Culture Bites

In this week’s episode of Culture Bites, Enas Refaei, Farah Andrews and Maan Jalal look ahead to the 12th Quoz Arts Fest, which starts this weekend.
The cultural festival celebrates a variety of art, music, food and more, all coming together at Alserkal Avenue in Dubai’s Al Quoz district. Running alongside the event will be Reel Palestine, a Palestinian film festival. Movies being shown include Passing Dreams, about a young boy on a mission to find his missing bird, and A State of Passion, which follows the experience of Dr Ghassan Abu Sittah in emergency rooms during the war in Gaza. The hosts also reflect on how the festival has flourished over the years.
In the US, comedian Dave Chappelle's Saturday Night Live monologue has been widely shared across social media. Speaking on Saturday, he made a plea to US President Donald Trump to have empathy for displaced people, whether they're in “in the Palisades or Palestine”. The hosts take this moment to contemplate the effect of Chappelle’s message, his past controversies and the evolution of SNL as an influential platform over the past 50 years.
The first Sotheby’s auction is coming to Saudi Arabia on February 8, when works by the likes of Pablo Picasso and Andy Warhol will be featured alongside local and regional artists. Farah, Enas and Maan discuss some of the items expected to fetch the highest sales such as Rene Magritte’s L'Etat de veille and Man on Horse, a bronze sculpture by Fernando Botero.

The Culture Bites team is back, kicking off with a preview of anticipated arts and culture events lined up for 2025.
Enas Refaei, Farah Andrews and Maan Jalal share some of the most exciting concerts, art fairs and book releases that they’re adding to their calendars this year. From Sting on stage and Sharjah Biennial 16 to Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie's new book, this cultural season sets off with a promising start across the region and beyond.
With season three of Dubai Bling now streaming, the hosts dissect the show’s anatomy and discuss the evolution of reality TV as an entertainment genre. As it gains popularity in the Arab world, they debate the merits of shows that blur the lines between real life and staged drama.
Maan visits Jameel Arts Centre where the exhibition Three Tired Tigers is showcasing works that envision cities and landscapes from the perspective of animals and the geographies that humans share with them. He speaks with the curator about the themes that artists explored in their pieces, including the inspiration for the exhibition itself: Dubai’s street cats.

As 2024 draws to a close the Culture Bites team dedicates their final episode of the year to celebrating the moments that left a significant imprint on them.
Enas Refaei, Farah Andrews and Maan Jalal look back at some of their favourite cultural experiences within the UAE and around the world. From NYU Abu Dhabi’s Between the Tides: A Gulf Quinquennial exhibition to the Andy Warhol exhibition in Dubai, they reflect on the diverse platforms that helped make art more accessible in the region.
The hosts share the books, series and films that won their hearts this year. They also highlight their most memorable music experiences, from concerts to DJs and even a TikTok karaoke channel.

This week’s episode of Culture Bites centres on Syria’s art scene at this delicate moment in the country’s history following the fall of president Bashar Al Assad.
Hosts Enas Refaei, Farah Andrews and Maan Jalal discuss Syria’s rich cultural heritage that dates back centuries. They discuss the impact of the civil war on its creative talents and how it might shape the art they create in the aftermath of so much pain and suffering.
A documentary about the Nabataean civilisation had its international debut at the Red Sea International Film Festival last week. Lost Worlds with Bettany Hughes: The Nabataeans explores the deserts of Petra in Jordan and AlUla in Saudi Arabia where the ancient civilisation flourished on trade between the fourth and second centuries BC. The hosts talk about the insights into the Nabataean way of life that can be drawn from deciphered rock inscriptions.
With the holiday season in full swing, Enas, Farah and Maan turn their attention to this year’s slate of Christmas films. They review their favourites, including new ones such as That Christmas, an animation based on children’s books by writer-director Richard Curtis, and Our Little Secret, a holiday rom-com starring Lindsay Lohan. They also remember the classics such as The Holiday and Love Actually.

