The UAE is hosting a series of traditional dhow sailing, rowing races, heritage events and activities, over the course of the first Dubai Marine and Heritage Festival 2013 festival, putting the spotlight on UAE’s marine heritage.
The purpose of the festival is to deliver an educational and cultural message to the new generation. It aims to direct their interest to the valuable marina heritage in which it holds strong symbols of persistence, goodness and challenge.
The festival revives the unique marina history of the Gulf region through various activities and events that are organized on Dubai beaches. Additionally, the festival, which will be organized annually, will be in synchronization with the final rounds for marina seasonal races.
The activities include tailoring the sale ship competition, a national products exhibition, scooping pearls from oysters, coastal crafts, popular local brands, Arabic hospitality and tourists guides speaking in over 12 languages, including English, French, Dutch and Russian.
The festival embraces local seafood and the region’s distinctive cultural and social concept of hospitality.
Also participating in the festival are Emirati bakery and local restaurants such as AlMultqa, which is owned by Saif Harib AlFalahi, an Emirati citizen with a great passion for Gulf marina history.
Arab News spoke to AlFalahi about his contribution to the marina heritage in the Gulf.
“The Gulf local food is one of the world’s most delicious cuisines. Unfortunately, it is not properly presented, positioned or supported.
I have been working in this field for the past 30 years and I am still learning about it; it is a very rich culture which my mother, whom I believe was a master chef, introduced me to, and since then I have been passionately working on providing the best of it,” he said.
On his restaurant’s growth plans, he said: “I will definitely not stop where I am in my culture and cuisine journey and I will continue to grow in every possible way to create awareness of the amazing local food my country is offering. I wish we can see an exhibition for local food at the level of the Gulf countries level. Not only it will put our cuisine on the international culinary map, but Emiratis will know about Saudis, Kuwaitis will know about Bahrainis and so on. It will create a heritage network that can actually change the perception of local food, especially in the minds of the youth.”
The festival is running from April 13-20 in various locations such as the Jumeira Beach, The Heritage Village and Dubai National Marine Club.
UAE heritage shines at Dubai marine fest
UAE heritage shines at Dubai marine fest
‘How to Get to Heaven from Belfast’ — chaotic, clever caper from ‘Derry Girls’ creator Lisa McGee
DUBAI: The well-deserved success of her sitcom “Derry Girls” — which followed four Northern Irish Catholic schoolgirls and their English male cousin growing up in the Nineties towards the end of the period euphemistically known as ‘The Troubles’ (30 years of horribly violent sectarian conflict) — means expectations are high for this latest creation from Lisa McGee. She does not disappoint.
“How to Get to Heaven from Belfast” again centers around a group of Irish female friends, though this time they’re in their late thirties. But they have been mates since their days as Northern Irish Catholic schoolgirls. The three core friends are the endearingly goofy Dara (Caoilfhionn Dunne), Saoirse (Roisin Gallagher) — the writer of a successful crime show — and Robyn (Sinéad Keenan), a wealthy, highly strung mother of four. All three receive notification that their old school friend Greta (Natasha O’Keefe) has died. And despite the fact that they’ve barely been in contact with her for 20 years, all three drop what they’re doing and head to a small town in County Donegal (where they used to go to school) for her funeral. Why? Because, we find out through flashbacks, when they were kids, the four of them did a Bad Thing — in order to help Greta — and they want to know how much anyone else might know about it.
They quickly discover that Greta’s death was somewhat mysterious and decide to do some amateur sleuthing. What they uncover leaves them reeling; and doubting both the stories Greta told them decades ago and the stories they’ve told themselves about their role in the Bad Thing.
McGee showcases her mastery of plotting — keeping numerous plates spinning at a pace that can, at times, be overwhelming — and of imbuing characters with such heart and humanity that even at their most cartoonish they remain relatable and sympathetic.
Gallagher, Dunne and Keenan are superb as the central trio, displaying the loving exasperation and fierce derision that only long-term friends can share for each other. The rest of the cast more than match up — particularly Emmett J Scanlan as Greta’s sinister husband Owen, the local police chief, and, in a joyfully unhinged cameo, “Derry Girls” star Saoirse-Monica Jackson.
There’s murder, violence, slapstick, weirdness, pathos, ethical dilemmas, tension, silliness and shocks. All carried off with a deftness of touch that belies just how hard it is to successfully put them together in the same show.
It does occasionally cross the line into outright nonsense, but for the most part “How to Get to Heaven from Belfast” is fantastic television.
