Many people think of the Arab Gulf states as something of a cultural wasteland, with glitzy Dubai at its centre, full of spivs, grifters, deposed despots and bored housewives.
In fact, for some years, a revival of the arts has been underway, as societies are shedding old-fashioned ways and embracing a new kind of modernity.
I’ve spent the past 20 years travelling around the ‘new’ Middle East and have observed the cultural shifts in real time.
I’ve listened to Arabic opera in the desert, watched taboo-shattering movies in Saudi, and met ultra-violent, basketweaving flower men on the Yemen border. This is a region full of drama and change, with a cultural scene on steroids.
Of course there have been noteworthy cultural artefacts produced across the Arabian Gulf