This week on Culture Bites, Enas Refaei, Farah Andrews and Maan Jalal take a moment to appreciate the Emirati and Arab traditions being considered for Unesco's Intangible Cultural Heritage lists this year.
Established in 2008, the lists aim to preserve and promote cultural heritage, including practices that may be in urgent need of safeguarding. Several rituals from the region have been added to the list including henna and Palestinian Nabulsi soap-making. Another contender submitted by the UAE and other Arab countries is coffee, with all the social customs that surround it.
The hosts then look at the way Gen-Z pop culture has shaped how we speak, and the slang vocabulary that has become part of mainstream language. Terms like “brat” and “brain rot” have even been crowned words of the year by the Collins Dictionary and Oxford University Press respectively, while “holding space” has become a buzz term in the Wicked promotional campaign.
Finally, the three hosts discuss a significant coin auction taking place this month. Two rare, ancient minted coins being auctioned by Numismatica Genevensis SA in Geneva, highlighting significant moments in Roman and Islamic history. One is a memento of the assassination of Julius Caesar and is expected to break a world record at auction. The other is a gold dinar that pays tribute to Medinah during the Umayyad era. The hosts tell the captivating stories behind them and the power they held in their times.

In this episode of Culture Bites, Enas Refaei and Farah Andrews shine a light on the Public Art Abu Dhabi Biennial, which has turned public spaces in Abu Dhabi and Al Ain into al fresco galleries.
The event features more than 70 UAE and international artists whose installations in culturally significant sites represent the past and present. This includes the corniche and public parks in Abu Dhabi, and Al Ain Oasis. The hosts discuss the importance of accessible public art, where visitors can engage not only with the actual pieces but also with the spaces in which they appear.
The Lebanese singer Fairouz turned 90 this month, prompting an outpouring of tributes from fans around the world, including a heartfelt message from French President Emmanuel Macron. Enas shares her favourite Fairouz songs and the meanings behind them. She and Farah also reflect on the artist’s reputation as a unifying symbol for peace in Lebanon against the backdrop of war.
A music video released by Jordanian-Palestinian artist Zeyne has drawn much attention this week after going viral on social media. The hosts pick up on the culturally rich details in the cinematic video, with its representation of Palestinian embroidery, agricultural roots and the people’s struggle. They discuss the song’s powerful message of reclaiming Arab identity, making it the latest endeavour by an artist to stand in solidarity with Palestine.

In this episode of Culture Bites, hosts Enas Refaei, Farah Andrews and Maan Jalal explore the flourishing art scene across the UAE, starting with Abu Dhabi Art which kicked off earlier this week. This year marks the biggest iteration of the event to date, featuring more than 100 galleries.
The hosts share their favourite pieces from the fair and highlight some of the most compelling exhibits to experience, including the Arab Presences: Modern Art and Decolonisation exhibition which features works from The Farjam Foundation and Beyond: Emerging Artists which displays the commissioned work of three UAE-based artists from their year-long mentorship programme.
Maan speaks to Egyptian artist Adel El Siwi about the launch of his solo exhibition, Yellow Tropics, at Tabari Artspace in Dubai this week. They discuss his use of bold colours, the African influence in his work and the intimate details that build a narrative in his paintings.
As microblogging platform BlueSky gains traction, more and more high-profile celebrities are choosing to leave X for what they say is a more transparent and “toxic-free” alternative. The list includes Lizzo, Stephen King and Ben Stiller. The hosts debate whether the move to BlueSky can have any meaningful influence on celebrity followers or if it might end up sowing division.

