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VIDEOS: Egypt's culture picks of the week: 9-16 February Ahram Online's Arts & Culture team recommends the best of music, theatre, films, exhibitions and talks in Cairo and Alexandria this week
Sunday 9 February Stage adaptation of the best-selling novel 'Taxi' in Vent at 8pm Based on the best-selling novel by Egyptian writer Khaled El-Khamissi, 'Taxi' is the first production of the bilingual theatre company The Thousand Tongues. In the show, the novel's third-person narrative of police corruption and economic woes is transferred to six actors, who perform skits and monologues in an installation-style that allows the audience to interact with the performers. Vent is a non-traditional culture space that functions as a pub and restaurant while also offering film screenings, live music and theatre. Read our review of the play and watch a video from the performance here. 6 Kasr El-Nil Street, Downtown, Cairo Valentine's concert at the Alexandria Opera House at 8pm The Alexandria Opera House String Orchestra and Sweet Sound Band will join forces to perform a special concert ahead of Valentine's Day. The ensemble will be conducted by Mounir Nasr El-Din and joined by guest singer Mostafa Saad El-Din. The same concert will be repeated Monday, 10 February, at Damanhour Opera House. Read more details here. Alexandria Opera House (Sayed Darwish Theatre), 22 El-Horreya Rd, El-Raml Station, Alexandria Valentine's concert with Egyptian Sinfonietta at Cairo Opera House at 8pm Bringing the Valentine's Day spirit to the Opera's Main Hall, theEgyptian Sinfonietta conducted by Ahmed El-Saedi will perform a selection of compositions by Mozart, Piazzolla, Danzi and Brahms. Soloist of the evening will be Victoria Kapralova on cello. Founded in 2012, the Egyptian Sinfonietta is the child of the Egyptian Philharmonic Society (EPS). As an expanded philharmonic chamber orchestra formation it can offer a much larger repertoire. Founded in 2004 by conductor Ahmed El-Saedi, the Egyptian Philharmonic Society is an NGO aiming to contribute to the musical life of Egypt outside governmental institutions. Main Hall, Cairo Opera House, Zamalek, Cairo Opening of Meeting Points 7 exhibition at CIC The Contemporary Image Collective (CIC) is hosting a collective show featuring works by a group of Egyptian and international artists, from 9 February to 8 March. Weekly film screenings will be held in parallel to the exhibition. Inspired by unfolding social and political transformations in the Arab world and the changing shape of capitalism in the world, the exhibitions participate in a global dialogue over politics, economics and culture. Besides Cairo, Meeting Points 7 will be held in Zagreb, Antwerp, Hong Kong, Beirut, Vienna and Moscow. The exhibition features works by Iman Issa, Sanja Iveković, Maryam Jafri, Rajkamal Kahlon, Kayfa ta and Haytham El-Wardany, Jumana Manna, Cecilia Vicuña, Basma Al-Sharif, and Rosalind Nashashibi. 22 Abdel Khaled Tharwat Street, 4th Floor, Downtown, Cairo Monday 10 February Crop screening at Bibliotheca Alexandrina at 7pm Directed by filmmaker Marouan Omara and German video artist Johanna Domke, the documentary 'Crop' follows an Al-Ahram photojournalist in the days after the 25 January 2011 revolution. Filmed entirely within Al-Ahram's offices, Crop, as the name suggests, is about images, both the ones we see and don't see in the newspaper. Those that we do see are gateways to a discussion about censorship, as Al-Ahram's editors and photojournalists substitute one photo or another. Those we don't see, at least not in traditional media, come from citizen journalists, whose on the ground reporting, especially during the 2011 uprising, also played a part in the formulation of public opinion. Along the way the film shows how all Egyptian presidents from the time of Gamal Abdel Nasser have used the media to shape public perceptions of them. The screening at the Bibliotheca Alexandrina will be followed by a discussion with the film's directors. Art Centre, Bibliotheca