Original version

BBC World Service Online

Migrated podcast image for: Outlook

Outlook

Factual: Life Stories

True stories of ordinary people and the extraordinary events that have shaped their lives.

Outlook: The Singing Labourers of Dubai

A Dubai labourers' talent contest entrant performs

14/01/2014

The Singing Labourers of Dubai

BBC World Service - Outlook, The Singing Labourers of Dubai

Film-maker Mahmoud Kaabour on the lives of migrant workers seeking solace through singing

Film-maker Mahmoud Kaabour on capturing the lives of migrant workers whose only solace is singing in a talent contest in the camps they live in.

Champ of the Camp is a film which follows migrant labourers in Dubai who have entered a mostly Bollywood-themed talent contest. Lebanese film-maker Mahmoud Kaabour explains why he wanted to document these lives. 

Workaholic doctor Matthew Varghese works round the clock in India's last dedicated polio ward. Reporter Natacha Butler accompanies him on his rounds to hear from the patients who inspire him to keep going. 

Grammy-nominated American Jazz singer and songwriter Gregory Porter on music in church, imagining his father was Nat King Cole, and the career in American Football he chose not to pursue. 

And, the Lithuanian medical student with Asperger's Syndrome, who has overcome many obstacles to be on the verge of qualifying as a doctor specialising in genetics.

(Picture: An entrant to the Camp ka Champ talent competition sings in front of an appreciative crowd in a Dubai labour camp. Credit: Siddharth Siva courtesy Veritas Films)

Accessibility links

Programme Index

Outlook

The Singing Labourers of Dubai

Genres

Brand

BBC World Service Online

About BBC World Service