The second annual Silk Road concert, organised by the United Nations Alliance of Civilizations (UNAOC) and Spain's Fundación Onuart and with the colloboration of the Egyptian government, will take place in Egypt's Luxor Temple on Friday. The concert, held in Geneva last year, aims to promote intercultural dialogue, understanding, and rapprochement between nations and cultures through the medium of music, the UNOAC website writes. "We are doing this concert in collaboration with Fundación Onuart, and the ministries of culture and antiquities, to promote tourism in Egypt," Nihal Saad, the chief of cabinet for the UNAOC, told Ahram Online. "Tourism is about bringing people together from different cultures, religions and races," she added. The first Silk Road Concert took place last year at the United Nations' Palais de Nations in Geneva, Switzerland. “The idea behind organising a concert dedicated to the Silk Road countries is to present a musical journey possibly through the most mythical route of antiquity," said the UNAOC's high representative, Nassir Al-Nasser, in a press release on the concert by the UNOAC. The concert is scheduled to start at 7:30pm in Luxor Temple, with opening speeches from Egypt's Tourism Minister Rania Al-Mashat and from Fundación Onuart head and former Spanish foreign minister Miguel Angel Moratinos. The concert will feature performances from the Cairo Symphony Orchestra. Egyptian, Chinese and Ukrainian classical singers are also scheduled to perform. "After the great success of the [previous] Silk Road Concert…our main objective has been to spread the event to all countries of the Silk Road. We are proud that Egypt has been taking the leadership to this new edition," Moratinos was quoted as saying in the release. Al-Mashat said that the concert is considered to be an excellent opportunity to present the music and culture of the Silk Road countries at one of the most emblematic places in Egypt, the Luxor Temple. "I hope this musical event will serve to know each other better, to collaborate on new projects and above all, to work and to achieve, by the Silk Road that unites us, a future in peace, full of hope and opportunity for all," said El-Mashat on the UNAOC official website.
