AfricaIs aCountry

Dubai could do with a lot more of this

Africa Is a Country Podcast
African Five-a-Side Podcast

Dubai could do with a lot more of this

By
Dylan Valley

Dubai can actually be a city of gems that might surprise you. Like soul musician Hamdan Al-Abri, who is of Zanzibari descent.

A screenshot from "Falling" by Hamdan Al-Abri.

I’ve been in Dubai for the past month working on an documentary on the life of late South African political activist and Mandela confidante Fatima Meer (we filmed the documentary in South Africa but the production company is based in Dubai) and I have to say, this is one interesting place. Once you get away from the bling, the giant malls and the indoor ski slopes, Dubai can actually be a city of gems that might surprise you. One of those things would be the Dubai-based soul musician Hamdan Al-Abri, who is of Zanzibari descent.

Technically, despite being born and raised in the United Arab Emirates he is a Zanzibari citizen, due to Dubai’s archaic citizenship laws. His new video “Falling” contrasts the somewhat grittier side of Dubai life, the working class neighborhoods of Karama and Deira, with the ubiquitous Dubai Mall and Burj Khalifa, the tallest building in the world. The result is a soulful and reflective depiction of life in the UAE. All I can say is Dubai could do with a lot more of this.

Download Al-Abri’s free EP here.

Further Reading

Visiting Ngara

A redevelopment project in Nairobi’s Ngara district promises revival—but raises deeper questions about capital, memory, and who has the right to shape the city.

Gen Z’s electoral dilemma

Long dismissed as apathetic, Kenya’s youth forced a rupture in 2024. As the 2027 election approaches, their challenge is turning digital rebellion and street protest into political power.

A world reimagined in Black

By placing Kwame Nkrumah at the center of a global Black political network, Howard W. French reveals how the promise of pan-African emancipation was narrowed—and what its failure still costs Africa and the diaspora.

Securing Nigeria

Nigeria’s insecurity cannot be solved by foreign airstrikes or a failing state, but by rebuilding democratic, community-rooted systems of collective self-defense.

Empire’s middlemen

From Portuguese Goa to colonial Kampala, Mahmood Mamdani’s latest book shows how India became an instrument of empire, and a scapegoat in its aftermath.

À qui s’adresse la CAN ?

Entre le coût du transport aérien, les régimes de visas, la culture télévisuelle et l’exclusion de classe, le problème de l’affluence à la CAN est structurel — et non le signe d’un manque de passion des supporters.

Lions in the rain

The 2025 AFCON final between Senegal and Morocco was a dramatic spectacle that tested the limits of the match and the crowd, until a defining moment held everything together.