International orchestra comes together for UAE national anthem

To mark the UAE's 47th National Day, Expo 2020 Dubai has produced a two-minute-and-46-second video showing an international orchestra rendition of the UAE national anthem.
In the video that also commemorates the Year of Zayed, musicians from about 190 nations are seen coming together on a huge stage set in the middle of a desert. Children, who are escorted by Expo2020 volunteers, make their way to the stage to perform as part of the choir.
Representing the 190 participating countries of Expo 2020 Dubai, the grand, collaborative music piece was shot in a vast desert landscape on a Friday from 6am to 6pm.

In the spirit of inclusivity, the film included an Emirati Expo 2020 volunteer who performed the national anthem in sign language.
It distinctly captured the UAE's spirit as a nation of tolerance and unity, and was directed by the country's first lady of cinema and award-winning director, Nayla Al Khaja.
The video of the orchestral performance of Ishy Bilady (which in English means Long Live My Country) begins with a shot of the desert where - nestled between the dunes - an empty stage sits.  The next shot shows seven Emirati musicians take their positions on-stage, symbolising each of the seven emirates.
They are then joined on-stage by a choir of a diverse group of people from across the UAE and the rest of the orchestra, who begin to tune their instruments before starting a soul-stirring rendition of the national anthem. All the musicians can be seen playing the musical instrument from their culture and wearing the flags of their countries in the form of badges.
The video starts with the sun coming up as the orchestra plays and ends with the sky changing its colour with the sunset.
Dr Hayat Shamsuddin, vice-president for arts and culture, content and programming at Expo 2020 Dubai, said: "We have a strong component of arts and culture within our content for Expo 2020. So what we are trying to say with this video is that when you come to Expo2020, the messages you receive will be received in a powerfully artistic way and in an interactive, immersive way. That has always been our approach and we were just thinking how else we could communicate the spirit of Expo 2020 - through theatrical production, poetry, visual arts and performances."
Explaining the symbolism in the video, Dr Shamsuddin said: "The desert reminds us of the UAE and its story that started 47 years ago, with nothing there. The late Sheikh Zayed then brought the seven emirates together, depicted by the seven Emiratis coming together on the stage first. The late founding father then opened the doors of the UAE to other nationalities and welcomed the world into the UAE - represented by the musicians that came with their instruments to the stage. They come together and create music in harmony. And in 2020, we are welcoming the world to our site."
Directing the video was a dream come true for Emirati Al Khaja. "Being an Emirati, the theme of it resonated so quickly with me and I fell in love, as I grew up singing the national anthem," she said.
"The film was on a completely different scale than anything I've ever worked on. The sheer size of the production was astounding. I absolutely loved the challenge," Al Khaja added. 
Not only did she manage and direct 190 musicians, Al Khaja also watched three camera set-ups simultaneously to make sure they captured "all the right shots", she said.
"As the video comes towards its end, you see an aerial shot of the Expo2020 site and you see the scale of the site as its being built, making it symbolic of how we have come a real long way and how now the world is going to be coming to us."
saman@khaleejtimes.com