Issue No. 596
People
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25 - 31 July 2002 Issue No. 596 People |
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| Published in Cairo by AL-AHRAM established in 1875 | Recommend this page | ||
Pack of cards
I'm sure you are aware, my sweets, that there is quite a bit of celebrating going on this week, in honour of the 1952 July Revolution's golden jubilee. The festivities reached their peak on the eve of 23 July, when President Hosni Mubarak attended a gala event organised by the Cairo Opera House.
Featuring the Cairo Opera Orchestra and Choir as well as both the National and the Abdel-Halim Noweira Arabic Music ensembles, the performance began with a powerful composition called July, The Revolution, composed by maestro Nader Abbassi, the director of the Cairo Opera Orchestra. This moving piece was followed by a bevy of classics -- nationalistic odes by late singers Umm Kulthoum, Mohamed Abdel- Wahab, and Abdel-Halim Hafez which were produced while Gamal Abdel-Nasser was president.
Adding to the enchantment were songs composed during the presidencies of both Anwar El-Sadat and Mubarak himself. Amongst the budding singers who participated in the concert were Sami Abdel-Wahab, Salma, Nagwa, Amira Ahmed, Ghada Adam, Marwa Nagui and Ibrahim El-Hefnawi.
The evening was directed by Abdel-Moneim Kamel, who wrapped things up with a reinterpretation of Sayed Darwish's song Oum Ya Masri (Rise up, Egyptian), performed by the consummate musician, Gamal Salama. As I gazed out at the audience, composed of ministers, ambassadors, senior state officials, members of the Revolutionary Command Council, surviving Free Officers, representatives of various Egyptian political parties, children of presidents Sadat and Nasser, as well as Egypt's most prominent artists and literati, I couldn't help but shed a tear of nostalgic, unadulterated joy.
This week, at the Picasso art gallery in Zamalek, an exhibition titled "50 Years Since the July Revolution" was inaugurated by Hoda Gamal Abdel-Nasser, the late president's eldest daughter. The show, running through 12 August, includes an amazing collection of paintings by -- among others -- the Director of the Fine Arts Sector at the Culture Ministry Ahmed Nawwar, Gamal El-Segini, Hassan Fouad, Salah Taher, Hussein Bikar, Mohamed Heggi, Abdel-Hadi El-Gazar, Mounir Kanaan, Abdel- Qader Mukhtar, Mustafa El-Razzaz and Mohamed Rizk.
On a no less revolutionary note, my dears, I must tell you about the Egypt Tourism Workforce Development Programme currently taking place under the auspices of the Egyptian Tourism Federation and the Egyptian Hotel Association, headed by Ahmed El-Nahhas. Striving to train some 20,000 people in the hospitality business within two years, the programme is an ambitious attempt to improve the competitive capabilities of one of our most important sectors.
On the occasion of the golden jubilee of the 1952 July Revolution (celebrated, by the way, quite extensively on our pages in this issue), the General Organisation of Cultural Palaces (GOCP), headed by Anas El-Fiqi, has designed a cultural programme all about the revolution for children in order to enlighten the new generation about its achievements and repercussions. The programme includes screenings of documentary films about the revolution, which will be followed by discussions, patriotic songs performed by a children's choir, public forums featuring top officials, as well as two special workshops about artistic and literary works that revolve around themes relating to the earth-moving events of 1952.
Another very interesting field, advertising, also piqued my attention this week, when I received word from my dear friend and colleague Hassan Hamdi, head of the Al-Ahram Advertising Department, that the Egyptian Advertising Association (which Hamdi also heads) had recently given out its annual "Ramih" awards for the year's best ads. The star- studded ceremony took place at the Cairo Sheraton and was attended by a huge throng of advertising professionals who cheered on their winning colleagues.
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