ALICIA’S ALULA STATE OF MIND

Iconic musician/singer/songwriter/and multi-Grammy-award winner Alicia Keys departed AlUla yesterday after an inspiring and emotional visit to the ancient desert city in North West Arabia.


Keys arrived last week to perform a history-making show at the awe-inspiring mirrored event venue Maraya in AlUla for one of her special “ONE NIGHT ONLY” performances in support of her new release Keys, in an intimate concert presented by Good Intentions.


As well as being the first female American to perform in AlUla, Keys also made history by performing an unforgettable set that brought many of the crowd to tears. After a surprise and casual arrival down the aisle to the stage, Keys delighted the crowd early with Empire State of Mind followed by a selection of new songs from her latest album Keys, a beautiful rendition of Fallin’ and Girl on Fire which had the whole crowd on their feet. Keys continued to have fun with the crowd challenging them to a question, “Are you locked? Or are you unlocked?” referencing the two halves of her new double album.


As a companion piece to the show, Keys hosted Women to Women, a town-hall style dialogue organized for the day after the Maraya event. Women to Women was presented by Good Intentions and took place at Madrasat Addeera, one of AlUla’s special all girls schools, now a hub for creative arts and the revival of AlUla’s ancient handicrafts.


Co-hosted by a special guest, the first female Saudi Ambassador to the US, HRH Princess Reema bint Bandar Al Saud who flew in especially – the conversation of two parts broached topics such as power, purpose, and progression. Attended by 60 inspiring women from many backgrounds and stages in life, the event delivered on its promise for honest sharing of visions, let-downs, successes and challenges.

Princess Reema’s comments hit the right note, “Many of the women that you see, whether they are on the stage or perhaps seated to your right or left, are women of a generation that were born of women of a generation that were told ‘no’. Those of us that insisted on a ‘no’ being a ‘yes’ filled in the cracks”. Which resonated with Panelists - Deem AlBassam, Manal AlDowayan, Sarah Al Rashed, Shahd Alshehail, Hala Dakheel as well as the attendees.


The inspired crowd was at times laughing and at times in tears as the conversation, expertly lead by actor, writer and filmmaker, Fatima AlBanawi, continued into the late afternoon leaving an indelible mark on all those who attended and all against the backdrop of AlUla’s ochre sandstone mountains.
Good Intentions, who worked to bring both of these magical events to fruition, is the global creative agency set up by Keys’ husband Kasseem ‘Swizz Beatz’ Dean and business partner, native Saudi Noor Taher.


The weekend of Alicia’s visit also coincided with the opening of Desert X AlUla, the epic site-responsive art exhibition in one of AlUla’s desert valleys. An artwork that Keys particularly admired was Angle of Repose from American artist Jim Denevan, who creates huge temporary land artworks across rural America.


Alicia also took a trip to AlUla Old Town, the 12th century stone and mudbrick labyrinth of buildings and climbed the steps to AlUla Castle within that overlooks the ancient site of Dadan and the 20km date palm oasis. The visit coincided with a community parade of horses in the main thoroughfare of Market Street and which included the world famous Polo players from the team La Dolfina - in town to play the Richard Mille AlUla Desert Polo.


On her final day Keys spent a relaxing morning checking out the Moringa Oil lab, where the native plant said to have miracle properties is pressed into oils for various uses, and lunch at one of Old Town’s restaurants.