Grammy-winning Egyptian Jazz musician Fathy Salama introduces his North African fusion project in a concert at the Cairo Opera House on Saturday 3 December. The project involves a number of international musicians playing percussion, bass, guitar, accordion, and vocals, performing North African heritage music that has been re-arranged by Salama. According to the event description, audiences will be encouraged to interact and join the performance with singing and clapping with the musicians. During the concert, Salama will announce a competition to choose singers and musicians for an upcoming workshop, resulting in an opportunity to record new tracks and perform live concerts worldwide. The concert's participating musicians are Ayman Sedky on percussion, Saleh El Artist on the accordion, Sherif Alaa on guitar, Wael Alfashny, on percussion and vocals, Simo on drums, Ramadan Mansour, on the tabla (oriental drums) and Karim Hosam on bass. Salama is a composer, arranger, producer and pianist. He is the only Arab recipient of a Grammy Award, which he received in 2004. In the same year he also earned the BBC music award of 2004, and earlier in 2000 he received the Cairo International Film Festival prize. In 1988 Salama formed his group Sharkiat, which to this day continues to tour international jazz and music festivals that add up to over 2000 concerts. His collaborations with renowned artists like Youssou N'Dour, Cesaria Evora and others produced nine albums two of which feature the "Sharkiat" project. He composed and arranged songs for many Egyptian musicians and bands, including Mohamed Mounir, Amr Diab and Ali Al-Hagar. Dina El-Wedidi, Masar Egbary, Sharmofeers and CairoKee are among other musicians who participated in Salama's workshops. Programme: Saturday 3 December, 8pm Cairo Opera House, Zamalek, Cairo
For more arts and culture news and updates, follow Ahram Online Arts and Culture on Twitter at @AhramOnlineArts and on Facebook at Ahram Online: Arts & Culture