Alexandrina, Azarita, Alexandria Sobhy Guirguis retrospective at ArtTalks A retrospective exhibition titled 'The Self and The Other' held at ArtTalks features over 60 of Sobhy Guirguis's paintings and sculptures. Spanning his 60-year art career, the exhibition marks the first anniversary since the artist's death. Born in 1929, Sobhy Guirguis graduated from the Faculty of Fine Arts in Cairo, before pursuing further studies in Florence, Italy in the 1960s. At the forefront of the avant-garde movement of Egyptian sculptors, Guirguis's skilled and distinctive style allowed him to experiment with scale to defy the conventions of figurative sculpture, setting him apart as a bold, rebellious innovator. 8 Al-Kamel Mohamed Street, Zamalek Also on this day: - Valentine's concert at the Damanhour Opera House at 8pm. This is a repetition of a concert that took place in Alexandria on Sunday, 9 February. Check more details here. Tuesday 11 February ‘Why Graffiti to Talk About Women?' Seminar at Vent at 7pm The seminar followed by a night of music and a photography exhbition. 'Women on Walls' will be spending the whole week hosting talks and graffiti workshops to bring women's issues to the walls of Egypt through graffiti. The talk will be moderated by Cecilia Uddén, Swedish radio correspondent in Egypt, and the panel will include Carolina Falkholt, feminist graffiti artist (Sweden), Radwa Fouda, artist and designer (Cairo, Egypt), Lamis Solyman, visual artist and designer (Alexandria, Egypt), Ismail Shawki, co-founder of Mona Lisa Brigades (Cairo, Egypt), and Ebony Coletu, assistant professor in the Department of Rhetoric and Composition at the American University in Cairo. 6 Kasr El-Nil Street, Downtown, Cairo Storm Band at Makan at 8pm Hailing from Alexandria, Storm got together in 2009 with a goal to reformulate old songs in the style of contemporary Oriental music. The band play with an arrangement of classical instruments, including an accordion, a violin, and more contemporary instruments, such as electric guitar, mixing contemporary and classical sounds together. 1 Saad Zaghloul Street, Mounira, Cairo Wednesday 12 February ‘I Am Now Dead' play at Rawabet Theatre at 7pm Theatre troupe ‘Al Sa'aa' will be performing their award-winning play 'I Am Now Dead.' The play is written and directed by Hani Afifi and co-written by Bassem Sharaf. 'I Am Now Dead' is the recipient of several awards, including best play, best director and best actor at the third edition of the Jeunes Createurs festival in 2005, and the Special Jury Prize at the National Festival for Egyptian Theatre in 2006. 3 Hussein Al-Meamar Street, off Mahmoud Bassiouny Street, Talaat Harb, Downtown, Cairo Piano recital at Cairo Opera House at 8pm Egyptian pianist Moushira Issa will perform works by Bach, Mozart and Chopin. Issa graduated with distinction at the Cairo Conservatory and continued her studies at the Music Academy of Vienna where she received a diploma in piano performance and then a PhD in 1987. She performs extensively in Egypt and internationally, participating in many festivals held in Egypt, Mexico, Morocco and Bulgaria. In 2000, Issa was chosen laureate of the UNESCO prize for the best performer at the international Festival for Creative Arab Women in Thessaloniki, Greece. She currently teaches at Cairo's Academy of Arts. Small Hall, Cairo Opera House, Zamalek, Cairo ‘Lost and Found' play at Falaki Theatre at 8pm Darb Al-Ahmar School for Percussion and Circus arts presents their theatrical piece ‘Lost and Found' directed by Hanan Hag Ali. The performance takes elements from circus arts and theatre to present the stories of children's relationships with their families, their neighbourhoods, and their country. Falaki Theatre, American University in Cairo, Falaki Campus, Downtown, Cairo Thursday 13 February Valentine's Day with Nesma Mahgoub and BA Orchestra at Bibliotheca Alexandrina at 7pm Nesma Mahgoub, the well known Egyptian singer, will perform special songs for Valentine's Day, including 'I Will Survive,' 'La Vie en Rose,' 'Sway,' and 'All that