The Choir is Back

As part of the Concert project, the Utopia Choir will hold a concert at the Al Hanager theatre this Tuesday. The performers, mostly young men and women, write and present their own songs

"A choir of complaints
And it is not prohibited
The sound may not be great
Nor is it inhibited
Entry is free
It is for you and me
To say what we want”
With these words, the concert featuring the "Choir project” concluded its performance of songs based on daily life in Egypt.
In the concert, dubbed the “Choir of Complaints,” a band of amateurs performed songs critical of conditions in Egyptian society, very much in the musical style of 60 years ago. It is known as the monologue and is sharp, funny and to the point.
You don't have to have a great voice or exceptional talent to join the “Choir of Complaints.” All you need is a bit of spunk and loads of attitude.
Salam Yosri, founder of the Mud Theatre Troupe, has organised four workshops for the “Choir project” since May 2010, each lasting just under a week.
One was the “Choir of Complaints”, and another was the “Choir of the People of Gammaliya”, which culminated in a concert at the Feda Centre in Gammaliya. The latest "Utopia", is at the Al Hanager theatre on Tuesday 22 February.
The main idea is simple. Performers, mostly young men and women, write and present their own songs.
One song, "We cannot keep to a budget,” is a satire about a family on a tight budget trying to keep up with the increases in the price of food, while another describes their neighbourhood, declaring that “the names of our streets are too old, not at all fancy, not the names of ministers or film stars”.
Another light-hearted song, during which the singers make an open-palm signal (used to keep away the evil eye in Egyptian tradition), goes: “We had a chick and it grew, a rose and it bloomed, and our duck walks so”.
It gives, the director says, young men and women a way to turn their energy into creativity and connect with their inner feelings, turning frustration into art.
The “Choir project” aims to bring together boys and girls from different cultures, classes, and even nationalities. A few foreign members, with nothing more than elementary Arabic, joined in the signing:
“They brought us Europe 2000
Complete with an inferiority complex
Experts come, all so foreign
And make things a lot worse”.
“Omigod” and “Beep Beep” are songs of unbridled humour, lamenting the traffic jams and disorderliness of the Egyptian street.
The “Choir of Advertising,” Yosri's third workshop, features songs inspired by the chants of football fans. “Whatsa matta,” pokes fun at the way taxis drive, where “Noise for Sale” suggests that the only way to cope with noisy streets is to repeat the mantra: “I cannot hear at all, I am inside the fridge.”
The Utopia choir, however delves into the world of imagination, and how people forsee a new Egypt.
The “Choir project” made its debut in the garage of the Jesuit school in Egypt with the “Choir of Folk Sayings” concert. The concert was inspired by an early twentieth century book, called “The Encyclopedia of Folk Sayings” by Ahmad Bek Taymur.
The songs feature variations on familiar old sayings. Among those integrated into the performance are: “Everyone thinks he's the smartest,” “No eating without chewing,” and “Don't Carry a Leaking Goatskin.”
The final song is a play on the popular song “Ramadan is here.” It goes:
“When it bursts its banks
And the deluge is near
Run man, run
For life is dear.”
The Utopia Choir will perform at the Al Hanager theatre on Tuesday 22 Februarywill perform at the Al Hanager theatre on Tuesday 22 February, and at the Alexandria Library on Saturday26 February.