Muscat Festival: Experience Oman’s cultural extravaganza

T-Mag Thursday 17/January/2019 11:53 AM
By: Times News Service
Muscat Festival: Experience Oman’s cultural extravaganza

When you think of Muscat Festival, what is the first thing that comes to your mind?
To some, it’s family. Muscat Festival was, after all, created for people to bond, share memories and further strengthen the ties that bind us together, whether the people with whom you went to the festival were your mother and father, your brother and sister, or your friends, who are sometimes closer to us than our own family.
Yes, some might wonder if the traditions around which Muscat Festival was founded still hold strong today, but the reality is that these ties are more required today, more so than they have been on many occasions in the past.
Oman’s 2019 Muscat Festival began on January 10, and will run until February 9th. The twin venues of Amerat Park and Naseem Garden will be hosting this year’s festival, and while Naseem Garden does contain more child and family-friendly activities, Amerat will be the hotbed for all things culture and tourism-centric.
The festival, in many ways, is a microcosm of what makes Oman such a unique destination in the Middle East, and falls slap bang in the middle of the country’s traditional tourist season, which begins in September and runs until about March.
While there will be plenty of culture and an opportunity to savour the traditions of the country, there are also several events that have been put up by the organisers to modernise the festival. These include, for example, a photography and film-making competition that will run throughout the 2019 Muscat Festival, a great opportunity for any film and photo enthusiast to hopefully gain some recognition which will go a long way towards furthering his career, as well as giving them a little something extra.
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Contestants at the competition could win up to OMR4,000 at this year’s Muscat Festival, and is being run in collaboration with the Oman Film Society and Muscat Municipality. The competition is open to all, and must feature aspects of life in the Sultanate that people wish to showcase. Additional details can be found on the official Twitter account of Muscat Municipality. Categories of films that can be submitted deal with four main topics: historical locations, historical monuments, historical areas, and cultural landscapes.
“Are you good at making documentaries? Our competition is awesome and our prizes are great,” said a spokesman from the Oman Film Society. “Participate with us in the Short Documentary Film Competition. Highlight the tangible heritage of Oman through a film by your production and win with us valuable prizes of up to OMR4,000.”
That’s not the only visual competition being organised, though. The ‘photos from Oman’ contest features some of the finest pictures taken by camera enthusiasts in the Sultanate, and more people are welcome to submit their snaps.
“The Gallery Photos from Oman in Al Amerat Park contains 59 photographs that reflect Oman’s beauty, showing its diverse geography, authentic heritage and contemporary development,” said the organisers. “Are you a photographer or a hobbyist? Share the joy of Muscat Festival 2019 and take your most beautiful photo to enter the competition and win a prize. The competition lasts until Jan 30, 2019.”
There’s plenty at this year’s Muscat Festival to stimulate all the senses – all five of them. Some of the Middle East’s finest and most exotic goods will be sold by merchants who have come to Oman just for the festival, invoking memories of great bazaars of history, that are intrinsic to the way of life across Arabia.
Cheeses and saffron from Iran, the finest dates from Tunisia, incense from the Omani heartland, the finest dried fruits and olive oil from Turkey, silks and spices from the Indian subcontinent ... all of these may be fine goods that wouldn’t look out of place in a Sindbad or Aladdin story, but they are, in fact, very much in the here and now, at the Muscat Festival. A wide array of fine clothes, handbags, perfumes and so much more is on offer this year, and when the little ones do get bored of holding mummy and daddy’s hands as they inquisitively move from stall to stall, there is plenty for them to check out beyond the bazaar.
They, for instance, are sure to be enthralled by the stilt walkers who often make crowds look up in a mixture of emotions that is equal parts awe and wonder. They are a regular attraction of the Muscat Festival, and yes, it’s just as enthralling every time. But that’s not the only carnival attraction for them at Amerat Park and Naseem Garden.
From games that test mental endurance and physical prowess to roller-coaster rides and tilt-a-whirls, the Muscat Festival has a plethora of opportunities for everyone to forget their troubles for a while, and take them back to a time when things were far simpler. If you’re reading this as an adult, then you know what we’re talking about. If you’re not, savour it. It’s a feeling of pure joy that simply cannot be put into enough words.
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But if you’re looking for something more exciting and enthralling, then the daredevil motorbike stuntmen are sure to raise your adrenaline levels. How they’re able to handle their bike at breakneck speeds with nerves of steel without breaking into a sweat is beyond us, but their ability to look danger in the face and laugh at it is something all of us wish we had.
Once you’ve had your share of the excitement, if you’re looking to calm down, you might want to grab some food and settle down for one of the many cultural shows that Muscat Festival is bringing to the stage this time. From Arabic to Chinese, Indian to Continental, there’s an eclectic offering of food at very affordable rates (and special discounts for families) at Muscat Festival, and there’s plenty to satisfy your taste buds this year.
A new purpose-built stage has been built at Amerat Park, with performers showcasing the best of their abilities every day of the week throughout the festival. It’s a great way to build up to a memorable evening that isn’t quite done yet. As night advances, there’s no better way to savour the fireworks that light up the night sky then a dee-lish combination of Omani halwa and ice cream. It may sound incongruous, but trust us when we say that it is truly delicious.
But the organisers, as expected, have saved the best show for the end. This year’s Muscat Festival will see a celebrity cricket match take place on the weekend of January 25, when several Bollywood stars who have become household names over the years will come to Oman to take part in a one-off match against a select Omani team.
The match will be held at the Sultan Qaboos Sports Complex in Bousher, and will see stars such as Sohail Khan – brother of Bollywood superstar Salman Khan – and Shreyas Talpade (who previously starred in films such as Iqbal and Om Shanti Om) come to the Sultanate alongside Sonu Sood (who recently starred in Bollywood flick Simmba) as well as other actors such as Harshvardhan Rao, Deepak Tijori, and Saqib Salim.
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Mahboob Hasan, one of the organisers of the match, told T Weekly that preparations for this blockbuster game had started nearly a year ago.
“We were supposed to have this game on December 28, and had been planning for it since April, but the actual idea and the concept came up long before that,” he said. “But the Ministry of Tourism came to us and then said, why not have it as part of the Muscat Festival, because it will be a much bigger celebration then, and we said that these things would take time because we would have to check with Muscat Municipality, but the ministry organised everything for us, and we are really grateful to them.
“Yes, it is true that cricket may be an expat-dominated sport in Oman, but the truth is that Bollywood movies are loved by everyone,” said Hasan. “Whenever you go to see any Hindi movie in the theatre, there are many Omanis who also come because they also love watching Bollywood stars. All of the big stars are very popular in Oman, and I am sure they will want to come and see these actors here. We have booked the Sultan Qaboos Stadium on that day, and we are expecting a full house.”
“Just last year, we shot a movie called Papa Kehte Hain Bada Naam Karega - A Journey to the World Cup to be shot partly in Oman and scheduled to hit global screens very soon, and I don’t see why we cannot have more events like this year. The people are friendly and the country is so beautiful so I think this is an amazing event.”
That’s the thing about Muscat Festival – it has a tendency to surprise you in the most unexpected of ways, much like the country of Oman itself. This January, make sure you come to experience the true essence of Arabia. Make sure you visit Muscat Festival. – [email protected]