.: The Red Brick – Dubai College's Student Newspaper :.

There's always loads going on in Dubai every month, so here are a couple of one-off events this month that might be worth a visit!

Firstly, the Skywards Dubai Jazz Festival is taking place from the 16th to 24th February.

The Jazz Festival is ideal as it is taking place over half term, so it should be easy to catch some of the many acts that are performing at Festival City during the week. The main acts are at the weekends at the start and end of the festival with the jazz garden evenings during the week.

So who's playing the Jazz Festival?

James Morrison, Jason Mraz, and James Blunt are some of the main headliners for the festival this year, but there are three different acts playing each night for the whole nine days - who the organisers have deemed as the 'best performers of the last nine years'. There are some new performers as well as some old favourites performing again. The jazz garden evenings are sure to be more mellow and relaxed with artists such as Althea Rene and the All-Star Ladies of Blues performing at these evenings, with the bigger names performing at the weekend events. If you could only go to one day, I'd recommend Thursday 23rd, as Jason Mraz, Sandi Thom and Spyro Gyra are performing then, although James Morrison is sure to be worth seeing on the first day of the festival, Thursday the 16th. It's sure to be a big event this year, as Dubai definitely likes celebrating anniversaries and 10 years is a big one. It promises to be the best jazz festival yet. Whether you've gone in the past and enjoyed, or are thinking of going for the first time, it's bound to be an enjoyable evening.

The other big name performer in Dubai this month is Kasabian, who are performing on the 10th of February. They are performing down at the Sevens Stadium, in order to help promote their new album, Velociprator. They are nominated for Best British group at the Brit Awards this year and three NME awards. Expect a great concert!

Other music events around the world...

The Brit Awards 2012 take place on February 21st, with nominations for Adele, Ed Sheeran, Coldplay and several others. There are also a whole range of artists performing. As well as the ones I've mentioned, Blur, Florence and the Machine, Bruno Mars, Rihanna and Olly Murs (nominated for Best British Single) will also be performing. While this might be a different concert to attend, I'll definitely be watching the performances on Youtube the next day!

And, an event a bit closer to home (actually at school): the Jazz Band Concert on Valentines Day in the music centre - I'll tell you how it went next month!

“Good evening, and welcome! To a night at the Opera.” I declared, scrunching up my face in concentration. Veronika, sitting in front of me outside the canteen at lunchtime, watched me dispassionately. “Or should I put the emphasis on the Night? Good evening, and welcome to a NIGHT at the opera!” She spooned some pasta in her mouth, which for some strange unknown reason she was apparently finding more interesting than my conversation. I took a deep breath and shut my eyes. “Good evening, and welcome to a night.” I opened my eyes dramatically, the effect of which was lost because Veronika wasn’t looking. “At the Operaaaaaaa!” I flung my arms out and knocked half of her pasta off the table. Further talk of a night at the opera or wishing anyone a good evening was a strictly taboo topic for the rest of lunchtime.

The oratory rehearsals were intended for playing a host in, as you may have cleverly surmised, A Night at the Opera. It was to be held in the Music Centre, featuring the finest of Dubai College vocal as well as instrumental talent, meticulously prepared by Mr Zambonini, Mr Crawford and the teachers of the music department. The stage was set, the scene was an elegant flurry of bow tie suits and pretty evening dresses, and parents waited with baited breath and anxious video cameras for their sons and daughters to captivate and enchant in the language of romance, betrayal and passion: opera.

Backstage, it was an altogether different scenario. Violins, trumpets, trombones and cellos all tuning up to different notes at the same time yield nothing but a load of frustrated musicians telling their fellow purveyors of melodic excellence to shut it so they can hear themselves. Throw in some nervous singers all belting out Doh-Mi-Soh-Doh-Soh-Mi-Doh on varying syllables and varying keys to warm up and you’ve got yourself something worthy of Cacofonix the bard (as in Asterix? No? OK). No amount of panic backstage, or anything even life threatening for that matter, however, would deter a dedicated Dubai College musician to deliver less than an outstanding performance, which is what the Chamber Orchestra did in their wonderfully slick Suite, from Carmen by Bizet. Ryan Evans captured hearts with a sweet, pure voice and Sophia Cafoor-Camps, Florence Prosser and Sophie Middleton, accompanied by Mr Hardman, each served up stunning solos that soared effortlessly and lingered glittering in the listeners’ minds long after their last notes.

