In the rugged mountains of Fujairah, United Arab Emirates, a stretch of the E84 highway, formally known as Sheikh Khalifa bin Zayed Road, has been transformed into something bizarrely unexpected – a road that actually ‘sings’ Beethoven as you drive over it…
Thanks to a nearly one-kilometre-long series of carefully engineered rumble strips, drivers cruising along at about 60mph (roughly 100km/h) are treated to the unmistakable melody of Beethoven’s Ninth Symphony otherwise known as the iconic “Ode to Joy.” It’s part civic project, part public art installation and fully surreal!
The idea was orchestrated by Ali Obaid Al Hefaiti, director of the Fujairah Fine Arts Academy, who collaborated with local authorities to inject a dose of classical European culture into the daily commute.
His vision? To turn an ordinary patch of asphalt into an unexpected musical opportunity and to let art reverberate through the mundane rhythms of modern life.
In practice, the road works like a hidden instrument. At first glance, the rumble strips look like oversized lane markers, but align your speed just right and the grooves begin to sing! Drive too fast or too slow, however, and the melody distorts into a tuneless growl, a playful reminder to stick to the correct speed perhaps..?
The road’s quickly captured the imagination of locals and visitors alike, going viral on social media and luring curious drivers to this lesser-known corner of the UAE that hugs the Gulf of Oman.
While the idea of “singing roads” isn’t entirely new (similar projects have appeared in Japan, South Korea and Iran), Fujairah’s musical highway is the first of its kind in the Arab world. Beyond its novelty, Al Hefaiti sees deeper value in the project. It’s an invitation, as he describes it, for students and the public to engage with the shared beauty of culture, a European symphony echoing across Emirati mountains, powered by nothing more than speed, precision engineering and a bit of imagination.
Of course, it could even help encourage speedy motorists to ease it on the gas in order to enjoy the free concert, brought to them from underneath their tyres!
