Amal Choucri Catta interviews Ratiba El-Hefni, who has long been Egypt's first and foremost diva A graduate of the Cairo Conservatoire in singing and piano, Ratiba El-Hefni received her diplomas from the High Institute of Music in Munich and from the Grainer Institute for Opera Singing in Germany. Her beautiful soprano, her musicality and her brilliant presence on stage have always been highly appreciated by national and international audiences. She was the star of international opera companies in Egypt, Germany, Austria, the Czech Republic, France and the United States, and received great acclaim for her performances in Rigoletto and Le nozze di Figaro with the Berlin Opera in 1965 and 1966, and in Aida at the Aida Festival held in Paris in 1985. She won fame for her star roles in La Traviata, La Boheme, Orpheo and many other works, while playing the heroine in The merry widow, the first operetta sung in Arabic, presented at the old Cairo Opera House in 1961. Born to a great musician -- her father is the renowned Doctor Mahmoud Ahmed El-Hefni -- and to a German mother, Ratiba El-Hefni is not only multilingual but also a lady of great culture and refinement. She has been Dean of the High Institute for Arabic Music for 31 years and Chairman of the Music and Opera Sector. She was the first President of the National Cultural Centre, Cairo's New Opera House, at its opening in 1988 until 1990, and she also founded the Children's Choir, the Umm Kulthoum Ensemble, the Religious Song Ensemble and the Amateur Opera Choir, while introducing to Cairo's Opera House the National Arabic Orchestral Ensemble, under the baton of Maestro Selim Sehab. El Hefni, who for several years presented regular programmes on Egyptian Radio and TV, is the author of several books on music. After her retirement from the stage, she founded the annual Festival of Arabic Music as well as the El-Hefni Centre for Music and is busily promoting talented young singers. A great optimist, diplomat and lover of music, El-Hefni had this to say: "First of all, I must say I am happy the Opera is continuing to grow. I remember, when I started in 1988 as chairman of the venue, the place was very new, very young and small, but very strong, and this strength permitted its constant growth. And with each new development, my happiness grows because I realise we have started on a good and solid base, and that our message is being pursued. I am also happy with the presence of Abdel-Moneim Kamel as head of the Opera: as an artist himself he appreciates artists and it is a great joy working with him. Having been involved with the Opera since the very beginning, he is like a son to the Opera and the message we are conveying is the same. "I must say I never thought I could abandon my career as a singer as easily as I did, because my attachment to the stage was immense, and whenever I was on stage I felt I was queen of the world. It meant more to me than all the honours I enjoy from any of my many other activities. However, towards the end of my singing career, I got involved with Arabic music and with the Festival of Arabic Music and it so happened that I easily shifted from one important position to another. I also thought it wise to leave the stage while at the peak of my career. Besides, my stage partners Hassan Kami and Sobhi Bedeir had abandoned the stage and I did not feel comfortable with the rising young performers such as Walid Korayem. As you know, all the parts I have been singing were those of a lover and I could not imagine having a partner visibly younger than myself. So I decided to concentrate on Arabic Music and I did very good work, not only in Egypt, but in the entire Arab world. "During three consecutive years I was elected chairman of the Arab Academy for Music, which is directly affiliated to the Arab League, comprising all the artists of the Arab World. I am the first woman to hold this position, and I must mention that the Arab Academy for Music has been created by my father, Doctor El-Hefni, who was chairman in 1971. He died in 1973, enjoying only two years as head of the Academy. At the time, I was only a member, and at a later date, assistant to the chairman, which eventually led to the post of chairman. "As for the Festival of Arabic Music, it requires around 11 months of preparations, executed by a committee of 10 collaborators specialising in the different fields required for the purpose. The decisions I take start during the festival where we meet with counterparts from Arab countries and where new ideas are always born. At the end of the festival I start thinking about the next one, working as a team with my committee. We always try to introduce new ideas, new singers, mainly among the young talents. You see, I have been blessed with fame and glory, and I never have been a subordinate, but always a leader, even on sage, I was a star. I was always aiming at success and I always got it because I always wanted perfection. Therefore, when I present new young stars on stage I am convinced of the excellent qualities, and particularly happy with their success. We are in need of good voices, good performers, good choirs, and of musical comedies which I am trying to bring back on stage. We are likewise in need of good musicians, good lyrics and good orchestral music. Unfortunately, however, we are in a race with the producers of video- clips: they do, sometimes, have lovely songs and good singers, but they mostly produce superficial works, their endeavours being mainly aimed at material profit, disregarding artistic excellence. The producers do not have the necessary cultural background to produce works of value. On the other hand, the productions we have at the Cairo Opera House, though recorded for TV, do not get the publicity they would deserve -- though I must admit that our budgets are rather limited, and we therefore cannot produce spectacular video-clips. "This season the Festival of Arabic Music will be celebrating its 15th birthday. It started in 1992 under the chairmanship of Doctor Nasser El-Ansari and has been growing ever since. We always introduce performers from different Arab countries, and I believe that the festival, with its lectures and performances, its discussions and workshops, has largely attracted the attention of the Arab countries: they, in turn, are organising their own festivals to which we are invited. We are thus collaborating beautifully. Unfortunately, the different media do not seem to appreciate good voices and perfect performances, preferring scantily- dressed women and performances relying on dances, movements and gestures and anything that would create a spectacular show. As I said before, some of the video clips are good, but I do regret the promising youngsters who are ignored because they do not have the funds required for the production of a good video clip. The situation is a sad one and it can only be solved if Radio and TV take over the production of video clips for the talented young generation, as they had done many years ago, with excellent results. "And I must say that there is unfortunately no collaboration between the different ministries. For instance, Radio and TV are doing a great job, trying to find their own talents, but never thinking of taking them from the Ministry of Culture's Conservatoire. You see, if we could achieve better coordination between the ministries in question, we would be able to give the masses good work while helping them reach higher artistic standards. "And then there is the El-Hefni Centre for Music that I have opened, and where music is being taught. I have already formed a small band with whom I travel a lot. I am happy with their success and looking forward to promoting and forming many young talents for a hopefully brilliant future..."