In stark contrast to the sometimes austere refinement of the older performers, Ethan Ebdon and Isabel Snaas had every member of the audience overcome by a strong urge to sigh “Awww”. Their portrayal of tired, hungry and utterly adorable Hansel and Gretel was a clear success as the singers curled up to sleep after their Evening Prayer, prompting a mass reaching for the tissues on the other side of the stage. Meanwhile, Abby, Prianka and Niamh’s O Mio Baabino Caro, from Gianni Schicchi by Puccini, held everyone spellbound as they conjured up images of a young girl pleading with her father to let her marry the man she loves. Violinist Charles Barsaga and the orchestra quickly followed with the haunting Meditation from Massenet’s Thais, a controversial opera with themes of religion, lust and denial that have ensured its lasting popularity.

The virtuosic streak was maintained as a rousing rendition of Triumphal Chorus from Aida by Verdi was superbly executed by a new ensemble at the school, the Chamber Choir, with solos by Dorottya Nagy (trumpet) and Kinara Rodrigues (flute). After two hours of being treated to some of the most beautiful compositions ever written, the concert was brought to a spectacular end with Sophie and Rory Blincow leading the Senior Choir in Verdi’s effervescent, glorious Brindisi.

As we returned home that night, having had rather more of the excellent complementary canapés and éclairs than necessary, the splendid performances of the young musicians were no doubt ringing in the ears of every listener, each better than the last, but we knew what took the cake. That night, music and the timeless magic of opera was the winner.

December 1st, 1984 - Jim Diamond was number 1 on the UK Charts with ‘I Should Have Known Better’. After being knocked off the top spot a week later by ‘Do They Know It’s Christmas?’, Band Aid’s charity single. Jim Diamond then urged everyone to buy the charity single instead of his!

December 4th, 1971 - Led Zeppelin’s album ‘Four Symbols’ spent two weeks at number one. While that might not seem particulary impressive, the album stayed on the U.S charts for just shy of five years.

December 7th, 2003 -  Britney Spears’ new album ‘In the Zone’ entered at No.1 on the US album chart. The singer broke her own record from being the first female artist to have three albums enter the US chart at No.1 to being the first female artist to have 4 albums enter at No.1 consecutively.

December 8th, 1980 - John Lennon was shot five times by 25 year old Mark Chapman outside the Dakota building in New York City where he was living. Chapman had been stalking Lennon for days outside the Dakota apartments and asked for an autograph as Lennon walked through the courtyard. As he signed a piece of paper Chapman fired. Lennon was pronounced dead from a massive loss of blood at 11.30pm. In 2000 a plague to commerate his death was unveiled outside his childhood home in Liverpool.

December 10th, 1994 - East 17 had a five week run as UK Number 1 with ‘Stay Another Day’, which also gave them 1994′s Christmas number 1.

December 13th, 1955 - Dickie Valentine was at No.1 on the UK singles chart with ‘Christmas Alphabet’, the first Christmas song to reach the No.1 spot.

December 15th, 1975 – Cat Stevens appeared at the Royal Albert Hall and tickets cost only £2.50

December 18th, 2005 – Fairytale of New York’ was voted the favourite Christmas song ever in a VH1 poll. The song by The Pogues and Kirsty MacColl took the top spot, Mariah Carey’s ‘All I Want for Christmas is You’, was voted into 2nd place and Wham’s ‘Last Christmas’ came third. Other songs voted into the Top 10 were, ’Mistletoe and Wine’, Sir Cliff Richard at No.4, ‘Merry Xmas Everybody’ by Slade at No.5, ‘I Wish it could be Christmas Everyday’, Wizzard, No.6, ‘Christmas Time’, The Darkness, No.7, ‘Saviour’s Day’, Sir Cliff Richard No.8, ‘Do They Know It’s Christmas’ (1984), Band Aid at No.9 and ‘Lonely This Christmas’ by Mud at No.10.

December 21st, 2008 -The 2008 X-Factor winner Alexandra Burke started a three week run at No.1 on the UK singles chart with ‘Hallelujah’. The song was written by Leonard Cohen, and his version charted at the same time, and Jeff Buckley’s cover reached No 2, just being held off by Alexandra. This meant that three versions of the same song were in the chart at once, something that had not seen since the 1950s.

December 25th, 1954 – Bing Crosby’s ‘White Christmas’ entered the Billboard Pop chart for the eleventh time. Bing’s rendition has sold over 100 million copies around the world, with at least 50 million sales as singles. It was the largest selling single in music history until it was surpassed by Elton John’s ‘Candle in the Wind 1997’.

The first season of the US X factor is now airing, and in the UK the live shows are heading towards the finals. However, how much does the X factor really help artists achieve their musical dreams?

As the acts on the UK X factor are down to the final four, they will all be hoping to succeed post-show. However, while some acts in the past have gone onto success, many have flopped and released no more than one album, if that. Getting through auditions, bootcamp, and judges house, and even winning a place on the live shows give no indicator that they will have any success.

Five out of the current seven winners achieved a Christmas number 1 the year they won, although for some that was their only number one single. A total of 20 number one singles have been released by the show’s contestants from series one to seven, but that’s actually not a lot when you consider the number of acts the show has had, with near to a hundred finalists singing in the live finals.

The series one winner (does anyone know his name? No, I didn’t either, but it’s Steve Brookstein) had one number one single with a cover of ‘Against All Odds’. His next single peaked at 193 over a year and half later. Also, while his first album reached number one, he was dropped by his record label only eight months after his X factor win, and is apparently writing a tell-all book entitled X Factor Nightmares: The Manipulations. The Greed. The Deceptions, as he is extremely bitter about his time on the show.

Series 2 produced two number one singles, one of which was by the winner Shayne Ward. He did better than his predecessor, as he has released three albums, the first of which went to number one, and his first album was certified platinum in the UK as was his second album.

After a lack of success in the first two series, Leona Lewis (winner of series 3) is arguably, the biggest star to come out of the X factor. Regardless even of album sales, singing on top of a bus in the Olympic Stadium in Beijing to signify the handing over of the Olympics to London must mean you’re doing something right! To date, she’s had three number one singles, the biggest of which was Bleeding Love, which was certified platinum in five countries. With her third album due to be released in March 2012, perhaps the most remarkable thing is that she is still going strong five years after her X factor win, where many other winners have faded.

Series 4’s winner Leon Jackson is one of these. He has had one number one single since his win in December 2007. He was then dropped by his record label in May 2009, which is understandable as his last single failed to chart and the one before that peaked at 94 – not exactly a massive success since he has only released 4 singles. Two other singles came from series four’s 3^rd place contestants, Same Difference. They didn’t exactly experience much success either.

Series 5, 6 and 7 then began to show that the 2^nd, 3^rd or 4^th placed acts had the potential to outsell the show’s winner. JLS, from Series 5, have certainly been more successful than that year’s winner Alexandra Burke, with 5 number one singles to three currently. JLS are featured artists on this years X factor charity single, so will be able to add another number one very soon I’m sure. 2008 was a successful year for the X factor, if you also think of Diana Vickers’ number one debut single and two more albums after that.

Additionally, the majority of singles have come from the later 3 series, largely due to the large numbers of singles released by Alexandra Burke, JLS and Olly Murs, with six, seven and five respectively. The only other act to release more singles than JLS is Leona Lewis, who had two years on them and released five singles before Series 5 had finished.

With all this in mind it will be interesting to see how this year’s contestants are doing this time next year, as the contestants of Series 7 are just beginning to release their first singles and albums now. Even if this year’s contestants don’t do that well, for the millions who will surely be queuing up next summer, they will all be hoping that they might buck the trend, and be that one in a million act who becomes the next massive superstar!

When was the last time you bought a CD or received one as a present? With the increasing ease of iTunes, how many people are actually getting out and buying CDs when they could get easily download the albums on their computers at the press of a button? How many people are taking the easy option of buying Itunes vouchers as a present rather than choosing a CD for a friend?

It poses the question, how much longer will CDs be around?

Digital sales are on the rise. Best selling artist Adele has sold 1.4 million digital copies of her album ’21′ so far this year, which is the highest ever digital sales of an album. These sales also represent around third of the total 3.7 million copies she has sold. Eminem’s album has also had over a million digital sales, with many other artists’ albums getting near to the one million mark as well.

Overall album sales, which include CDs and digital downloads, are on the increase this year for the first time in about a decade, showing that the music industry is beginning to recover from the recession. For the first half of 2011, digital sales accounted for a third of all sales, which is up 5% on last year. Album sales overall are up just over 2 million in the same period.

Over the last 60 years, the music industry has survived many changes. LPs were introduced in 1948, and were in common use even after CDs were introduced in 1983, as initially CDs were considered too expensive an option. LPs were collected by many a music fan who enjoyed the artistic covers often as much as the music. They remained popular until they were eventually phased out, losing sales to both cassettes and CDs as prices for newer technology decreased; although a strong second hand market remains amongst DJs and music enthusiasts.

Cassette tapes were used alongside both LPs and CDs from the early 1970s until the late 1990s and were made popular by their use in Walkmans, for the first time allowing a portable way of listening to music. The inferior quality of cassettes and their tenancy to stretch and get caught up in the mechanism led the music industry to look for a more durable replacement that would not degrade over time.  CDs seemed to be the answer, they were portable, could store a larger amount of music in a lightweight format, and were easier to use.

CDs though have had their problems and are now considered by many to be a cumbersome and outdated format. They require the purchaser to make the effort of going to a shop or waiting for the CD to be delivered as well as needing to be stored carefully so they don’t get scratched. Once purchased many CDs are usually put straight onto the computer so that the album or songs can be transferred onto people’s iPods or music players.  This makes the actual CD quickly redundant and therefore not valued.

As it becomes easier and cheaper to download a vast range of music and transfer the music between different devices, CDs may be losing their appeal. While some people still prefer to actually have a physical product and enjoy reading the material that accompanies the CD, in today’s age of instance gratification, the ability to have new music accessible any time, outweighs, for many people, any benefits that a CD may have.

We have seen how new technology has made earlier musical formats seem outdated, causing them to lose their popularity and eventually get phased out. If history repeats itself CDs could easily go the same way as LPs and cassettes. How long will it be before CDs are entirely replaced by digital sales?

How is AS level music going so far?

It’s fun so far. We have 5 lessons a week, 3 of which we spend on learning the syllabus, and listening and analysing music – so far we’ve listened to Renaissance music and a bit of Classical music, Neoclassicism, and Romantic Music. The other two lessons a week are spend doing composition, which makes up part of our music coursework.

How did you enjoy GCSE music?

It was about the difficulty I was expecting it to be, so it was challenging but not overly so. The coursework did become a bit time consuming towards the end, as it was difficult trying to find the time to finish it all off! My favourite part of the course was part of the coursework. We had to do two performances, a solo piece and an ensemble piece. The ensemble piece was my favourite part, as I really enjoyed working in a group like that.

Have you got any advice for Year 10s who have just started their music GCSE course? Give the readers your 5 top tips.

• Listen to as wide a range of music as possible, really listen around your set pieces.
• Stay on top of your composition, and try to finish it as early as possible, as it will really save you time later
• Practice as much as you can, and you will really improve quickly.
• Don’t be scared of Mr. Zambonini
• Play in groups when possible, it will help to improve your musicianship and teamwork

Which instruments do you play and what is your favourite?

I play the flute and piano, for which I am taking my Grade 8 in May this year. I don’t know what my favourite of the two is, as piano music is definitely harder, but flute playing requires more skill, as you have to create your own sound, so it is very different to the piano.

Finally, what ensembles do you play in?

I play in piano ensemble, senior orchestra and flute choir. I have been playing in flute choir since Year 7, first in the Junior Flute Choir and now in the Senior Flute Choir since Year 10. I would say that flute choir is my favourite ensemble.