Memory Lane, Dubai

I was having an e-mail conversation yesterday with Len Chapman of the great nostalgic and informative website 'Dubai As It Used To Be'. I have a link to it over there on the right.

He told me that he's uploaded to the site a great Dubai anthem from the seventies and eighties, 'Back in Dubai' by Sal Davies.

Going back to my earlier post about our mobile disco, we had a copy of the original seven inch 45rpm vynil record in our collection and played it at every gig. When we sold the disco the record went with it and I've been looking for another copy for years.

The one available on the net is slightly later, from an album made in '83 or '84 by Sal with The Establishment.

A couple of bloggers have given links over the past few months so I now have it in my Favourites folder. A great bouncy song and one that always went down well at the discos.

It was a long time ago but I remember that Sal had a regular gig at the Safari Club. I can't now remember the hotel that was part of - either the Carlton Tower or the Riviera I think. Certainly on Baniyas Road along the Creek in Deira. Sal was from Africa, Kenya I think, or maybe Tanzania.

Len was also asking about another, later, song and I was able to remind him that it was 'Life in the Emirates' - that's online too so we can listen to it again, thankfully.

First, I'll give you the link to the 'Dubai As It Used To Be' page with the record. Have a listen but do spend some time on the site, it's fascinating, nostalgic for those of us who were here back then and is probably a real eye opener to those of you who weren't.

It's also a historical document because it talks about the people and some of the events which helped to build Dubai, from before the UAE was formed in 1971 and through the seventies and eighties. It has fantastic photographs too.

'Back in Dubai' is here.

If you'd like to hear the other track I mentioned you can find that here: 'Life in the Emirates'.