Amal Choucri Catta engages with the vicissitude of the heart Thirteenth Arabic Music Festival, chaired by Abdel-Moneim Kamel with secretary general Ratiba El-Hefni. Opening night, Cairo Opera House, Main Hall. 20 November 8 p.m. Continuing daily until 29 November in all Cairo Opera House-affiliated venues, Cairo and Alexandria Ratiba El Hefni inaugurated the opening night with a brief address praising all the participants who helped in turning the 13th Festival and Conference of Arabic Music into a successful event. Founded in 1991 by Ratiba El Hefni, the festival gained importance as years went by and is actually considered one of the most interesting yearly musical events in the Arab World. This year, the festival's main focus is the "Qanun" -- a kind of psalterion or dulcimer deriving from the ancient cithara -- unequivocally one of the major and most popular instruments in oriental music. Qanun recitals and concerts will be performed by such celebrated soloists as: Magued Sourour and Sayed Ragab from Egypt, Iman Hemssi from Lebanon, Khalil Kurdman from Turkey, Salaheddin Maraka from Jordan and Hamza El-Maraihy from Tunisia. Violin and lute concerts are likewise keeping their privileged places at the festival's performances. This year, nine public figures will be honoured the last day of the festival, among them Samir Farag, Cairo Opera House former chairman, singers Lutfi Bushnak from Tunisia and Abdel-Rab Idriss from Saudi Arabia, musicians Essam El-Mallah and Mohamed Aly Soliman, violinist Abdel-Azim Halim and specialist of Arab calligraphy Abdel-Rahman Abush. Abush will be holding a calligraphy exhibition at the opera's art gallery. The opening night was dedicated to the memory of the late Zakariya Ahmed, one of Egypt's most gifted musicians, in the form of an operetta called "Al-Hawa Ghallab" -- Love is the winner -- written by Bahaa Jahine and directed by Jehane Morsi, with the participation of a number of singers and the orchestra conducted by Abdel Halim Abdel Ghaffar. On stage, Zakariya Ahmed had a rather curious story to tell: it was in the late nineteenth century when his father, Sheikh Ahmed Sakr from the "Marzaban tribe" near Fayum, married Fatma, a beautiful Turkish young woman who gave him a total of twenty-one children. All the girls lived, but all the boys died during the first week of their birth. In the end Fatma gave him Zakariya, the only surviving male who was therefore much loved and just as much spoilt by his family. Born on 6 January 1896, Zakariya was sent to the "Kuttab" of Sheikh Nekla at the age of four: he was an intelligent child though rather naughty and mischievous and the Sheikh would not have him. His unhappy father therefore sent him to the "Azhar" where he managed to stay seven years before being kicked out. Never giving up patience nor hope, his father sent him to the "Maher Basha" school at the Citadel, and later on to the "Khalil Agha", but Zakariya was thrown out of both. He did not want to go to school, he wanted to sing and to write music: he was therefore a constant guest at all "Mulids" and feasts, all marriages and parties where famous musicians and singers were likely to perform, and he bought all the books on music he could lay his hands on. Hiding them from his father was not a real problem: he would just exchange their covers with those of his school books. Finally, tired of his father's repeated admonition, Zakariya discarded his Azhar traditional dress and, turning "A la Franca", he dressed like Europeans and left home. He loved the life of a vagabond, spending his nights in different places to make sure his parents would not be able to find him, until one day, he was hit by a car. When he opened his eyes, his parents were there to comfort and cheer him, yet, when he told his father he wanted to be a musician, the old man would not hear of it. Zakariya therefore asked his mother to plead in his favour, but when she did, his father was furious to the point of throwing her out of the house and marrying another woman who turned life hell for everyone. At that point, the entire family interceded, finally persuading the father that reciting Koran and singing religious "Tawashih" could be quite lucrative and that Zakariya's voice would enable him to take part in Mulids and similar occasions. Zakariya's life changed and his musical career began. He was 23 when he married a girl related to Sheikh Darwish Al Hariri, his tutor for a period of ten years. Marriage changed his entire outlook: his young wife was kind-hearted, giving him a good home and all the time and leisure to concentrate on his music. His father's attitude towards him was likewise undergoing a change, he was gentler and blissfully happy to see his first grandson, Yacoub. After his father's death, Zakariya had to face a number of financial problems concerning the large family his father left behind. He therefore decided to concentrate on popular music, writing "pop" tunes for male and female singers. By 1923 he was becoming famous and achieving recognition as one of the most talented composers of the era, introducing a number of major changes to local operetta. His first work was "State of luck" for the Ally El-Kaiser ensemble in 1924, followed by six works in 1925 and many more as years went by. Zakariya Ahmed, by now a celebrated musician, met the legendary Umm Kalthoum when she was still in her teens, travelling from one village to the other with her father and brother, singing traditional songs and "Tawashih" while being dressed up like a boy. He was impressed by her voice and her performing talents and invited her to Cairo where he introduced her to the musical jet set. He wrote around sixty songs for her with lyrics by his friend Beiram El- Tounsy. Zakariya Ahmed died in 1961, aged 65, leaving a large number of musical compositions and songs loved and appreciated by audiences until this very day. On stage at the Main Hall, screen- star Ahmed Rateb was cast in the role of Zakariya, while a further screen-star, Nihal Anbar was cast in the rather brief role of his wife. Samir Abdel Halim was a convincing Beiram El-Tounsy, while Gamal Ismail was just as convincing in the role of Zakariya's father. Fouad Khalil was "Nekla Sheikh of the Kuttab" and Youssef Daoud was cast as Naguib El-Rihany. Umm Kalthoum was beautifully interpreted by the young singer Reham Abdel Hakim. She has a lovely voice and her performance is vivacious and convincing. It must however be said that the different sequences of Zakariya Ahmed's life were rather brief: changes of scenes were rapid and at times somewhat abrupt. The themes concentrated mostly on the composer's musical achievements, while his private life was often left in the dark. The sets by Mohamed El-Gharabawy, though quite enchanting, would have been better served with more colourful lighting: after all, the scene of Cairo's minarets, as well as the hues of the blue Salon were representative of a happy, fortunate mood, thus deserving more colour. On the other hand, the single spotlights often used during solo performances, left a somewhat cold, lonely impression. However, the ideas of the solitary giant lute suddenly appearing on centre-stage and serving as backdrop to singers, as well as the immense severed lute on a pedestal, with the armchair seating Zakariya Ahmed while playing his lute and telling his story, were quite impressive. Ahmed Rateb in the main role was brilliant, he sang and played with fascinating ease, just as he always does in the many parts he as director, though her tempo may have been too rapid at times, and the different dancers backing singers in their varied moods, were no doubt a welcome sight, though they were sometimes lacking in vivacity. Their costumes, however, were extremely colourful, bringing a note of joy into the somewhat monochromatic scenery. Audiences loved the songs and the music, the orchestra and the Maestro, as well as all the instrumental soloists and the stars. As for the life of Zakariya Ahmed, it was a novelty for many.
