INTERNATIONAL UNDERWATER ARTISTS EXHIBITION in Dahab

This is so original that, even if it does not take place in Cairo (for obvious reasons, .. the Nile water is too murky), I think it deserves support.

THE INTERNATIONAL DAHAB ART FESTIVAL, Underwater Artists Exhibition, will take place on March 24 (opening at 10:00 AM), and March 25, 2012 at the Dahab Divers Hotel, Light House,  Dahab, South Sinai.

The artists participating are Abd Elwahab Abd Elmohsen (EGY), Farghali Abdel Hafiz (EGY), Abeer Mostafa (EGY), Grégory CHENU (FRA), Ahmed Abd Elkreem (EGY), Joke Raes (BEL), Alexandra Stock (USA), Maison AlSaleh (UAE), Bernard Garo (SUI), Mehreen Hasan (PAK), Branislava Nikolic (AUT), Maia Stefana (ROU), Carole Le Pers (FRA), Mohamed Negm (GBR), Christopher Kuhl (USA), Rasha Amin (EGY), Craciun Anamaria (ROU), Shayma Kamel (EGY), Dinesh Revankar (IND), Taher Abdelazeem (EGY), Enas Elsadiek (EGY), Ursula Rohde (GER), Fady Aladdin (EGY).
The exhibition is curated by Enas Elsadiek.

It even seems that, through the Sponsors support, exhibition viewers will get a discount on accommodation, and one guided dive to the exhibition (figure that! no parking stress). CLEG is not involved in this though so, to get accommodation information please visit: www.Dahabdivers.com, while for reservation contact: Elsaharartgallery@yahoo.com

Sponsored by:
Elsahara Art Gallery, Dahab Divers Hotel, www.dahabdivers.com , Ministry of Culture- Sector of fine Arts, www.fineart.gov.eg/, and Star of Dahab Hotel, www.starofdahab.com

"Revival of Ancient Egyptian Music" - Lecture

The Maulana Azad Centre for Indian Culture (MACIC) will present a lecture on ‘Revival of Ancient Egyptian Music’ on Wednesday March 21, 2012 at 5.30 PM at its premises at 23, Talaat Harb St, Downtown Cairo.

The lecture will be delivered by renowned Egyptian musicologist Prof.Dr Khairy El Malt. There will also be an exhibition of ancient Egyptian musical instruments as well as traditional Indian musical instruments.
Prof Dr Khairy El Malt is Professor of Music Education at the Helwan University. While his specialty is playing the violin, Prof Khairy El Malt obtained his doctorate in Music and Music Education from the University of Leipzig, Germany and has founded the national project for revival of ancient Egyptian music. He established the first diploma in the world for study of Pharaonic music and later introduced a Masters degree in the subject in Helwan University. He is the recipient of several awards for his pioneering work in this field.

The backdrop to the lecture will be the on-going exhibition of paintings on ancient Egyptian and Indian art titled ‘India and Egypt : Mirror Images’ by Youssef Damoum which is being displayed at the Centre.

For further details, please contact MACIC at:
Tel: 23933396 / 23960071
Fax: 23936572
e-mail: macic@indembcairo.com

JITKA CECHOVA at the Manial Palace

The Czech pianist Jitka Cechova (click here for bio) will play on Sunday, March 18, 2012 at 8:00 PM in the Golden Room of the Mohamed Ali Palace in Manial (aka Manial Palace, click here for details). The program will feature music from the great romantics Chopin, Schumann, Liszt, and Smetana.

NUBANOOR (Nubian Lights) at El Tanbura Hall

"Amandujr" is an ancient Nubian legend about the Nile. It tells how people drowned beneath the currents of the world's greatest river never die and how their souls continue to live deep in the River bed.

Nubian people felt a great affinity with nature, living their lives in accordance with the seasons and continual ebb and flow of the Nile - the earliest Nubian songs were inspired by their farming origins. Nubian hand drums, known as "Duff" (fashioned from goat skins and wood) were thought to be a key link between their people and their environment, with the ability to produce the sounds of Fire, Water and Air through complex rhythms. In addition to songs for cultivation and harvesting the Nubian people sang epic poetry of Love and religion, recognising both Islam and Christianity.

Nubians regarded themselves as singers with songs for every occasion from birthing songs with accompanying rituals, in which a new born baby would have its face bathed in the Nile with food thrown into the river as an offering to the souls of spirits in the Nile, through to tender songs known as "Azaa", performed to mark the death of loved ones. Dance also played a central role in their culture with a dance called "Ferri" representing the movement of "Bulti" fish swimming through the waves.

