		Al-Ahram Weekly On-line 29 March - 4 April 2001 Issue No.527
Published in Cairo by AL-AHRAM established in 1875		Current issue \| Previous issue \| Site map

Pack of Cards

By Madame Sosostris

There are some events that, busy as I am, I would hate to miss, and the Turkish Embassy Spring Charity Bazaar is definitely one of them. It will take place on 31 March in cooperation with Al-Nour wal-Amal (Light and Hope) Association in the garden of the residence of the Turkish ambassador at 44 Al-Nil Street in Giza. Of course, dears, you will be able to peruse a variety of Turkish products and, more importantly, taste delicious Turkish food and drinks while waiting for the results of the raffle -- which, I am told, includes plane tickets and a stay in Turkey or one of severable fashionable tourist resorts in Egypt. The proceeds from the bazaar will be used to sustain the scholarship programme for the students orphaned by the 1999 earthquake in Turkey.

Darlings, you know that I support the Intifada heart and soul, and this is why I want to share this important news: the 13-member general secretariat of the Federation of Arab Journalists (FAJ), chaired by the head of the federation, our chairman of the board and editor-in-chief of Al-Ahram Ibrahim Nafie, held a meeting on 21 and 22 March at their Cairo headquarters. The FAJ called for the Arabs to offer all their support to the Intifada, request the lifting of UN sanctions against Iraq and eliminate any measures taken in the Arab countries against press freedom. As representative of the FAJ, Nafie submitted a letter to the Arab summit, emphasising the importance of Arab solidarity. A reception took place later at the Gezira Sheraton masterfully organised by Ambassador Ismail Mubarak, director of public relations, Sheraton Hotels Egypt.

Who, my dears, would believe that 24 years have already passed since the death of Egypt's beloved Dark Nightingale, the legendary singer Abdel-Halim Hafez? It is all the more surprising because wherever one goes, one is bound to hear his beautiful voice crooning a love song, be it from the radio of a passing taxi or the café on the corner. One of my dear friends used to tell me that all the housewives he knew had to listen to a tape of Abdel-Halim's songs while doing their chores; another simply compared his undying popularity to that of Nat King Cole.

It is therefore not surprising that in order to mark this 24th commemoration of his death, the Association of Abdel-Halim Hafez's Friends is organising a series of seminars on Hafez's art and the remarkable influence he has had on Arabic song. These seminars will introduce an elite group of composers, writers and singers who aspire to follow in the master's path. The festivities will take place at the association's headquarters on Emadeddin Street, and will wrap up with a huge party during which young singers will perform a selection of Hafez's songs. In addition, an exhibition will showcase some of Hafez's memorabilia such as his camera, elegant suits and papers in his own handwriting.

There is more exciting news for the famous late singer's fans: renowned Nubian singer Mohamed Munir is rumoured to be preparing a new album including Abdel-Halim Hafez's most popular songs, which he will reinterpret in his distinctive style.

For the second consecutive year, Akhbar Al-Nugoum (News of the Stars) magazine will hold a competition for Abdel-Halim Hafez look-alikes and the results will be published in the issue commemorating the anniversary.



Last Tuesday, the Australian ambassador to Egypt, the popular and vivacious Victoria Owen, invited her numerous friends (and when I say numerous, I mean hundreds and hundreds of very interesting people) to her residence, where they attended the launching of Australia's innovative campaign, Think Australia, which aims to introduce Egyptians to that beautiful country on a more sophisticated level. As part of the campaign, a series of seminars will be organised in the coming months addressing areas as diverse as tourism, trade policy, competition policy, hi-tech resource surveying, family law, food standards and water and irrigation technology. Many seminars will be conducted by visiting Australian experts. Well, darlings, if you don't see me around as much as I am sure you all wish to, you know where I will be.

My dear friend Mona Makram Ebeid, a former member of parliament who also teaches political science at the American University in Cairo and chairs the Association for the Advancement of Education, has been nominated by UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan as an Egyptian expert to serve on the ECOSOC Committee for Development Policy. This committee, which is composed of 24 experts from all over the world, meets once a year at the UN headquarters in New York to devise development policies for the Third World.

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