Jazz,' among others. She will be accompanied by the Bibliotheca Alexandrina Orchestra conducted by Mohamed Saad Basha. Mahgoub, winner of Star Academy 8, often appears in concerts held in a variety of locations in Cairo, including El-Sawy Culturewheel, the Cairo Opera House and the Bibliotheca Alexandrina. She has the very rare skill of singing Oriental, Western and operatic music with equal excellence. Great Hall, Bibliotheca Alexandrina, Azarita, Alexandria ‘Harag w Marag' screening at Beirut at 7pm Nadine Khan's 'Harag w Marag' (Chaos, Disorder) has won several awards and high critical acclaim since its release in 2013. The film follows three characters in their twenties who live in a poor community near a garbage dump. The two male characters compete for the female character's affections through a football match, via which the truths and stories of the isolated community are revealed. 11, Road 12, Mahmoud Sedky, Agouza, Cairo Nour Ashour band at El-Sawy Culturewheel at 7.30pm Born in 1982 in Alexandria, Egyptian saxophonist Nour Ashour moved to Cairo in the 2000s and began performing solo and with bands such as Ressala Band and Crash Boom Bang. Ashour has many performances in Egypt on his account, along with international appearances in Qatar, UAE, Jordan, Spain, Germany, Italy, France, Malta and South Africa. Currently, he performs often with his band, Nour Ashour Band, a repertoire of covers and original compositions in Western and Arabic genres. El-Sawy Culturewheel, 26th of July Street, Zamalek, Cairo Also on this day: - 'Lost and Found' play by Al-Darb Al-Ahmar School on Falaki Theatre at 8pm (see Wednesday, 12 February, for more details) Friday 14 February ‘Walls' documentary screening at Artellewa at 6pm Directed by Helmy Abdel Megid, 'Walls' follows the graffiti movement throughout the country unfolding amid the events of the 2011 revolution. The film is part of a series of documentaries this month at Artellewa revisiting the revolution. 19 Mohamed Ali El-Eseary Street, Ard El-Lewa, Giza, Cairo Saturday 15 February 'Darb El-Mazzika' featuring three bands at Darb 1718 at 7pm 'Darb El-Mazzika' is a programme including series of concerts that will feature Egyptian and international bands on Darb 1718's stage. On 15 February, three Egyptian bands will perform: Uss W Lazq, Shaware3na and Like Jelly. Kasr El-Shamee Street, behind Amr Ibn Al-Aas Mosque, Fustat, Old Cairo. An evening with Prokofiev at the Cairo Opera House at 8pm Cairo Symphony Orchestra conducted by Nayer Nagui will perform works by Russian composer Sergei Prokofiev. The concert will include mezzo soprano Jolie Faizy and solo violinist Hossam Shehata. The Cairo Symphony Orchestra will be joined by A Cappella Choir with choir master Maya Gvineria. Main Hall, Cairo Opera House, Zamalek, Cairo Sunday 16 February Opening of ‘Cinderella's Tales' by Shayma Kamel at Mashrabia Gallery at 7pm Shayma Kamel explores the contrast between the projected image and reality within an ever contradictory Egyptian society. The artist deals with figures such as fictional princesses like Cinderella that are idolised by young girls. Kamel also uses the representation of manikins we see in storefront windows to express an alternate reality. Through painting work, Kamel attempts to capture the blurred lines between fantasy and reality within society.The exhibition is open daily, except Friday, from 11am to 8pm until 20 March. 8 Champollion Street, Downtown, Cairo Four harpists at the Cairo Opera House at 8pm Egyptian harpists Mona Wassef, Toaa Mohamed Salah, Nourhan Hamdy and Rona Ashraf will take the audience on a unique journey through Western classical music and chosen compositions from Egyptian composers. The evening will include works by Brahms,Tchaikovsky, Schubert, Albinoni, Ortiz, Grieg, Lehar, Puccini, Nayer Nagui, Sayed Darwish and Ramez Bebawi. Small Hall, Cairo Opera House, Zamalek, Cairo ------------- Follow Arts and Culture updates on Twitter: @AhramOnlineArts and on our Facebook page: Ahram Online: Arts and Culture http://english.ahram.org.eg/News/93717.aspx
