Last week saw the best musicians at Retune Music Academy named. Eleven artists were chosen from some 80 applicants to receive musical training in vocalisation, stage performance and studio recording, over a period of six months, with the additional opportunity to record in a professional studio and have one track included on Retune’s compilation CD, according to Matteo Valli, RC’s regional coordinator and one of the academy’s organisers.
The academy is a joint project between the European Union and the Italian 100 Copies and Ricerca e Cooperazione (RC), and was established in Egypt by the EU as a part of its cultural cooperation mission in Egypt. It aims to support aspiring artists and promote diversity of artistic expressions in the Egyptian music industry.
The academy has offered participants a professional studio to practise and record their music. “We wanted to support young, underground artists, promoting their talents, through this project,” he said.
With all artists in their early twenties, the musical genres were a smattering of all things contemporary: “mahraganat”, rap, and electronic music.
“This is the most common type of music nowadays,” Valli explained. “This is the type of music that you find everywhere and listened to by everyone.”
The EU has allocated an estimate of 300,000 Euros for this project, which constitutes 80 per cent of the project’s total cost.
Watani International
27 December 2015