This week on the show, Enas Refaei, Farah Andrews and Maan Jalal reflect on the recently announced 2025 Grammy nominations. Beyonce leads with 11, becoming the most-nominated artist of all time, bringing her career total to 99 nominations.
The hosts discuss the diversity of genres being recognised by the recording academy and the artists – both new and established – in the race for the most coveted categories. They also share the success stories of rising artists like Raye, who has been nominated for three awards after navigating the difficulties of the music industry and becoming an independent artist. Meanwhile at the MTV Europe Music Awards, which took place last week, singer Mali won as the best Indian act despite having a far more modest following than her contenders.
In a special segment of the episode, Maan visits the 10th edition of Dubai Design Week to see how the event has evolved over the years. He speaks to organisers about their quest to elevate regional designers and to reflect the wide range of techniques and styles their works represent.
Growing interest in Middle Eastern art is raising the stakes for collectors. The hosts list some of the most significant pieces of high-value Arab and Islamic art, such as the Umayyad-era bronze buck that recently sold for £4.2 million ($5.4 million). They also talk about the expanding role of international auction houses Christie’s and Sotheby’s in the region, and the platform they offer to Arab artists.

In this week’s episode, Enas Refaei, Farah Andrews and Maan Jalal start the show on a celebratory note after Culture Bites won a bronze prize for best co-hosts at this year’s Signal Awards. The annual awards honour the world’s most impactful podcasts in several categories, with winners selected either by a jury or by public votes.
Only weeks after Love is Blind Habibi started streaming, the show’s cast gathered for a highly anticipated reunion, in which fans finally found out which pairs stayed together and which unions fell apart. The Culture Bites hosts highlight the show’s success not just across the region, but around the world, where audiences learnt more about Arab marriage customs and the role families play. They discuss the tensions that unfold at the reunion, as well as the participants’ stereotype-busting personas.
Last week, the home of the late Lebanese artist Abdul-Hamid Baalbaki was destroyed by Israeli forces amid the continuing war in Lebanon. The house had doubled as an arts centre, which remained open to the public even after Baalbaki’s death in 2013. Not only was he an artist, but he was also a collector of precious pieces, some that date back to the first millennium BCE. Enas, Farah and Maan reflect on the tragic erasure of art during conflict and the challenging efforts to collect and archive it.
On the theme of cultural preservation, the hosts highlight notable Palestinian documentaries to watch, on the heels of Palestine Cinema Days which took place last weekend. The team discuss The Wanted 18, a partly-animated story about a Palestinian village that buys cows to stop relying on Israeli milk. Another is Aida Returns, a story about director Carol Mansour’s mother who struggles with Alzheimer’s but vividly remembers the hometown of her youth, Jaffa, up until her final return to it.

This week on Culture Bites, Farah Andrews and Maan Jalal step back to a prehistoric era of the UAE’s story. The Natural History Museum Abu Dhabi will recreate models of landscapes and wildlife as they once existed millions of years ago.
Visitors will be able to discover a natural world that’s unique to the country and the Arab region at large. This includes galleries that showcase the topography of Abu Dhabi before there was an Arabian Gulf, with its winding rivers, crocodiles and hippopotamuses. The hosts share their enthusiasm about being able to witness an important part of the region’s history that’s often overlooked. Construction of the Natural History Museum Abu Dhabi is expected to be completed next year.
Two big cultural events are coinciding this year, bringing colour and festivity to the UAE. Diwali and Halloween events will see masses turn out to celebrate across the Emirates. The BAPS Hindu Mandir in Abu Dhabi is expecting hundreds of thousands of visitors for one of the biggest festivals in the Hindu calendar. Meanwhile, in Dubai, fireworks will light up the sky at the waterfront promenade in Al Seef and Global Village. Maan talks about his plans to celebrate Diwali this year and Farah shares her creative Halloween costume idea.
Earlier this month, The National compiled a list of the 50 most influential Arabic novels of the 20th century, highlighting works that have significantly impacted Arabic literature and culture. The hosts discuss the process of shortlisting the titles to capture the diversity of the region at a critical time in Arabic storytelling that grapples with issues of identity, colonisation, politics and social change. Maan recommends to Farah his top picks to read, including Naguib Mahfouz’s Cairo Trilogy and Ghassan Kanafani's Men in the Sun.