The TNN team has picked some of the most interesting cultural events scheduled to take place in Cairene cultural centers during the upcoming week. Here is our list of recommendations:
1. “Rusty Memory”: Hossam Sakr’s iconic reveries
Graduating with honours at the Faculty of Art Education Helwan University, in 1989, Hossam Sakr is a unique talent. His iconic dreamy paintings contributed to the success of the Townhouse Gallery when it first opened in 1998.
Sakr has lived and worked in several countries including Bahrain, France and most recently Mayotte, a French region in the Indian Ocean, all of which have contributed to the rich visual imagery of his works.
Location: Art Lounge Cairo
Address: 37 B Ahmed Heshmat Str.,1st floor, ap.2, Zamalek, Cairo
Date: March 1st – March 20th
For further details, check the Facebook event.
2. Mazaher Ensemble – Zar Music and Songs
Location: Egyptian Center for Culture and Arts-Makan
Address: 1 Saad Zaghloul St., El Dawaween, Cairo
Date: Wednesday March 4th, 8:00 PM
For further details, check the Facebook event.
(photo: Event’s Facebook page)
3. Shashet Townhouse
A number of short films set in Cairo, and that tell “personal stories” of the city, will be screened at Townhouse Gallery’s library. Subsequent to the screenings, the films’ directors will speak to the audience about their productions.
Location: Townhouse Art Gallery
Address: 10 Nabrawy Street, off Champollion Street, Downtown, Cairo
Date: March 4th – March 18th,7:00 PM
You can learn more about the screenings through the Facebook event.
4. Thursday Lecture: Omniya Abdel Barr – “Reinventing Cairo, a wandering city full of hope”
With a surging and newfound interest in the old houses and quarters of Cairo, attempts at tracing the evolution of the historic city are becoming countless.
Egyptian conservation architect Omniya Abdel Barr speaks at the Netherlands-Flemish Institute’s weekly lecture about the evolution of Cairo, the reasons underlying its inhabitants’ newfound interest in its history —or ‘past glory’—, and her projects in the city’s Islamic quarters.
Location: NVIC – Netherlands-Felmish Institute in Cairo
Address: 1 Dr. Mahmoud Azmi Street, Zamalek, Cairo
Date: Thursday March 5th,6:00 PM
You can also learn more about the lecture here.
(photo: Event’s Facebook page)
5. Film screening: Amarcord
Amarcord is a film by Federico Fellini and in Romagnolo dialect (the dialect of Fellini) means “I remember”.
In the film the director recalls his childhood in the village, by revisiting the “myths, the values, the newspaper of that time: the fascist parades, school (with the prosperous teacher that teases the first thoughts), the girl “that goes with everyone,” the sentimental prostitute, the visit of the emir of a hundred wives, the whole village at sea, under the moon, awaiting the passage of the liner Rex”, as is described on the event page.
The screening is organised in collaboration with the Netherlands-Flemish Institute. English subtitles available.
Location: The Italian Cultural Institute
Address: 3, ElSheikh el Marsafi St., Zamalek, Cairo
Date: Thursday March 5th, 7:30 pm
For further details, check the Facebook event.
(photo: Event’s Facebook page)
6. Charlie Chaplin with Muhammad Naglah
The event will screen Charlie Chaplin’s silent film “The Kid “. The film’s original music will be muted, and the screening will be accompanied by a piece of music created by composer Muhammad Naglah.
Naglah will also deliver a live performance of this music on the piano.
Location: 3elbet Alwan
Address: 15 Ahmed Heshmat St., Zamalek, Cairo
Date: Thursday March 5th, 6:00 pm
For further details, check the Facebook event.
7. Massar Egbari Album Launch Concert:
Location: Al Sakia Culture Wheel
Address: 26th of July Street, Zamalek, Cairo
Date: Thursday March 5th, 8:00 pm
For further details, check the Facebook event.
This YouTube playlist comprises songs from the band’s most recent album:
8. National Arab Music Ensemble: In Memory of Egyptian Musician Mohamed Abdul Wahab
It is the second day of the National Arab Music Ensemble’s event dedicated to the memory of renowned Egyptian musician Mohamed Abdul Wahab.
Location: Main Hall, Cairo Opera House
Address: el-Borg – el-Gezira, Zamalek, Cairo
Date: Thursday March 5th, 8:00 PM
You can learn more about the event, along with the Opera House’s entire program for this month, here.
9. Ghalia Benali to hold special Arabic-Indian night in Cairo
Tunisian singer Ghalia Benali is scheduled to hold a concert in Cairo on 6 March.
Ghalia will peform ‘Al Palna’; one of her earlier projects exhibiting an amalgam of Indian and Arabic culture and which includes her top hits “Dam Da’man” and “Hayamtny” using the Indian sitar and Indian tabla.
Location: Cairo Festival City, New Cairo
Date: Friday 6 March at 8.30pm
For further details, and to purchase tickets, check the Facebook event.
Here’s a video uploaded by Ghalia to her Facebook page, in which she exhibits snippets of Al Palna music. She describes an Arabic-Indian night as “a meeting between two cultures I grew up with since my childhood…What is called mawwal in arabic culture is called Alap in Indian’s one . Palna means the cradle in Hindi, I added the Arabic ‘al’ to make it ‘Al Palna’: ‘the cradle’ like in a cradle, I just rocked peacefully arabic lyrics and indian modes and rhythms…The texts are mainly about Love that gives a Sufi taste to the whole energy.”
httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9i1sZeWXBvg
10. “Iran Beyond Images” Exhibition and “Couch Traveler in Iran” Book-signing Event by Amr Badawy
Egyptian photographer and traveler Amr Badawy, who “couch-surfed” to Iran, a trip which produced his new book Couch Traveler in Iran, holds a book-signing event next Friday.
An exhibition featuring photographs from his trip to Iran will also be inaugurated on the same day and set to continue on till the 16th of March.
Location: Photopia
Address: 15 El-Somal Street, Korba, Heliopolis, Cairo
Dates: Book-signing event takes place March 6th, 6:00 PM; exhibition runs from March 6 – March 16
You can also learn more about the event here.
11. The three disappearances of Soad Hosni
“This haunting and beautifully formed documentary is a meditation on the life of Egyptian screen legend Soad Hosni, who starred in eighty-two feature films between 1959 and 1991,” as is described on the event’s page.
Through the use of filmic montage, director and video artist Rania Stephan “reveals the diverse modes of female representation embodied in Hosni’s charismatic roles, and creates an ebullient picture of the iconic actress who captivated the modern Arab imagination.”
English subtitles will be available.
This film is part of the Nostalgia Lecture and Film Programme in cooperation with the Italian Cultural Institute in Cairo.
Location: NVIC – Netherlands-Felmish Institute in Cairo
Address: 1 Dr. Mahmoud Azmi Street, Zamalek, Cairo
Date: Sunday March 8th,7:30-9:30 PM
For further details, check the Facebook event.
(photo: Event’s Facebook page)