Many were at Al-Sawy Culture Wheel for the release of Eftekasat band's first album, Moulid Sidi Al-Latini, says Enjy El-Naggar, made possible by a Cultural Resource grant, the Cairo Jazz Club and Incognito Productions; it will be distributed in Egypt by Mirage Records. To celebrate and listen live were the American Ambassador Francis Ricciardone, the Norwegian Ambassador Lasses Seim and the album producer Darryl John Kennedy, also US Embassy attaché. For his part, Iraqi oud virtuoso Nasseer Shamma went up on stage to jam with the young musicians. Eftekasat -- Amr Salah (piano), Samer George (bass guitar), Hani Badri ( nai ), Amr Khairy (drums), Ousso (guitar) and Hani Bedair (percussions) -- made its debut at the Jazz Club in 2002. Al-Ahram Weekly 's very own artist George Bahgory spoke to students of the Supreme Institute of Applied Arts at 6 of October City on the invitation of the dean, Mustafa Kamal. Childhood in Upper Egypt, student days at the Faculty of Fine Arts, Zamalek: Bahgory expanded on his journalistic career and his 30-year stay in Paris. Editor-in-Chief of the daily Al-Ahram Osama Saraya marked President Hosni Mubarak 's visit to the newspaper's printing press, and the exhibit held on occasion of Al-Ahram's 130th birthday. A review of Egypt in the past 12 months was embodied in the book, whose title translates roughly to, "And when it was the 130th year in the age of Al-Ahram..." The book describes the year 2005 as "the longest year in the history of Egypt". This was the year which saw developments related to democratic reforms and presidential elections, as well as important events on different fronts, from terrorism to Arab relations, and Egypt's role on the world map. Pop star Hisham Abbas was at the Salam Theatre to hand out the Maulana Azad Centre for Indian Culture Glimpses of India painting competition prizes to the winning children. Present was Indian Ambassador A Gopinthan. Held annually in memory of Mahatma Gandhi, Jawaharlal Nehru and Maulana Abul Kalam Azad, the competition attracted 3,000 children from 293 schools this year. The 16th Theatre Clubs Festival concluded its activities at Al-Anfoushi Cultural Palace, Alexandria. Inaugurated by the head of the General Organisation of Cultural Palaces, artist Ahmed Nawwar, together with Alexandria Governor Adel Labib, the festival featured 24 stage performances awards estimated at LE29,700. photo: Sherif Mahmoud French Ambassador Philippe Coste honoured French opera singer Caroline Doma at the Cairo Opera House in the presence of Egyptian opera singers Iman Mustafa and Reda El-Wakil. The Press Syndicate screening of a 17-minute documentary titled Marazik made for a lovely evening, reports Nesmahar Sayed. Written and directed by the Sabah Al-Kheir journalist Amal Fawzy, the film depicts a small, eponymous village in Giza that depends on the cultivation of dates. Coordinated by Safaa El-Leithi, deputy of the Cinema Culture Centre, the seminar that followed the screening highlighted the fact that despite having few or no privileges the people of Marazik are happy with their lot. According to Fawzy, this could be a defence mechanism with which to deal with difficult life circumstances. Veteran filmmaker Attiyat El-Abnoudi was there to welcome Fawzy into the world of documentary cinema. Present were well-known theatre actresses Samiha Ayoub, Samira Abdel-Aziz, script writer Mahfouz Abdel-Rahman, filmmakers Magdi Ahmed Ali, Ali Idris and his charming wife Zeinab Abdel-Aziz together with journalist Mufid Fawzi, film critic Tareq El-Shenawi and talkshow host Mahmoud Saad. photo: Osama Amin The Egyptian Music Syndicate held a press conference to celebrate with pop star Hakim, selected to perform alongside Lionel Richie, John Legend, Youssef Islam and Rihanna at the Nobel Peace Prize ceremony in Oslo, reports Salonaz Sami. On 11 December, Hakim will feature at the venue which has already witnessed the awarding of the Nobel Prize to four Egyptians. This time, the ceremony, presided over by Norwegian royalty, is expected to attract 5,000 people and 450 television channels. The Music Syndicate rented out the Salaheddin Hall at the Cairo Sheraton Hotel, and featured actor Omar Sharif, Norwegian Ambassador Lasses Seim and artist Ahmed El-Gamal, who attended on behalf of syndicate head Hassan Abul-Soud. Hakim said he was working on a new song about peace, to be launched at the ceremony and not before. Al-Sawy's Abdel-Moneim El-Sawy signed a protocol of theatrical exchange with the Embassy of The Netherlands, promising young theatre people in both countries endless opportunities.
