Fujairah

Danny: Fujairah, UAE

Today we drove through the desert (all of the UAE is a dessert) from Dubai to Fujairah, where we played two workshops at the Fujairah Men's College. They bussed in the women from the Fujairah Women's college for the first workshop. There is a strict segregation here between men and women at the schools. Tonight we are playing a concert at the women's college.

This student was playing Hotel California;)

The women were actually more engaging that the men, both groups were shy at first, but the women broke the ice sooner and were braver about asking questions.

College students are the same everywhere and here's another pic that illustrates my point;)

These guys were playing fuss ball and joking around in the student center. Look familiar? ;)

Here are some familiar everyday things we saw on campus, see if you can recognize the brands;)

After the two workshops, we had a wonderful lunch at the cafeteria and made so many new friends.

We got back to our wonderful hotel on the Persian Gulf, which is called, the Arabian Gulf by people over here.

Isn't this Bazzar;) I bought some beautiful gifts here at the hotel.

We had about an hour off and after I had a nice round of Gulf;) we headed off to do an interview with two bright and charming media students from the Women's college.
The school just built a radio studio with support from the US consulate.

These students did such a great job with the interview! We had a great time and all agreed that we are all bound together as humans. Building bridges based on what we all have in common is a good practice and that music is a great way to unite people.
We reminded each other how how lucky we are to be doing what we love, how blessed to travel here and meet such wonderful people and live in such a wonderful world.
Thankful for this moment, right now with you :)

We then did a sound check and got ready for the concert here are some pics from this evening;

After the concert we were given some awards by the college and it's students. We were also given an award from his Highness

What a wonderful world indeed:)

Eye of Riyadh - News (Review)

Eye of Riyadh - News
http://eyeofriyadh.com/en/3/5/portal/3754/

Hello, Dubai

Danny: Dubai, United Arab Emirates

Last night we flew into Dubai from Djibouti, North Africa. We spent the morning packing, getting our gear and getting through the airport. We were sad to be leaving our new friends in Djibouti and hope that we can return to the continent some day.
Omar and the US Embassy staff took such good care of us, arranged great concerts, workshops and showed us a part of the world that we won't soon forget.

When we landed in Dubai many hours later, it was strange to see so many lights, highways, skyscrapers and infrastructure after being in a country where there were more goats than cars. Dubai reminds me a bit of Singapore, but in a dessert setting. There are Starbucks, Ikeas, Bloomingdales, you name it, the store is here. The hotels are big and ritzy. The tallest building in the world is here in Dubai. It is over 200 stories high and twice the size of the empire state building.

We ate at a great Japanese noodle house last night and it seems there are many foods from different cultures here in this city.

This morning we went to play at the American University in Sharjah. We played at the student center for a few hundred college students and we all had such a great time. This campus is amazing and the tuition for all colleges in the UAE is free for Emerates born here.

The students are like any other college students I've seen around the world and the States. We all tend to have these preconceptions about the Middle East and it's culture, but when you are playing music for s bunch of college students, you quickly realize that clapping hands, singing mouths and smiling faces are universal.

We had had a press conference and interview before our concert and we all expressed how welcome we felt. We really have been received with open arms and hearts here in UAE. We spoke about cultural exchange and how our perceptions of the Middle East were changed by this experience.

After the concert we were presented with an award of Excellence. Here we are with the director of Student life, director of Student Affairs and the Chancellor of AUS.

We were invited to the student center's cafeteria for a great meal with our hosts and students. There is even a bowling alley right in the food court.

We gave out CDs, signed autographs, posed for pictures and we even made some new fans/friends today. Isn't that what this is all about, making friends and sharing music:)

Modern Life

Tallest building in the world. Taken from a van on the road to a performance. Posted from a cell phone over a new 4g network...<

Anchors Away

Danny: Djibouti Africa

Today we were escorted by Omar and his driver to the Camp Lemonier Naval instillation in Djibouti. This was originally the site of a WW 2 French North African base.
We were allowed to shop in the instillation store, where coincidentally there was a NY Mets game on the t.v.(I was born and raised in Flushing, the teams home) and there were all sorts of great deals on stuff from the States. We are playing tonight in a giant hall for the enlisted men and women. Everyone is so happy to have a band from home come play for them.

We met Command Master Chief , Loretta Glenn, she is from new Orleans and she was kind enough to pose with us.

We have been working with Command Seargent Major, Ricky Mattix. He is a great musician and educator here in Djibouti. He lent us the base PA in order to do our workshops. He volunteers his time, teaching music to the youth canteen here in Djibouti. He brought us to the camp and we will join his band later when we play. He surprised us all when he gave us a coin that is a symbol of excellence.

We then were escorted to the mess hall, where we chowed down with the troops. There are Navy, Air force, Army and Marines here on the only US instillation in Africa.

Earlier today, the US Ambassador Geeta Pasi, spent an hour with us over coffee and tea. We were thrilled to talk with her about Djibouti, New York state, India
and all the interesting things going on in the world right now. We had a great time and learned so much about this country.

Africa, oh Africa

Damny: Djibouti Africa

Last night we played at the home of the US Ambassador to Djibouti. She hosted a gathering in her garden for local business leaders, service men & women, embassy personnel and of course the JRB.

We set up on the veranda and were introduced by our amazing new friend and caretaker, Omar. He remarked that America is made up of immigrants from all over the globe and that we forged a unique American art form, Jazz. You can hear in it the call and response and its pulse, the heartbeat of Africa.
In that moment I felt so blessed to be here in Africa, playing music and breathing in her sweet salted sea-breeze. I have to pinch myself sometimes, because this is such a dream to play this music here in Africa where these rhythms were forged.

We played for an hour and everyone listened and participated in some call and response. A new friend was busy sketching us as we played.

We handed out CD's to our new friends and are looking forward to seeing them all on FB. We are so lucky to meet such beautiful, charming and interesting people from all over the world. The people of Djibouti and the US Embassy here, have opened their arms to us.

Me & a mosquito bracelet

After the concert, Omar took us to an amazing French style Lebonese resturaunt. Here we met other emmbassy friends from all over the States. We had whole fish grilled in a
stone pit oven over wood embers.

Bon Appetite :)