DUBAI’S BIGGEST HIP-HOP CULTURE FEST SOLE DXB RETURNS TO CELEBRATE 10 YEAR ANNIVERSARY ON DEC 9–11, 2022

By Rishma Dhaliwal • On Events

The region’s top youth and con­tem­por­ary cul­ture fest­iv­al is back for its 10-year anniversary, cel­eb­rat­ing Arab excel­lence through its col­lab­or­a­tion with vis­ion­ary Moroc­can artist Has­san Haj­jaj

Lim­ited pre-sale week­end passes are now on sale at www.soledxb.com

 

Sole DXB, Dubai’s hotly anti­cip­ated, cul­ture lead­ing fest­iv­al, returns this Decem­ber after a three-year hiatus for its 10-year anniversary edi­tion. With pre­vi­ous guests includ­ing the likes of Nas, Stormzy, Hiroshi Fuji­wara, and Petra Collins, guests can expect anoth­er stel­lar line up of tal­ent from the worlds of music, fash­ion, visu­al art and sports, for 2022. Tak­ing place on Decem­ber 9, 10, and 11, excite­ment for the event has reached fever pitch as a record num­ber of fest­iv­al-goers are expec­ted to des­cend on Dubai Design Dis­trict (d3).

With the sup­port of its stra­tegic part­ners Dubai Design Dis­trict (d3), a glob­al hub for art design and cre­ativ­ity and a mem­ber of TECOM Group PJSC and Dubai Cal­en­dar, the offi­cial list­ing plat­form for events in the city, Sole DXB has remained a thought lead­er in cul­ture, believ­ing in the power of the arts to shape a city and the lives of its res­id­ents. His­tor­ic­ally the fest­iv­al has been built on its four pil­lars of music, fash­ion, visu­al arts, and sports.

Spot­light­ing a dif­fer­ent sub­cul­ture for each edi­tion, this year Sole DXB  brings the story home, cel­eb­rat­ing excel­lence across the Arab world and its dia­spora, work­ing with Moroc­can visu­al artist Has­san Haj­jaj as its first fest­iv­al host. This sum­mer, the Sole team trav­elled to Morocco to learn and draw inspir­a­tion from the cul­ture, and to con­nect with cre­at­ors and cre­at­ives, some of whom sit front and centre of the festival’s icon­ic cam­paign shot by Has­san, in the his­tor­ic Mad­ina of Mar­rakech. This year’s cam­paign fea­tures Moroc­can rap­per ElGrande Toto and mas­ter vocal­ist and per­cus­sion­ist, Khadija El War­za­zia. The fest­iv­al will also fea­ture musi­cians, design­ers, artists, speak­ers and ath­letes from the UAE, Kuwait, KSA, Leban­on, Syr­ia, Iraq, Jordan, Palestine, Egypt, Sudan, Somalia, Morocco, Alger­ia, and more.

Joshua Cox, co-founder, Sole DXB says “This is a major mile­stone for us, hav­ing a dec­ade under our belt. And we always knew the story would land right back where we star­ted. This year, we’ve had the hon­our of work­ing along­side our friend, Has­san Haj­jaj, an artist that has ded­ic­ated his life to build­ing the cul­ture and elev­at­ing the con­tri­bu­tions of the Arab world to it.  We’ve worked togeth­er to build a show that bet­ter reflects our val­ues and this is going to be a cel­eb­ra­tion of the ideas that con­tin­ue to drive us.

It’s been a sur­real three years and it feels incred­ible to be back, work­ing with the city of Dubai and d3 to bring our com­munity togeth­er again. We’ve missed you and we can’t wait to see you.”

Speak­ing of the col­lab­or­a­tion, Has­san Haj­jaj said “Over the last 10 years, I’ve wit­nessed Sole DXB devel­op as a plat­form for self-expres­sion. A space where you can come and be yourself…where you are cel­eb­rated for who you are.

Hav­ing moved early in my life from Morocco to Lon­don, I quickly had to learn that home must often be a state of mind. It’s our story, our tra­di­tions, our shared val­ues, and the people we sur­round ourselves with.

I believe that art can move us for­ward. It can dis­pel ste­reo­types. I believe in our youth and the next gen­er­a­tion of cre­at­ors that are show­ing us that we aren’t just con­sumers of the cul­ture, but are act­ively con­trib­ut­ing to it.

My work this year with Sole DXB was to build a space that was a reflec­tion of those shared val­ues. The Arab world is not a mono­lith. It’s a col­lec­tion of diverse people with a shared her­it­age. Our con­tri­bu­tions to the world have changed the course of his­tory and we’re here to show that we aren’t out of ideas.

As the world opens back up, I could­n’t think of a bet­ter way to end the year than to gath­er our chosen fam­ily to show­case and cel­eb­rate each oth­er. I’m often asked where I find inspir­a­tion, but I nev­er have to look any fur­ther than those I’ve been blessed to share this jour­ney with.

Col­lab­or­at­ing with Sole DXB has been a fam­ily affair. A remind­er that if you love what you do, you’ll nev­er work a day in your life.”

Sole DXB con­tin­ues to hold its place at the centre of cul­ture and com­merce in the region, provid­ing a genre-bust­ing plat­form for busi­nesses to con­nect and speak with audi­ences. Attendees can expect to find a highly-cur­ated selec­tion of glob­al brands, from sportswear and con­tem­por­ary giants to the best of inde­pend­ent fash­ion and design from the region and bey­ond. The fest­iv­al will host exclus­ive exper­i­en­tial install­a­tions from the likes of New Bal­ance, Puma, and The Giv­ing Move­ment. Sole is also proud to intro­duce its new part­ners, Power Horse, Cashew, Philips and 25 Hours Hotel.

Oth­er key ele­ments of the event include the Sole Ball Above All Invit­a­tion­al, the region’s most com­pet­it­ive street­ball tour­na­ment and the Sneak­er Swap, where people will have the oppor­tun­ity to buy, sell and trade foot­wear from lead­ing col­lect­ors in the region.

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Rishma Dhaliwal

Edit­or / PR Con­sult­ant at No Bounds
Rishma Dhali­w­al has extens­ive exper­i­ence study­ing and work­ing in the music and media industry. Hav­ing writ­ten a thes­is on how Hip Hop acts as a social move­ment, she has spent years research­ing and con­nect­ing with artists who use the art form as a tool for bring­ing a voice to the voice­less. Cur­rently work­ing in TV, Rishma brings her PR and media know­ledge to I am Hip Hop and oth­er pro­jects by No Bounds.

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About Rishma Dhaliwal

Rishma Dhaliwal
Rishma Dhaliwal has extensive experience studying and working in the music and media industry. Having written a thesis on how Hip Hop acts as a social movement, she has spent years researching and connecting with artists who use the art form as a tool for bringing a voice to the voiceless. Currently working in TV, Rishma brings her PR and media knowledge to I am Hip Hop and other projects by No Bounds.