The Nubian way of life remained relatively constant until the modern world began to encroach on the Nubian people's environment through the first stages of the construction of the Aswan dawn in 1902. Traditional lands and sacred areas were flooded during 1912 and 1933 leading to the displacement of the Nubians who began to migrate to other areas in Egypt, with an especially large concentration of Nubian people taking residence in Cairo. The Nubian homelands were lost forever in 1964 during the controversial construction of the Aswan High Dam during the Nasser period. While some migrants made new settlements elsewhere in Aswan, known somewhat unfortunately as the "Valley of Hell" the majority of the Nubian people sought refuge across Egypt in this final migration.

In Cairo Mr El Said Gamal established the first incarnation of the NubaNoor group in 1962. The ensemble was notable for featuring the finest Nubian singers and composers of the age including "Abdullah Batt", "Abou Mirghani", "Saleh Abbas". Generations later the band can still be found performing traditional Nubian music deep in the Cairo metropolis. Their repertoire may have expanded to include songs of the deep sorrows felt by the Nubians from the loss of their traditional lands, and nostalgia for their way of life however alongside this meditation on events of the 20th century; NubaNoor continue to perform poetic love and praise songs with their unique rhythms and cultural heritage.

NubaNoor will play on Thursday March 15, 2012 at 9:00 PM at El Tanbura Hall (click here for details).
Tickets sell for 20EGP at the door.

(This biography has been prepared by El Mastaba. For more information contact them at 010 3171 762 or write to info@elmastaba.org )

Artists from Today's Syria at the Mashrabia Gallery

Yousef Abdelke / Heba Akkad / Assem Al Basha / Mounir Al Shaarani / Tarek Boteihy / Naser Hosain / Abdulla Murad / Yaser Safy / Edwar Shahda / Fadi Yazjy / Yamen Yousef / Nasouh Zaghloula

Mashrabia Gallery presents a group exhibition of Syrian artists who are currently living and working in Syria, despite the difficult situation.
Through this exhibition the organizers at Mashrabia Gallery hope that the already well-known as well as the younger Syrian artists will have the possibility of gaining an even broader international visibility.
Followers of the Cairo art scene will be able to enjoy a wide spectrum of techniques, such as paintings, graphics, drawings, photography and calligraphy, as well as a variety of different styles.

The exhibition will run until March 29, 2012.

Sing Egyptian Woman: Final 16

For those that haven't already caught up with the buzz around the contest for Egyptian female singers, here is a link to Sing Egyptian Woman: Final 16 where your vote helps decide who gets to make it to the world stage and recording studios in New York.

CINEMA: DOX BOX Global Day: A Syrian Film Program

Cinematheque in collaboration with مُصِرّين (Mosireen) presents DOX BOX Global Day: a Syrian film program on Thursday March 15, 2012

Address: 19A Adly Street, Flr 5, Downtown

Program
7:00 pm Step by step - 22mins
Directed by Oussama Mohammed

7:30 pm Black Stone - 62 mins
Directed by Nidal al Dibs

8:45 pm Silence - 31mins
Directed by Rami Farah

9: 30 pm Surprise Film

More information on the Festival :

Recognized as the leading documentary film festival in the Arabic-speaking world, DOX BOX is an international festival held in Syria since 2008. As a statement against the regime and due to obvious disruption of activities on the ground, the festival organizers decided that it would not be held this year.

In its place, DOX BOX organizers are collaborating with the Network of Arab Arthouse Screens (NAAS), and ArteEast, a New York-based international arts organization dedicated to showcasing the arts of the MENA region on a global stage, and collaborating with the most important International Documentary Film Festivals and Cinema Houses, to hold "DOX BOX Global Day" from March 14th to 16th.

Nine Syrian documentary films; ranging from 70s till this moment will be screened globally within three days, in cinemas and within the programs of International Film Festivals.

DOX BOX Global Day is offered to participants with all screening fees and theatrical rights waved so that it can serve as a platform to engage a worldwide audience with the complex situation in Syria and foster dialogue around a selection of Syrian documentaries that provide a nuanced perspective on this moment in Syrian history.

DOX BOX released the following message:

“It’s March 15th; the anniversary of the Syrian Revolution, and the closing night of the “missing” DOX BOX edition. So, here we are, carrying the best of Syrian documentary films to screen parts of the Syrians’ lives back from the seventies, and to tell more about Syria, what it is, who we are, and maybe give a glance of what actually made the country rise up shouting for freedom.”

DOX BOX Global Day films are:
- "Everyday Life in a Syrian Village" by Omar Amiralay 1974
- "Step by Step" by Oussama Mohammad 1978
- "A Flood in Baath Country" by Omar Amiralay 2003
- "Before Vanishing" by Joude Gorani 2005
- "Black Stone" by Nidal Al-Dibs 2006
- "Zabad" by Reem Ali 2006
- "Silence" by Rami Farah 2006
- "Six Ordinary Stories" by Meyar Al Roumi 2007
- “Tournesols - Al-Rastan” by anonymous 2011