World-folk troupe Sherazade and LavionRose are set to debut in Abu Dhabi and Dubai next week – making up for a cancelled tour of the emirates almost exactly 12 months earlier.
The globetrotting musical fusionists were set to play in both cities in March 2016, but the plug was pulled at the nth hour due to “visa issues”.
Now Sherazade and LavionRose are making up for lost time, with gigs in Dubai on March 22 and Abu Dhabi a day later, hosted by both emirate’s respective Alliance Française outposts.
The first date takes place in Amsterdam Hub, a new venue in Sofitel Dubai Jumeirah Beach, while the second will be at Mercure Abu Dhabi Centre Hotel.
The project pairs multilingual Russian-Algerian singer Sherazade with folky French quintet LavionRose, who together create beguiling sonic East-West fusions – expect to hear haunting folk Gypsy melodies and psych-rock freak-outs alike, sung in no less than six languages.
The project’s beguiling sound is set to be captured on a debut album, currently in production and set for release in September. The musicians will arrive in the UAE fresh from a tour of India and Pakistan, and are on the road to Kuwait and Turkey next.
“This is a very important date for us,” said LavinRose’s keys player Jean-Claude Meurisse of the band’s UAE debut. “We have been invited for a long time to play and it will be a party I hope, a great moment of sharing, music opening to the world.
“Of course, there will be French songs for this evening as March is the month of ‘Francophonie’. But there will also many other songs in other languages.
“We don’t want to reveal more. Come, listen and enjoy.”
[ Read our 2016 interview with lead singer Sherazade here. ]
Sherazade and LavionRose will perform at Amsterdam Hub, Sofitel JBR, on Wednesday March 22 (tickets Dh60 from afdubai.org) and at Mercure Abu Dhabi Centre Hotel on Thursday March 23, both 8pm (members Dh120, non-members Dh140 from www.afabudhabi.org).
rgarratt@thenational.ae
