Issue No. 593
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4 - 10 July 2002 Issue No. 593 People |
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| Published in Cairo by AL-AHRAM established in 1875 | Recommend this page | ||
Pack of cards
By Madame Sosostris
It is certainly looking to be a long, hot summer, my dears, but thankfully, July and August are bringing us a bevy of musical events that should help to ease the heat just a little bit.
Alexandria is the place to be in this regard, for I've just received word that the city's Roman Theatre in Kom Al- Dekka will be featuring some 35 concerts over the next two months. 34 singers and troupes, and around 700 musicians, will be taking part in this grand musical experience organised by the Cairo Opera House. This is actually the second season of Alexandria summer shows put on by the opera, and I certainly hope the tradition continues and expands over the next few years.
The season's first concert -- taking place today -- should start things off with a bang. It will feature the Abdel-Halim Noweira Arabic Music Ensemble conducted by maestro Salah Ghoubashi, and vocalist Ghada Ragab. Subsequent shows will feature the golden voices of Iman El-Bahr Darwich, Mohamed Mounir, Ali El- Haggar, Mohamed Tharwat, Afaf Radi, Anoushka and Nadia Mustafa.
There will also be plenty of representation from around the Arab world, with performances by Lebanon's Walid Tawfiq, Iraq's Elham El-Madfa'i, Syria's Safwan Bahlawan and Morocco's Abdu Sherif.
Classical, jazz and international music are also on the summer's agenda, with consummate pianist Omar Khayrat, soprano Neveen Allouba, percussionist Nesma Abdel-Aziz, jazz composers Yehia Khalil, Fathi Salama, Ahmed Rabie and saxophonist Abdallah Ibrahim, scheduled to perform as well. Budding talents such as Khaled Shams and Dina Salah, and groups like Love and Peace and March, will also be taking part.
See you in Kom El-Dikka!
Then again, you will probably also see me at the Bibliotheca Alexandrina, which, under the auspices of my dear friend Ismail Serageddin, its director, is holding the First International Summer Art Festival, also in July and August.
The famous maestro Sherif Mohieddin, director of the Arts programme, has organised 50 events, spanning the spectrum from music to theatre, and cinema to dance. All shows will take place at the library's auditorium starting at 9 pm. Amongst the countries participating are Egypt, Greece, Iraq, Italy, Lebanon, Senegal, Sweden, Uruguay and the United States.
After the absolutely lovely Arabic Music Institute was officially inaugurated by Mrs Suzanne Mubarak last month, Opera House director Samir Farag decided to honour those artists who featured in the institute's inauguration ceremony. Farag granted certificates of recognition to director Intasar Abdel- Fatah, veteran poet Mustafa El-Damarani, gorgeous actress Athar El-Hakim, violinist Hassan Sharara, maestro Taha Nagui and singer Sami Abdel-Wahab. The institute, after all, is affiliated with the Cairo Opera House, and if the inauguration is anything to go by, we should be treated to some great shows there in the near future.
Moving right along from music to books, I had the pleasure recently to visit Minya, one of my favourite governorates, for the inaugural celebrations for this year's "Reading for all Festival". Minya Governor Hassan Hemeida awarded the governorate's Shield to Nazih Girgis, founder and chairman of the US-Mid-East Music and Fine Arts Council, for putting on a ballet based on his book "Carnival of the Animals", as part of the celebrations which took place at Minya stadium. The ballet was choreographed by Fatemah Marzouk and performed by young girls between the ages of 11 and 15. Before the show, a workshop was held to raise the children's' awareness of the environment through music and art. Girgis' book "Carnival of the Animals" was the winner of the 2001 Suzanne Mubarak Competition for Children's Literature. With the sponsorship of the Danish International Development Assistance, 130,000 copies of the book will be distributed for free in all of Egypt's elementary and preparatory schools.
Have you noticed, my sweets, how quickly the years seem to be passing by? It's already 4 July again, and that means tonight there's no other place you'll find me but at the party being thrown by the American Embassy in honour of the 226th US Independence Day. After all, there's nothing I like more than eating hot dogs and apple pie while watching fireworks by the Nile.
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