Issue No. 599
People
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15 - 21 August 2002 Issue No. 599 People |
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| Published in Cairo by AL-AHRAM established in 1875 | Recommend this page | ||
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I'm tingling with anticipation, dears, for I've just heard the most wonderful news! Our beloved Egypt is never far from the international spotlight, of course, but next month, all eyes around the world will be focused on the Great Pyramid of Khufu. Why, you ask? Because the National Geographic Channel is set to host one of those exciting new live archaeology events from deep within the pyramid itself...
Surely you are all as intrigued as I am. Luckily, my dear colleague Sherif Sonbol spoke to the show's directors and producers to get all the juice on the goings-on, which I will now impart to you. There is a shaft, it seems, that penetrates deep within the heart of the pyramid. At the end of the shaft there is a door of sorts. For the first time ever, a robot will be sent down the shaft in order to discover what lies behind that hidden door. All this will take place live and will be beamed worldwide to millions of anxious viewers. After all, whatever is behind that door may finally reveal some of the mysteries of the pyramids themselves.
My favourite archaeologist Zahi Hawass, the head of our Supreme Council of Antiquities, will be leading this fascinating expedition, along with Mark Lehner, a prominent archaeologist who has been busy exploring various sites near the pyramids. As an added treat, they will also be opening up, for the first time (and again, live for the cameras) a recently-discovered sarcophagus belonging to the "Overseer of the Administrative District", someone who quite clearly was running the whole pyramid building operation back in the day.
According to John Bredar, one of the show's producers, the goal of the event is to "feed people's imagination..." -- and that it will certainly do.
Kim McKay, the communications manager at the National Geographic Channel, said she has always been fascinated with the pyramids. She clearly remembers seeing them for the first time on a hot day in July when she was just five years old, so you can just imagine how happy she is now to be part of "history in the making", as she described the show.
African matters were in the offing this week with the official launching of the Eastern Africa General Students Union in Egypt (EAGSU). The opening ceremony, a colourful affair, was held at Nadi Al-Wafideen in the Heliopolis district of Roxy, last Sunday.The happy event brought together a good number of African diplomats in Cairo and many African students. The guest of honour was a West African -- Christopher Ariyo, minister at the Nigerian Embassy in Cairo. Other diplomats from Kenya, Tanzania and Uganda were also present, as was Yehia Shahin, the President of the Ugandan-Egyptian Friendship Association.
EAGSU groups students from eight African countries, namely, the Comoro Islands; Djibouti; Eritrea; Kenya; Somalia; Sudan; Tanzania and Uganda. The President of EAGSU is Salah Kiweewa, a Ugandan national and student of information technology at Al-Azhar University. Mohamed Tabar, from Kenya, is secretary general of the newborn organisation.
I certainly hope all of you get the chance to go to at least one performance at this year's Citadel Festival for Music and Song, whose 14th round is ongoing until 21 August. I personally plan on attending what promises to be a fantastic performance featuring Sudanese guitarist Al-Fatih Hussein and his troupe at Al-Saha Theatre. With its Sudanese ambiance and rich musical heritage, the concert will overwhelm you, especially vocalist Walid Zakieddin, drummer Abdel-Moneim Aqr, percussionist Hatem Mohamed Ali, organist Nezar Mubarak and saxophonist Mansour Soliman. We will listen to prominent selections from Sudanese folklore, compiled by Hussein, who is an assistant professor at the Faculty of Music and Drama in Sudan. He is also a specialist at playing the acoustic guitar. In 1998, he founded Al-Mandal troupe which has participated in several festivals, including ones in Moscow and Frankfurt.
I'm always there for you, my sweets, with the hottest news from the wonderful world of music. My latest tidbit is that Austrian maestro Johannes Wildner has been named by Culture Minister Farouk Hosni as the principal conductor of the Cairo Symphony Orchestra, replacing Egyptian conductor Ahmed El-Saedi. Wildner will begin his new post at the Cairo Opera House at the start of the 2003 season.
From what I hear (and you know I'm always very much in the know), Wildner plans on updating the orchestra's programme to include new and various works of international stature. His plan also includes organising concerts for children and youth, as well as taking the symphony on tours of Europe, the United States, China and Japan.
My dear friend Samir Farag, the opera house director, told me that the consummate Austrian maestro will have a budding Egyptian maestro as an assistant, with the hope that some of Wildner's vast experience will be imparted upon him.
Just to get a picture of what I'm talking about, it is worth mentioning that Wildner has recently conducted the Vienna Symphony Orchestra through several concerts at the Cairo Opera House's main hall itself -- so he's really no stranger to this stage at all.
At the newly established Nile Tower Hotel, Mahmoud El-Sherif, the Director of the Laser Research Centre at Drexel University in the United States, and his wife Gilan Tal'at El-Mansour, celebrated the wedding of their gorgeous daughter Dahlia -- and I tell you, my dears, I wouldn't have missed an event like that for the world. Dahlia's groom Seifeddin is the son of veteran engineer Osama Helmi Khalil. The party was attended by the family's closest friend, Secretary General of the Supreme Council of Antiquities Zahi Hawass, along with a bevy of scientists and professors from Egypt and the United States.
Le Meridien Heliopolis's General Manager Philippe Bonnot and Director of Human Resources Akram Zaghloul, often hold fun and friendly celebrations for their staff birthdays. But what a surprise it was, my sweets, when during the latest such party, Bonnot and his team surprised Credit Supervisor Haitham Abdallah -- who had only recently become a brand new father -- with a souvenir to commemorate the happy occasion. Alf mabrouk to all!
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