Once again opera lovers can rejoice. They will now be able to enjoy Giuseppi Verdi 's masterpiece Aida at the foot of the Luxor Temple. Not only that, but they can indulge in the whimsical performance for 12 days for the next five years starting the last week of March 2005! Samir Farag, the newly named head of the Supreme Council of Luxor City, says that an agreement was reached with Germany to construct a travelling theatre accommodating a 4,000-person audience, and hosting the show with internationally renowned opera singers from Europe, as well as an Italian maestro and director. The Cairo Opera House will participate with a group of stars from the Cairo Opera Ballet Company, Orchestra and Choir. This fabulous agreement, Farag points out, was approved by our recently- appointed Prime Minister Ahmed Nazif, and Culture Minister Farouk Hosni. And in typical European style, promotion has already begun for these shows which is expected to bring much to Luxor's people and prosperity. Saying good-bye to a friend is always difficult. This was the case last Monday, when his excellency Cuban Ambassador to Egypt Luis E Marisy Figueredo invited his friends to a farewell reception at his residency in Zamalek. I will dearly miss Ambassador Figueredo and wish him, my hero Fidel and the Cuban people well. Cuba s�! A few hundred kilometres outside of Cairo, I had the chance together with my dear friend Mustafa El-Menshawy to attend Asala Festival for Culture and Arts in the calm yet beautiful Mediterranean coastal city of Al-Arish. Now in its fourth year, the festival, founded and presided by enthusiastic journalist Dessouki Said, provides a wonderful platform for dialogue between nations. Francois LaRochelle, counsellor and deputy chief of mission at the Canadian Embassy in Cairo, leaned over and whispered in my ear during the opening ceremony in Mubarak Park that the festival comes in the context of the much needed "dialogue between cultures" and opening new channels of global communication. Among the event's sponsors and their representatives, were the Goethe Institute's Stefan, and the Austrian Embassy's Charge d'affaires George Stillfried. The festival included exhibitions for young painters, caricaturists as well as free screenings of European films. Famous Egyptian actor Mahmoud Yassin and elegant actress Ilham Shahin were honoured at the festival. With their faces glowing with mixed pleasure and pride, both expressed admiration for the hidden charm of the city, promising to show up for more comprehensive sightseeing later in the year. The Governor of Northern Sinai Ahmed Abdel- Hamid, told me that the one-week festival adds to efforts to harness flowing potentials of the area into another Egyptian tourist hub. For that purpose, Hassan Rateb, the head of Sinai Investors Society, agreed to join sponsorship of the festival next year. Marriage, marriage, marriage, always part of the summer spirit. Last week accountant Sally Samir El-Maghraby wed the handsome Amgad Abul-Magd, who is also an accountant. The whimsical ceremony took place at Le Meridian Al-Haram. Famous singer Khaled Aggag, and DJ Yasser El-Hariry amused the guests until the early hours of morning, at which point the couple flew off to their honeymoon in Sharm El- Sheikh and Hurghada.
