I was told, my dears, by my colleague Reham El-Adawi, who is a self-proclaimed lover of Italian art, that painter Farid Fadel is putting together a very special exhibition to commemorate the 500th anniversary of the Mona Lisa, that most famous of all Italian paintings.
"Journey à la Gioconda" is the name of the show, set to be inaugurated by Italian Ambassador to Egypt Mario Sica and Cairo Opera House Director Samir Farag at the opera's art gallery on 5 March.
Held under the auspices of Culture Minister Farouk Hosni, the show, comprising 70 paintings and drawings inspired by Leonardo da Vinci, includes a first-ever "Egyptian Mona Lisa".
Many of the works on display purport to show the genius of the Renaissance master, with one of the highlights being a copy of the original Mona Lisa reproduced in oil on wood to show the painting's original colours before they yellowed with age.
On 6 March, Alessandro Vezzosi, director of Museo Ideale Leonardo da Vinci, will be giving a lecture at the gallery on "Leonardism" and the influence of Da Vinci on the art world.
Fadel says he is "indebted to Vezzosi for his invaluable assistance during my short visit to Vinci, Leonardo's birthplace near Florence". According to Vezzosi, Fadel's exhibit will provide Cairenes with the chance to examine the phenomenon of "Egyptian Leonardism", beginning with "The Nile of Leonardo in his dream of the Orient" to "The Leonardism and Leonardo's actuality at the beginning of the 3rd millennium". An intriguing event, to be sure.
I am so proud, my sweets, of Jill Kamel, Al-Ahram Weekly's energetic Heritage page editor, who will be delivering a lecture on Pharaonic Symbols in Christian Art, in the Atrium of the Canadian Embassy on 2 March. I had a peek at some of the images Kamel will be screening and they are simply beautiful. Both the Pharaonic reliefs and the icons that will be on display provide a new slant on Egyptian cultural studies.
Another colleague of mine, senior antiquities reporter Nevine El-Aref, was recently presented with a certificate of honour from the Supreme Council of Antiquities (SCA) for the tremendous efforts she exerted during the preparatory work and celebration of the Egyptian Museum's centennial, which took place last December.
The ceremony took place last Sunday at the museum's beautiful garden in Tahrir Square, where Nevine was feted for the three months of coverage she provided Al- Ahram Weekly in the lead- up to the event.
"Her articles helped make foreigners more acquainted with the different activities that took place during the centennial celebrations," said Zahi Hawass, secretary-general of the SCA. Hawass also honoured Nevine for helping out with the organisation of the conference that accompanied the centennial celebrations.
Others who received awards at the ceremony included Ibrahim Basha Kamal, who is known as "Sheikh Al-Athariyeen" (Chief of Archaeologists), prominent restorer Ahmed Youssef, and Henri Riad, the first Egyptian director of the Egyptian Museum. The museum's gardener also received an award for his efforts to make the place beautiful.
The ceremony was attended by a large number of archaeologists, high-ranking SCA officials, the director of the Egyptian Museum, and Ali Radwan, a prominent professor at Cairo University's faculty of archaeology.
Canadian Ambassador to Egypt Michel de Salaberry was the first speaker in this semester's lecture series sponsored by the American University in Cairo's Office of Equal Opportunity and Affirmative Action. Salaberry began his talk by briefly describing Canada's social and political history. He then went on to deal with issues of diversity and multiculturalism, presenting several interesting facts and figures -- that 4-5 per cent of the Canadian population has Ukrainian origins; that 300,000 Canadians are originally Egyptian; and that Canada's first prime minister was neither English nor French. During the discussion that followed, it was discovered that a common feature amongst Egyptian- Canadian families is to head back to Egypt when their daughters reach marriageable age.
If I were you, my dears, I wouldn't miss tomorrow's concert -- set to take place at the opera house -- featuring the Egyptian Musical Youth Assembly (EMYA), the Conservatoire and the Nile Troupe for Folk Instruments in a unique musical dialogue between folk and orchestral instruments. Conducted by Mohamed Hamdi, the concert will feature folk instruments such as the rababa, the mizmar, and the salamiya, along with orchestral instruments such as the cello, flute, oboe and clarinet. The EMYA, founded by Samha El-Kholi and late composer Gamal Abdel-Rahim, aims to preserve the rich heritage of classical music created by Egyptian and Arab composers. Its young musicians are regular performers at the opera house.
To celebrate the first-ever Canadian Film Festival in Cairo -- organised by Dessouqi Said -- the General Armenian Benevolent Union held a banquet in honour of Canadian filmmaker Atom Egoyan. Egoyan, who was born in Cairo to Armenian immigrant parents, is considered one of the most imaginative and original directors of his generation. Canadian Ambassador to Egypt Michel de Salaberry and Armenian Ambassador Sergay Manassarian were amongst those in attendance at the event, which took place at the Four Seasons Hotel.
Volunteers in Action (VIA), a community service club connected to the AUC student union, is organising a major charity concert at the university's Ewart Hall tomorrow night. Consummate pianist Omar Khayrat is set to perform, while a bevy of actors and actresses are slated to attend. The money that will be collected will go towards helping orphans and extremely poor families, in an attempt to alleviate illness, illiteracy and unemployment.
In what was great news for theatre lovers, the Nile Hilton recently revived its traditional dinner theatre event, which had been on hiatus over the past few years. This year, Richmond Productions, a top UK-based theatre company, set the stage alight with their production of The Shakespeare Revue, a night of sparkling cabaret style music combined with Shakespeare, tap dancing, torch songs, tuxedos and side-splitting sketches. Directed by well-known British actor and director Alister Cameron, the show was performed to a full house at the Alf Leila wa Leila Ballroom this week. The next such show is scheduled for October 2003.
My last item this week, dearies, concerns students with kind hearts helping out their fellow children. This time, the students are quite young, mere primary pupils from the New Horizon School who were chosen to participate in a special "Volunteer Child" programme affiliated with the Institute of Cultural Affairs for the Middle East and North Africa and the United Nations. Thirty students meet every week to visit orphans, spending their time reading to them, and bringing them clothes that have been donated by parents of the school's children. Every other week a UN representative meets with the young volunteers to follow up on their progress and provide helpful advice.
Amongst these students is 12-year-old Mariam Aziz, who was so inspired by her experiences that she penned a poem that was selected to appear in the school's lovely 2003 calendar, along with other verses and artwork created by her colleagues. In fact, I was so moved by the sentiments of this young girl that I've decided to reproduce the poem for you here: It's called "Volunteerism".
It's nice to be a volunteer.