dhabi as part of last year’s Beats on The Beach, as well as a 2013 support slot for Alicia Keys, not to mention Dubai club visits to People by Crystal and Movida — but that hasn’t diminished the buzz ahead of this headline performance.

Born in Florida to Haitian parents, 25-year-old Derulo got an early break in music writing tunes for stars such as rappers P Diddy and Lil Wayne before launching a solo career that has clocked singles sales of 50 million worldwide. His biggest hits include Talk Dirty, Wiggle and that ubiquitous 2009 chart topper Watcha Say.

Derulo will be supported by the UAE-based Two Tone. The gig is a homecoming performance for the Moroccan rapper, real name Rachid Be Messaoud, after winding up a hectic summer during which he played to crowds of more than 50,000 across Europe, and warmed up for reggaeton star Daddy Yankee as well as huge festival gigs at Murcia’s Magic Manga and Barcelona’s Flow Summer Festival.

His latest single Weli Liya featuring Star Academy superstar Ibtissam Tiska has more than 2.3 million views. Two Tone has also been enlisted to open for French Motana and Akon at Dubai's Meydan Racecourse on October 8.

Ellie Goulding

• Thursday, September 24

Sick of being best known to many people as the subject of Ed Sheeran's bitter-but-catchy put-down song Don't – in which he accuses former fling Goulding of being unfaithful with a boy-band member – Goulding managed to get her own back. New single On My Mind spitefully retorts to the Great Ginger One: "You wanted my heart, but I just liked your tattoos". Ouch.

The tune marks an early taste of her forthcoming third album, Delirium, which includes UK number one Love Me Like You Do from the Fifty Shades of Grey soundtrack, and the Calvin Harris collaboration Outside. Goulding's broody last UAE performance – cueing up the fireworks at 2012's Sandance NYE – was an ill-timed buzz-kill, so here's hoping this solo stage will offer Goulding adequate opportunity to shine.

• For all concerts, doors open at 7pm. Tickets, from Dh295, are available at www.platinumlist.ae

The celebs

Dubai Music Week offers fans the opportunity to ask questions to the stars.

Today, Jason Derulo will lead a live Q&A, hosted by Virgin Radio’s Kris Fade. The free session is open to the first 1,000 concert-ticket holders who arrive from 2pm, with the talk starting at 3pm. Questions can be sent in advance via Twitter, using the hashtags #DMW2015 and #AskJasonDerulo. The people who submit the top five questions will be offered priority and front-row access.

On Friday, Hollywood star Jared Leto will talk to fans – but only after they’ve sat through his 101-minute documentary about his band, Thirty Seconds to Mars. Directed by Leto under the pseudonym Bartholomew Cubbins, Artifact is a bitter polemic chronicling the band’s US$30 million (Dh110m) legal dispute with record label EMI.

Tickets for the screening, starting at 2pm, cost Dh88 from www.ticketmaster.ae.

Free tunes

More than a dozen local acts will showcase original material on a free festival stage in the Entertainment Village each day from today until Friday, between 1pm and 7pm.

The hottest picks include inventive singer-songwriter Gaya at 6.30pm tonight, psychedelic new band Muhaisnah Four at 6.30pm tomorrow, and soulful singer Saffron Collins at 1pm on Friday. Refreshments will be available from ever-trendy food trucks.

The biz

A series of six one-hour BizTalks panel discussions will give music fans the chance to hear from industry insiders. Topics include How Social Media Took Over from Television, How to Get Famous, and Trends in Broadcasting Music Content via VOD. To register for free tickets, head to www.dubaimusicweek.ae.

Masterclasses

Want to learn from the pros? Daily one-hour performance workshops will be hosted from today until Friday. At 1pm each day, leading B-boy Jessy Kemper will lead a street-dance session. At 3pm, celebrity vocal coach Cece Sammy, known for work on Pop Idol, The X Factor, The Voice UK and America's Got Talent, will teach a tutorial. And at 5pm, Kendra Horsburgh, team leader with performance troupe Blaze, will lead a contemporary dance workshop. Sessions cost Dh150 – register at www.dubaimusicweek.ae and pay on the day.