Liverpool Sound City is packing up and heading to Dubai - the brand will launch the Middle East's first major music conference and festival.
The hugely popular Sound City events came to an end this weekend after thousands of people poured into Liverpool for four days of gigs and seminars about the music business.
Now conference organisers have revealed they will be taking Merseyside bands and music business to the United Arab Emirates for Dubai Sound City from November 5-7 – under the slogan Sheikh, Rattle and Roll.
Dubai is better known as a city of expanding commerce, but now its rulers wish to promote it as a cultural hub, showcasing Liverpool bands for musical audiences from as far afield as South Africa and Australia.
Liverpool Sound City festival director Dave Pichilingi said he hoped the three-day music festival and a two-day music conference event would become an annual fixture in the emirate’s cultural calendar.
He said: “We aim to take over 25 key UK and American artists and 50 keynote speakers to take part in the conference.
“The aim would be to draw in business from countries such as South Africa, Australia, Japan and other areas within three or four hours’ flying time of Dubai. The city is a hub for the rest of the world. It'll be similar to the way we’ve done it here. By day, we’ll discuss the issues affecting the industry, and by night we’ll put on events.
“We want to take bands from Merseyside as well, because this has come from Liverpool Sound City. The aim would also be to take businesses from the region so they form part of the business element of the event.
"We want to help them find opportunities not just in and around Liverpool, but also nationally and internationally.
“The Sound City brand will be doing these two festivals a year heavily supporting the Merseyside region.”
Sound City may be best-known for its gigs, with this year’s line-up boasting bands from The Zutons to chart-toppers White Lies, but its organisers also want to use the conference to support the Merseyside music industry by bringing some of the entertainment world’s key players to the region.
Liverpool Sound City will run the Middle East event in partnership with Dubai’s New Dawn Entertainment and sponsors UK Trade & Investment. It will be held in the city’s prestigious Hotel Meridien.
Mr Pichilingi is confidence Dubai is ideally sited for a world music conference.
He added: “If you think back 40 years, why did they put international music festival MIDEM in Cannes? Was it because the music business was there? No, it was because Cannes was such a beautiful place to go.
“Today Dubai is the place to go.
"We want to take people out there with the aim of doing business, but it’s also fun in the sun.
"Our strapline is going to be Sheikh, Rattle and Roll.”
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