São Paulo – Brazilian singer-songwriter Midian Almeida (pictured above) will headline Al Ain Music Festival to run from this Thursday (30) night through Saturday (1st). The first day of the festival is themed Composers Night, and Midian will sing her own songs in voice and guitar, as well as some samba and bossa nova hits. This Thursday’s program runs from 7-9 pm.
The artist has moved to the United Arab Emirates four years ago with her husband, jujitsu teacher Leandro Lima in his new job position for the Arab country’s government. Despite not being one of the seven emirates, Al Ain is the country’s fourth largest city located in Northeast, on the board with Oman, 145 km from Dubai.
“I decided to take this chance with my husband. He came five years ago, and I came one year later with our twins, who were eight months at the time, and saw a market I could explore. [The country] has many hotels and is a world tourism hub. Now I’m the only Brazilian professional singer here in the UAE, so I’m called to public, private and corporate events,” Midian told ANBA by the phone.
Since she arrived in Al Ain, the singer, who had lived for 30 years in Porto Alegre, has noticed a movement towards opening. “Al Ain is a more traditional city. Many Emiratis live here, it’s very quiet and when I arrived, it was much more secluded – I had to be careful with the clothes I wore even to go to the market. Now there are more expatriates living here,” she pondered.
Midian has sung for 26 years and recorded an album, “A Minha Vez,” in 2019, available on digital platforms, featuring the title track and “Louca.” “When I first arrived in October 2015, I introduced myself to the Brazilian community in the UAE in the social media as a singer available for events. Within a month I performed my first gig, and since then I have done several events for Havaianas, Vale, Arab Fashion Week. I have a lot of experience with private and corporate events,” she said.
Al Ain Music Festival brings together several nationalities, featuring artists from England, Australia, Philippines, the UAE, and others. In this fourth edition of the event, Midian will sing her own MPB and pop rock songs as well as bossa nova and samba, including versions of João Gilberto, Vinicius de Moraes, Caetano Veloso, and Tom Jobim. “I try to bring the true Brazilian music,” she said. This will be her third time in the festival and her first as a headline.
Next Friday (31) the festival will be dedicated to young musicians and rock bands. “A UAE rock band, Bafoory and Band, will perform for the first time in the festival,” she said. On Saturday (1st), the night will be dedicated to classic and Arab music.
Listen to “A Minha Vez”:
https://open.spotify.com/album/1rW9lqYyt2XPDcnQAYhV2B
Quick facts:
Al Ain Music Festival
January 30 to February 1st, 2020
Thursday-Saturday
Danat Al Ain Resort
Al Ain, UAE
Free admision
Contact for concerts:
Midian Almeida
Phone and WhatsApp: +971 55 364 0113
Instagram: @midianalmeida
Translated by Guilherme Miranda
