7 - 13 November 2002 Issue No. 611 Culture	Current issue Previous issue Site map
Published in Cairo by AL-AHRAM established in 1875		Recommend this page

Food for thought

FOR SOME Ramadan means daytime ordeals, rushing through traffic jams from one place to another to make it home by iftar. The evenings, on the other hand, make room for leisurely outings. Several cultural venues are offering programmes throughout the month. The narration of selections from the popular folk epic Al-Sira Al-Hilaliya is scheduled for ten consecutive days starting on 10 November at Bait Al-Suhaimi. It is a rare opportunity to hear the epic, seldom performed in those postmodern days of ours, recited by both poet Abdel-Rahman El-Abnoudi and folk reciter Sayed El-Dawwi. Another evening of sira by Mohamed El-Yamani will be sponsored by the British Council at Townhouse Gallery along with poetry and songs from Salah Jahin's Streets are Stories on 12 November.

Sufi chanter Sheikh Yassin El-Tuhami, whose audience is drawn from all over the metropolis and beyond, will perform at Zeinab Khatun on 2 December. This is the only publicised performance by the Sheikh, whose Cairene concerts have been highlights of the Holy Month for several years.

Music gets its share with Iraqi oudist Nasir Shamma performing at Zeinab Khatun on 11 November, with vocals by the Moroccan Foad Zabadi as well as the Egyptians May Farouk and Agfan. Other concerts include performances by Yorca, Qithara and Khaled Shams wa Asdiqa Al-Bahr. Sheikh El-Helbawi will present Sufi chants on 13 November, also at Zeinab Khatun-Harrawi. At the Manasterly Palace Qudsi Ergonir from Turkey will perform Sufi music on 17 November.

A new addition to regular Ramadan features is the Bi-Anfusihum (By Themselves) programme at the Creativity Centre recently inaugurated in the Cairo Opera House grounds where different writers narrate or read out selections of their works. The programme will begin with Alfred Farag reading his play Al-Shakhs (The Person) on 11 November. Other guests include Mohamed Salmawy, Lenin El-Ramli, Fathia El-Assal and Osama Anwar Okasha.

Also at the Creativity Centre Khaled Galal's Hilm Layla fi Aghustus, based on Mohamed Enani's translation of Shakespeare's A Midsummer Night's Dream, will play from 16 to 30 November.

Amr Fikri's exhibition of Sufi inspired photographs under the title Ya Hadrat Mawlay will be held at Zeinab Khatun from 12 November to 2 December.

Al-Hanager will host a number of musical performances by Shabab Al-Nil folk troupe, a troupe from Wahat and Jazz music by Yehia Khalil. Also at Hanager the play Al-Khalabis, directed by Abdel-Rahman El-Shafei, will run from 14 to 27 November.

A creative arts exhibition will be held throughout the month at Zeinab Khatun and Al-Harrawi, including plastic arts, crafts as well as books.

For the more sedentary there is also the television option. Five new television dramas will be aired on Egyptian terrestrial and satellite channels in addition to countless variety and game shows. Already Mohamed Sobhi's Fares Bila Gawad, produced by the private Dream TV, a new comer to the Ramadan competition, has been causing uproar (see p3). Other television highlights include the series Qasim Amin, directed by In'am Mohamed Ali, which narrates the life of the author of Tahrir Al-Mar'ah, and Zaman Imadeddin, directed by Hani Lashin, which deals with the entertainment community in Egypt before the 1952 Revolution.

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