Nancy Ajram, Sean Paul and The 5 are among the headliners of this year’s Beats on the Beach, the free annual music festival staged on the Corniche to coincide with the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix.
Also performing in the capital during the race weekend, from November 24 to 26, will be Filipino pop sensation Yeng Constantino, and Jordanian crooner Adham Nabulsi, with more big names to be revealed soon.
The event, which attract tens of thousands of fans, kicks off on November 24 with a headline slot from Constantino, a household name at home after her big break on television show Pinoy Dream Academy in 2006.
Support comes from fan favourite Shamma Hamdan, who was the first Emirati woman to make it to the finals of reality-TV show, Arabs Got Talent.
There is more local talent on display in the evening from UAE-based Secrecy Over Supremacy, who performed last year as winners of the annual Emerging Talent Competition.
The same stage will host the three finalists in this year’s talent search, with the winning act graduating to a headline slot at the closing concert on November 26.
The action shifts up a gear on November 25, with Sean Paul taking the main slot. A regular UAE visitor, the Jamaican dance-hall Grammy-winner should bring his full band and dancers. Expect to hear hits including Get Busy and Temperature.
More exciting, perhaps, for younger audience members might be the first high-profile live performance in the UAE from Arab boy band The 5. The hotly hyped reality-TV stars have yet to give a major live show, after appearing as finalists in last year’s edition of X Factor Middle East.
Joining the boys on the bill that night is Nabulsi, another former X Factor Middle East contestant, and UAE teen sensation Ester Eden, who arrives fresh from releasing a new single, Here We Go, with producer Shaun Warner.
The biggest name of all rolls around on the final night, when Lebanese superstar Nancy Ajram will perform. One of the most famous faces of the Arab world, the 33-year-old singer released her first album when she was just 15, and has won three World Music Awards since.
After close to two decades in the music industry, Ajram is also known for her influential role as Unicef’s first female ambassador for the Middle East and North Africa.
You can also expect more local talent on the final day in the shape of funk-rock troupe Bull Funk Zoo, who recently released their second album, Dangerous Radio.
The line-up was announced by promoters Flash Entertainment, organisers of the annual Yasalam festivities that accompany the F1 weekend. Another batch of acts will be announced early next month. If last year’s bill is anything to go by, we could see a splash of Bollywood glamour and more urban music acts.
Previous Beats on the Beach acts have included Faithless, J Cole, Missy Elliott and Saad Lamjarred.
Billed as the “largest citywide entertainment festival run by any international race host city”, other Yasalam attractions include the ever-popular F1 FanZone, and the colourful Urban Art Zone, both of which will brighten up Abu Dhabi Corniche.
For a fourth year, Yasalam will also host the annual Get Driver Fit programme, which aims to combine healthy-living advice with a motorsports theme, through a series of events leading up to the race weekend. The seven-week programme culminates in the Get Driver Fit Challenge on November 17, which features a giant obstacle course – a “Muscle Beach” – and a variety of fitness classes at the GDF Fitness Zone on the Corniche.
The big race weekend itself takes place from November 25 to 27 at Yas Marina Circuit. Headlining the After Race Concerts at du Arena – open only to race-ticket holders – are The Chemical Brothers on November 25, Lionel Richie on November 26 and Rihanna on November 27.
• For ticket packages and more information, visit www.yasmarinacircuit.com
rgarratt@thenational.ae
