For this season of Earwormz, we decided to focus on the live music scene of Abu Dhabi. Luckily for us, the NYU Abu Dhabi Arts Center was hosting a three-stage music festival last Friday. Barzakh is best described with its own description — “a place in the sea where salt and sweet water meet one another and coexist but don’t dilute one another.” On the last day of January, NYUAD’s Arts Center hosted over nine different artists representing as many nationalities in a sound chamber melting with artists that resist genre-typing.

What we had that night was a buffet, and it was up to us to sample whatever we wanted and anything we could. With more than four acts debuting in the Middle East or the UAE for the first time, the selection could sometimes feel overpowering.

BCUC, from Soweto, South Africa, wove together a set including ritual, shebeen, and church songs infused with rap in a rock and roll setting as Bokante, led by Snarky Puppy founder Michael League, used percussive sounds to comment on the rising hostility and exclusion in the human ethos. Cuban-French duo La Dame Blanche furthered the resistance by finding a soundscape that integrated hip hop, cumbia, dancehall, and reggae. UAE’s own NOON rendered a stunning interpretation of Umm Kulthum, working above and beyond their oriental jazz-prog-fusion. All this while Sofiane Saidi and Mazalda’s commanding beats and thundering vocals punched out the sounds of the Algerian-French electronic renaissance. Not to mention four DJ’s, two of which are from our very own BPM Student Interest Group.

In all honesty, the choices were unprecedented. I find myself walking towards the Blackbox to catch RV’s set, only to be stopped in the East Plaza by BCUC and lead singer Zithulele Zabani Nkosi’s commanding presence. In reality, the performance covered more of a ritualistic chant, and the release of emotion was mesmerizing. Breaking the trance, I make it to the RV’s minimalist set and continue dancing my brains out. Running back to the East Plaza for 15 minutes for some more BCUC, I go back to the Blackbox for QXTAIBA’s set. Then into the Red Theatre for NOON’s renditions of Umm Kulthum, a much-needed seated break and a grounding experience paying homage to the mother of Arabic music. Back to the Blackbox, I’m dancing again to the high energy beats of La Dame Blanche, only to catch Sofiani Saidi & Mazalda throw a party with energy levels topping Omar Souleyman. In all my years in the Middle East, I have never heard a voice like Sofiani’s coupled so effortlessly with analog synthesizers. Running back to witness the pleasure of Bokante’s musical blends, I end the five hour dance-a-thon with mixes of Palestinian sounds and modern electronic with Karrouhat.

Aravind goes to craft his own journey.

I walked into Ammar 808, who commanded a completely different space in the Black Box compared to La Dame Blanche’s setup. Ammar stood commanding his live setup like weapons, throwing down percussive beats from Eastern and Western traditions. Layering the sounds of 808 state, he uses the Roland TR-808 drum machine pumping over gnawa trance music. The visuals are also live, swaying with pan-like creatures, part-man and part goat. As we get lost in the hypnotizing drum beats, I look at my mate from Kochi in absolute disbelief as he plays a drum kit sampled from our local drum, Chenda.

Again, unprecedented. It’s important to put all of these acts, spanning the corners of the world, into context. The unity of performers in their talent, in their love of music, was inspiring for any of the hundreds of attendees, musician or not. The growth of music is truly underway in the region, highlighting not only bands and artists coming to life in the UAE, but forming international ties and artistic community — the UAE, Cuba, France, Tunisia, Algeria, Palestine, South Africa. And to think, this rebranding of history and the music scene of Abu Dhabi is happening right in our backyard.

Relive the glory here, or check out the sounds you missed: