Tamaas Festival with Ibibio Sound Machine, Bombino, and Sami Galbi

Tamaas Festival is a music festival in Abu Dhabi that gathers three acts who pair modern ideas with traditional roots. Sami Galbi, Bombino and Ibibio Sound Machine each come from a different corner of the world, and the evening is built as a journey through their sounds across two stages: the outdoor East Plaza and The Red Theater.

Sami Galbi, who links Switzerland and Morocco, is a high-energy multi-instrumentalist. His music blends North African Raï and Chaâbi with the raw analog textures of Swiss electronic music and urban club culture. Bombino comes from Niger and is known as the "Sultan of Shred", a desert blues icon who fuses hypnotic Tuareg rhythms with raw rock-and-roll energy. Ibibio Sound Machine, from the UK, is a genre-defying afro-futurist collective that draws on West African rhythms, electronic textures, disco, post-punk and global club energy.

The running order alternates between the two stages. Sami Galbi opens on The East Plaza in the early evening, Bombino follows in The Red Theater, and Ibibio Sound Machine closes the night back on The East Plaza. The two outdoor sets are standing, general admission, while Bombino's performance in the theatre is reserved seating, so the evening mixes a dancing crowd with a seated concert.

The venue is The Arts Center at NYU Abu Dhabi, on Saadiyat Island, the city's cultural district, which is also home to several major museums and galleries. The Red Theater is the centre's main performance hall, and the open East Plaza gives the festival an outdoor setting. Saadiyat Island is a drive from Dubai, usually about an hour to an hour and a half by car, which makes the festival a realistic evening trip for Dubai residents.

The festival suits anyone curious about music beyond the mainstream: fans of desert blues, Raï, afrobeat-inflected electronic sound or club-minded post-punk. Since the line-up spans three countries and several genres, it works as an introduction to each act as much as a night out for existing fans.