Beheira is now on the Egyptian folk arts calendar. The governorate’s first folk arts festival was recently presented at the Damanhour Opera House.
Beheira is now on the Egyptian folk arts calendar. The governorate’s first folk arts festival was recently presented at the Damanhour Opera House.
Six governorates from the Delta and North coast took part: Menoufiya, Gharbiya, Daqahliya, Marsa Matrouh, Alexandria and Beheira. Each was represented by a troupe that performed its own traditional dances.
“The general idea of holding a regional festival is to promote the credentials of troupes from these areas,” said Mahmoud Rifaat, head of the central administration for artistic affairs.
Folk arts director Mohamed Zarif said the cultural palaces authority, along with the Cairo Opera House, invited children from orphanages all over the Delta to the festival, which coincides with the World Orphans Day.
“We will turn this event into an international festival next year,” Zarif says.
Nightingale lifetime
The Small Hall of the Cairo Opera House held a recent cultural and artistic evening to commemorate the 35th anniversary of the death of the singer Abdel-Halim Hafez (1929 – 1977), widely seen as one of the most prominent figures in Egyptian and Arab singing in the 20th century.
The veteran media figures Wagdy al-Hakim and Mufid Fawzi reviewed Hafez’s life and most significant works This was followed by a recital of Hafez’s most popular songs.
Hafez was born Abdel-Halim Ali Shabana in the village of Halawat in Sharqiya, east of the Delta. He entered the Arab Music Institute’s composition department in 1943, graduating in 1949. He took a teaching job, but later resigned and embarked on a singing career, taking the stage name ‘Hafez’ from the first name of his mentor Hafez Abdel-Wahab who at the time in charge of the music department with Radio Cairo, in recognition of his patronage.
Hafez was famous for his warm, rich voice which allowed him to express a wide variety of sentiments. He was hailed as the people’s singer; he sang of love and passion, of everyday and of special incidents; with poignancy, humour and wit. Hafez was also famous for his patriotic songs.
When Hafez passed away after a long illness he left an artistic heritage that enriched Egypt and the Arab world.
Egyptian songs, Syrian voice
The Cairo Opera House’s celebration of the Egyptian singer Mohamed Abdel-Wahab, who was born in March 1907 and died in May 1991, and who pioneered the modernisation ofclassic Arab music by mixing in Western overtones or musical elements, saw the Syrian singer Safwan Bahlawan return to the Main Hall stage. It is three years since Bahlawan last appeared at the Opera House.
The concert reprised a selection of Abdel-Wahab’s numbers sung by Bahlawan, who is well-known as a performer of such songs. Bahlawan donated his fee to the benefit fund for Opera House staff.
Omar Khairat in two recitals
The Main Hall of the Cairo Opera House has hosted Egyptian pianist and composer Omar Khairat and his band in two recitals. To a full house, Khairat performed a selection of his special compositions, among which was he music of some of the most popular Egyptian serials: Miss Hekmat’s Conscious, 100 Years of Cinema and Amm Ahmed’s Case.
Khairat grew up in a well-educated, artistic family and studied at the Cairo Conservatoire in 1959. He first appeared on the Cairo music scene in the early 1980s with the composition of the soundtracks of dozens of successful serials and films.
Khairat earned many awards, including best soundtrack for many films among which are The Ostrich and the Peacock, Running away from Khanka and Looking for Tutankhamun.
WATANI International
28 April 2012