Quincy Jones Teams with UAE Entrepreneur for JV Targeting MENA Region

LOS ANGELES: Grammy-winning producer Quincy Jones and United Arab Emirates entrepreneur Badr Jafar have set up a joint venture, the Global Gumbo Group, with the aim to develop multimedia entertainment opportunities in the Middle East and North Africa.

Jones will serve as chairman of the new venture, while Jafar serves as president. The focus will initially be on producing live entertainment opportunities for Western artists to collaborate with artists from the Middle East and North Africa. The Global Gumbo Group will also look to nurture new Middle Eastern and North African talent, along with acquiring content from the region to introduce to the West. Future projects will cover music, film, TV, publishing and digital applications.

The first production from the new outfit, in association with Dawn Elder World Entertainment, will be a concert during Morocco’s annual music festival in May, the Mawazine Festival. It will feature performances by "The Global Gumbo All-Stars" (Alfredo Rodriguez, Greg Phillinganes, Richard Bona, Lionel Loueke, Francisco Mela and Paulinho Da Costa), Patti Austin, Siedah Garrett, Naturally Seven and Riffat Sultana.

Jones commented, "I have long been a vocal proponent of music and the arts being a great asset in building bridges between cultures, and from my many experiences starting in 1953 touring the Middle East and North Africa with Lionel Hampton and again in 1956 as the musical director and trumpeter for Dizzy Gillespie’s first State Department Tour, I have witnessed that ability firsthand. It is my hope that this partnership with my dear friend Badr Jafar will provide a cultural exchange between the West and the Middle East and North Africa that will foster a better understanding of these regions and an appreciation for our common values at this crucial time in the region’s history."

Jafar added, "This partnership had been a long time in the making, and is being launched at an important time in our region of the world. I am a great believer in the power associated with the principles of social entrepreneurship, and the Global Gumbo Group’s mission is perfectly in line with these, using music and the arts to build on and promote mutual respect and appreciation across borders, while giving our youth in the West and the Middle East an opportunity to showcase their talents in our respective parts of the world, which in-turn will lead to much needed collaboration and cooperation. There is no better person in the world to spearhead this venture than Quincy Jones, and I am truly grateful for his vision and commitment to making this world a better place for our future generations."