Pack of cards

By Madame Sosostris

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âôï To commemorate 23 July 1952, the General Organisation of Cultural Palaces (GOCP), headed by poet Saad Abdel-Rahman, collaborated with journalist Nashwa El-Deeb's All in One Society for Citizenship and Development to organise an evening of song. It featured GOCP's own troupe for children's songs, conducted by Hani Shenouda, as well as the Egyptian Ensemble for Arab Music, conducted by Farouk El-Babli. Many of the numbers were patriotic, and among those present were filmmaker Khaled Youssef, actor Sameh El-Sereiti, actress Tayseer Fahmi and maestro Abdel-Hamid Abdel-Ghaffar -- all of them participants in the 25 January Revolution.

âô The 21st Citadel Festival for Music and Singing (running through 30 July) was inaugurated by the Director of the Cairo Opera House Abdel-Moneim Kamel and bass baritone Reda El-Wakil. Three festival icons were honoured: the graphic designer Ziad Bakir, who was killed in the January 25 Revolution; film critic Samir Farid; and artist (also director of the Opera galleries) Fayza Abdel-Moneim. Conductor Nayeir Nagui was also presented with a certificate of recognition. At the Panorama Theatre, the ceremony started with a performance conducted by Nagui and featuring soprano Jacklin Rafiq, mezzo-soprano Joly Fayzi and tenor Ragaaeddin Ahmed. (see Culture p. 22)

âô£ The Yanabei Al-Hayah (Life Springs) campaign together with the administration of the Cairo Tower and the Ministry of Tourism and the Tourism Development Authority gave an elegant party at the garden of Cairo Tower. The occasion was the launching of a campaign titled Hekaya fi Masr (A Tale in Egypt), and it featured a talented troupe affiliated to the Art Creativity Centre with Khaled Galal and the Moroccan singer Jannat. Both Jannat and the President of the Tourism Development Authority Magdi Selim, among others, were honoured.

âô¦ With old and new songs, the King, Nubian pop star Mohamed Mounir, rocked the stage at Marsillia village on the North Coast in a concert attended by thousands of holiday-making fans.

âô£ The stars of Lahazat Harega TV series will be meeting representatives of Egyptian and Arab newspapers and TV channels on the occasion of airing Season Two of the series on Rotana Masriya and LBC during Ramadan. The stars and crew will address enquiries about Seasons Two and Three; and they will provide details of two new competitions. The Ramadan competition consists of daily questions about the episodes airing during that month, while the second competition will allow one lucky winner to join the Lahazat Harega family in a special way. The past five months have seen unprecedented interaction with the series on the part of the audience as a result of competitions and the weekly online chat service provided by the production company, not to mention electronic newsletters and the official Facebook page; the number of fans has exceeded 100,000. Among the stars of the second season are Hisham Selim, Amr Waked, Mahmoud Abdel-Moghni, Boshra, Amir Karara, Ammar Shalak from Lebanon, Sawsan Badr, Dorra Zarrouk, Hanan Motawae, Yasser Galal, Emi Samir Ghanem, Nidal El-Shafie, Tarek Lotfi, Injy El-Mokaddem, Safaa Galal, Youssef Fawzi, Randa El-Beheiri and Yossra El-Lozi.

âôï Last Monday the Amr Salah Jazz trio gave a concert at the Cairo Opera House Open-Air Theatre featuring Italian jazz singer Elisa Nocita as guest of honour. They blended jazz with Sicilian folk music, while Nocita chanted a group of Italian, Brazilian and American songs, accompanied by the trio: Salah (piano), Ihab Tass (bass guitar), Ahmed Hisham (drums), Mohamed Medhat (violin) and Diaa Tass (percussions).