Asdaa World Cultures Music Festival, the first edition of the only cultural music festival in the Middle East, will kick off on 25 November and run until 1 December at The Meydan Hotel in Dubai. Held under the royal patronage of Mohammed VI King of Morocco, the LInstitut du Monde Arabe and the Andalusian Music Association in Morocco, the new cultural event will focus on traditional Middle Eastern and Asian music.

We are extremely thankful to the King of Morocco for endorsing the Festival with his patronage, said Maitha Al Falasi, Chairman to the Advisory Board of the Music Festival. The World Cultures Music Festival taps into an unspoiled area and, in line with HH Sheikh Mohammed Bin Rashid Al Maktoums strategic vision, promotes UAE as the new cosmopolitan cultural hub for the Middle East and Asia. We hope that this will be the start of a regular yearly appointment in Dubais events calendar complementing other established cultural events such as Art Dubai and the Dubai Film Festival.

While celebrating Arabic musical culture and traditions, the Festival will promote cross-border cultural collaborations between the Middle East, Asia and Western countries. The six day Festivals schedule will be organised around two main pillars: the forum and the concerts.

Commenting on the line-up of artists and speakers, Alain Weber, the Music Festivals Artistic Director, said: We have been working to bring established and rising talents from the region and around the world to Dubai - most of whom havent been to the UAE before. This festival is something unique that will cater to all those people eager for more cultural events.

With morning and afternoon sessions running each day from 9:00 AM to 6:30 PM, the forum will cover different topics ranging from Occupational music and work songs and Music & Poetry to Beauty & harmony of the cultural diversity in Morocco and UAE. The forum will give voice to key speakers such as Andr Azoulay, Counsellor to H.M. the King of Morocco and President of the Anna Lindh Foundation; Ahmed Abbadi, President of the Mohammedi League of Moroccan Ulama; Jack Lang, President of IMA; Abderrafie Zouiten, head of the Moroccan Tourism Minister and President of Foundation Esprit de Fes and Jose Miguel Puerta Vilchez, lecturer in History of Art at the University of Granada.

The afternoon programme of the forum will wrap up each day with a sunset concert. Artists from Morocco, the UAE, Tunisia, Lebanon, Algeria, Egypt, Iran, India, Armenia and China will be performing live at the World Cultures Music Festival. Evening concerts will start every day at 9:00 PM and entertain the audience until midnight. Al Allyallah group, Latifa Raafat, Ahmed Piro, Ghada Sbheir, Lufti Bushnaq and Dhafer Youssef, will be some of the artists who will fly over to Dubai for the Festival.

The programme will also feature exhibitions and workshops.

For more information and the latest updates, please visit https://www.facebook.com/AsdaaMusicFestival