Dubai Shopping Festival 2013 Presents Lighter Side Of Life As Dubai International Comedy Carnival Gets Underway
The Dubai International Comedy Carnival, one of the most eagerly anticipated of events of the Dubai Shopping Festival this year, got off to a bright start on Tuesday, 22nd January at the Dubai Festival City complex amidst much fanfare with the release of traditional Arabic “fanoos” or fire balloons, along with the preliminaries of several competitions for young amateurs, a concert by well-known UAE singer Hamdan Al Abri and, of course, comedy sessions.
Dubai-based comic artist Mina Liccione, one of the founders of the carnival organizers Dubomedy, introduced the event and held the opening and qualification rounds of the competitions for aspiring young comedians in which they were handed out topics for comedy films or stand-up sessions in which they would compete. Then followed the concert by Al Abri, one of the brightest young musical talents to come out of the UAE in recent times. A singer-songwriter, Al Abri is the front man and one of the founders of the Dubai-based soul band ABRI. He has garnered great acclaim recently with his albums Sunchild and Blank Notes, has toured countries such as India, Bahrain and the UK with his band and performed alongside leading international names such as Erykah Badu, Ziggy Marley, Arrested Development, Kanye West and Joss Stone.
In the Carnival’s first official comedy session at 8pm on Wednesday (January 23), Lebanon’s “King of Comedy” Nemr Abou Nassr and Liccione, who is also known as the UAE’s “First Lady of Comedy”, had the audience in splits with their stand-up acts. The shows will continue at 8pm today (Thursday) with Saudi comedy stars Bader Saleh and Thamer Al Hamzi, who will present their Arabic comedy performances.
Emirate: Dubai
Date: Jan 23, 2013
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