Cairo Live Events Guide gets a new author!

Dear friends of CLEG,
as of today there will be a new contributor to the pages of this blog. Don, who has already written reviews for these pages, will be writing posts adding more content to CLEG and minimizing holidays shutdowns. Thanks to Don, for the first time CLEG will not close for holidays despite the fact that I will be away. Hope this will be a welcome news to all CLEG readers, especially the ones who will spend Christmas and New Year in the city.

From me, Cairowanderer, a wonderful holiday season to you all and see you in 2010 for another exciting year of cultural events in Cairo.

WEEKLY AGENDA MUSIC DEC. 19 - DEC. 25

Saturday, December 19, 2009
- Cairo Symphony Orchestra conducted by Marcello Mottadelli with soloists Ines Abdel Daïm (flute) and Peter Olah (flute) present works from Dvorak, Doppler and Rachmaninov in the Main Hall of Cairo Opera House, 8:00 PM
- Bell’s Ensemble Christmas concert at the Gomhouria Theatre, 8:00 PM
- Al-Ghouri Tannoura Dance Group at the Ghouri Caravansaray 8:30 PM
- Salalem (Modern Egyptian folk) at the Cairo Jazz Club, 9:30 PM

Sunday, December 20, 2009
- Abdel Halim Nowera Ensemble for Arab music in the Main Hall of Cairo Opera House, 8:00 PM
- Christmas carols concert with Gala El Hadidi accompanied by David Hales (piano) in the Small Hall of Cairo Opera House, 8:00 PM
- Saint Augustinus Choir and the Hymned Heart Christmas concert at the Gomhouria Theatre, 8:00 PM
- El Nil Troupe for Folk Instruments at Beit El Suheimi, 8:30 PM
- Bashir (Nubian music) at the After8 Pub, 10:00 PM
- The Blue Tone Quartet (Jazz standards) at the Cairo Jazz Club, 9:30 PM
- The Nubian Drums Troupe led by Intesar Abdel-Fattah at the Ghouri Palace, 7:00 PM

Monday, December 21, 2009
- Egyptian Philarmonic Society conducted by Ahmed Al Saedi with soloist Victoria Kapralova (cello) present Christmas Flair, works from Bach, Couperin and Vivaldi, in the Small Hall of Cairo Opera House, 8:00 PM
- Wust El Balad at the After8 Pub, 10:00 PM

Tuesday, December 22, 2009
- Nass Makan at the Makan, 9:00 PM
- Screwdriver (Rock’n’roll) at the Cairo Jazz Club, 10:30 PM
- One Voice Choir led by Mohab Atef present Christmas Carols at El Sawi Cultural Centre in Zamalek, 8:00 PM
- Manal Mohieddin harp recital (accompanied by String Quartet) at the Ghouri Caravansaray, 7:00 PM

Wednesday, December 23, 2009
- El Resala Troupe Christmas Concert at the Gomhouria Theatre, 8:00 PM
- Tahmer Fahmy chamber music concert in the Small Hall of Cairo Opera House, 8:00 PM
- Mazaher Ensemble (Zar music) at the Makan, 9:00 PM
- Al-Ghouri Tannoura Dance Group at the Ghouri Caravansaray 8:30 PM

Thursday, December 24, 2009
- Cairo Opera Ballet Company and Cairo Opera Orchestra conducted by Nader Abbassi present Tchaikovsky’s ballet “The Nutcracker” in the Main Hall of Cairo Opera House, 8:00 PM
- Neveen Allouba Christmas concert with special guest Ashraf Suwailam in the Small Hall of Cairo Opera House, 8:00 PM
- Sahra Band (Rai music) at the After8 Pub, 10:00 PM
- Crash Boom Bang (Funk and dance floor covers) at the Cairo Jazz Club, 10:30 PM
- Eskendrella Band (Contemporary Egyptian music) at El Sawi Cultural Centre in Zamalek, 8:30 PM

Friday, December 25, 2009
- Cairo Opera Ballet Company and Cairo Opera Orchestra conducted by Nader Abbassi present Tchaikovsky’s ballet “The Nutcracker” in the Main Hall of Cairo Opera House, 8:00 PM
- Hassan Sharara (violin) Christmas concert in the Small Hall of Cairo Opera House, 8:00 PM
- Om El Nour Choir Christmas concert at the Gomhouria Theatre, 8:00 PM
- Salalem (Arabic music) at the After8 Pub, 10:00 PM
- Hossam Samir covers Farid El Atrash (Arabic music concert) at El Sawi Cultural Centre in Zamalek, 8:00 PM
- Resala Band Christmas concert at El Sawi Cultural Centre in Zamalek, 8:00 PM

MEMORY and FUTURISM Festival Program for tonight, Wednesday December 16, 2009

This is the program for tonight at the Italian Cultural Institute 3, Sheikh El Marsafi st., Zamalek 7:00 PM:

Installation «Disposition», by Collectif Position (http://disposition.fr/)

followed by a French and Italian video screening:
- Abba Mao by Pascal Lièvre ( France , 2001) 4’
- Axis of evil- L’axe du mal by Pascal Lièvre ( France , 2003) 5’30
- Savoir aimer by Pascal Lièvre ( France , 2004) 1’45
Electronic poetry :
- Diavolo Figura by Antonio Poce, Elmerindo Fiore, Giampiero Gemini, Giovanni Fontana (Italy, 2008) 6’30
- Under construction by Zhenchen Liu (China/France, 2007) 10’
- Steps by Zbig Rybczynski (Pologne, 1987) 25’
- D’après le Cuirassé Potemkine (1925) by Sergei Eisentein.

