BENGALURU: For the last week, pictures of Beyonce performing her first live concert in over four years have been doing the rounds, along with descriptions of her outfits, the A-list audience, and the overall extravagance of the event.
She was invited to Dubai to perform at the new Atlantis The Royal, and as expected, the audio, visual and production quality were said to be spectacular. She was joined by her daughter Blue Ivy on stage, and members of her family in the audience. With this event being a global highlight discussed the world over, there is one important aspect that has been mentioned in passing but needs to be highlighted more.
One article mentions in passing that Queen B was accompanied by dramatic orchestra of women. Although orchestras tend to usually have a mix of men and women (often with more men than women), the orchestra in question is the Firdaus Orchestra, an all-women ensemble from across the region which was set up during the Dubai Expo.
The 50-member ensemble boasts women of 23 nationalities and since 2020 has been tasked with performing at all major events and celebrations at the expo. All women orchestras are almost unheard of, even in this day, and so this orchestra is most certainly both pathbreaking and newsworthy.
The Firdaus Orchestra is mentored by the legend AR Rahman, and is attached to the Firdaus studio, also an AR Rahman initiative. The stage monitors for the orchestra and concert were done by the studio team and long-time AR Rahman audio protégé Adi Modi. The orchestra and studio have, over the last couple of years become the hub for new and interesting musical projects in the region.
An all-women ensemble or orchestra is something that will certainly be a highlight on the landscape of the middle east and is hopefully something that can be replicated in different cities and country.