Debate on video-art, futurism and cinema with screening of futuristic documents at the presence of Marc Mercier, director of Instants Vidéos, and Giovanni Lista, professor of contemporary art.

Fore more information please visit also http://www.zinclafriche.org/mef

ARABSHORTS.NET - Arabic indipendent films online

The Goethe Institute in Cairo launched the first website to feature Arabic independent films online. Click here to read an article on the subject featured on Al-Masry Al-Youm website.

I will put the link to Arabshorts website in the Useful Links column for permanent future reference.

The meeting with Michelangelo Pistoletto has been cancelled

I know it is late but just found this in the mailbox: 

With deep regret, the Italian Cultural Institute announces that, due to force majeure, the artist Michelangelo Pistoletto will not be able to perform at the 25th Alexandria Biennial for Mediterranean Countries, nor to attend the meeting scheduled on 15th December December 2009, at 7.00 pm, at the Theatre of the Italian Cultural Institute in Cairo.

MEMORY AND FUTURISM FESTIVAL at CFCC

The Memory and Futurism Festival consists of conferences, ateliers, seminars, various projects and visual art installations, aiming to introduce contemporary multimedia art to the audience. More specifically, Memory and Futurism aims to get to the core of visual art as conceived by the futuristic vision of reality.

There will be film screenings, debates about “Cinema, Video, Art and Futurism” and two ateliers opened to young artists. In the “Searching for Marinetti” atelier, Marc Mercier, artistic director of Instants Video, will talk about Marinetti with Giovanni Lista, an Italian prominent scholar and researcher of the history of Futurism. The “On Video Interaction” atelier will explore various forms of multimedia and interactive art with Renaud Vercey and Bruno Voillot, in collaboration with Mohamed Youssef, a plastic and multimedia artist.

The Festival will take place from December 6^th to 13^th at the Centre Français de Culture et Coopération in Alexandria, the native town of the founder of the Futurism Movement, Filippo Marinetti, who spent his childhood and youth there. On December 16^th and 17^th, the Festival will move to the Centre Français de Culture et Coopération in Cairo.  

For more information about the program, click here (French only)

2nd EUROPEAN FILM FESTIVAL at City Stars Cinemas in Cairo from Wednesday December 16 to Tuesday December 22, 2009

With the support of: Europa Cinemas, Media International, The Egyptian Ministry of Culture, Egyptian Film Centre, French Cultural Centre, Unifrance, CNC, TV5 Monde, The Netherlands Embassy, Holland Film, Goethe Institute, British Council, Holiday Inn and Aroma, the 2nd European Film Festival will present the following movies at City Stars, Cinemania Theaters:

Many thanks to Tarek and Karima for drawing my attention to the festival and for providing the movie schedule.

WED / MER 16
1:00 PM This is England (UK / Royaume-Uni)
3:30 PM Los Abrazos Rotos / Broken Embraces (Spain / Espagne)
6:30 PM Pranzo di Ferragosto / Mid-August Lunch (Italy / Italie)
9:30 PM Coco Avant Chanel / Coco Before Chanel (France)

THUR / JEU 17
10:30 AM Tiramisu (Netherlands / Pays-Bas)
1:00 PM Vier Minuten / Four Minutes (Germany / Allemagne)
3:30 PM Dunya & Desie (Netherlands / Pays-Bas)
6:30 PM La Journée de la Jupe / Skirt Day (France)
9:30 PM Los Abrazos Rotos / Broken Embraces (Spain / Espagne)

FRI / VEN 18
10:30 AM Vier Minuten / Four Minutes (Germany / Allemagne)
1:00 PM Tiramisu (Netherlands / Pays-Bas)
3:30 PM Coco Avant Chanel / Coco Before Chanel (France)
6:30 PM De laatste dagen van Emma Blank / The Last Days of Emma Blank (Netherlands / Pays-Bas)
9:30 PM Un Prophète / A Prophet (France)

SAT / SAM 19
10:30 AM De laatste dagen van Emma Blank / The Last Days of Emma Blank (Netherlands / Pays-Bas)
1:00 PM Le Temps qu'il Reste / The Time That Remains (France- Palestine)
3:30 PM La Journée de la Jupe / Skirt Day (France)
6:30 PM This is England (UK / Royaume-Uni)
9:30 PM Dunya & Desie (Netherlands / Pays-Bas)

SUN / DIM 20
10:30 AM Pranzo di Ferragosto / Mid-August Lunch (Italy / Italie)
1:00 PM Un Prophète / A Prophet (France)
3:30 PM De laatste dagen van Emma Blank / The Last Days of Emma Blank (Netherlands / Pays-Bas)
6:30 PM Los Abrazos Rotos / Broken Embraces (Spain / Espagne)
9:30 PM Le Temps qu'il Reste / The Time That Remains (France- Palestine)

MON / LUN 21
10:30 AM Dunya & Desie (Netherlands / Pays-Bas)
1:00 PM Coco Avant Chanel / Coco Before Chanel (France)
3:30 PM Pranzo di Ferragosto / Mid-August Lunch (Italy / Italie)
6:30 PM Tiramisu (Netherlands / Pays-Bas)
9:30 PM Vier Minuten / Four Minutes (Germany / Allemagne)

TUE / MAR 22
10:30 AM La Journée de la Jupe / Skirt Day (France)
1:00 PM Los Abrazos Rotos / Broken Embraces (Spain / Espagne)
3:30 PM Le Temps qu'il Reste / The Time That Remains (France- Palestine)
6:30 PM Un Prophète / A Prophet (France)
9:30 PM Agora (Spain / Espagne)


Click here to find programme schedule with available subtitles