Revolutionary fusion El-Genaina Theatre's Hayy Music Festival featured a concert with Tunisian singer and composer Badiaa Bouhrizi, whom Sherif Sonbol captures here. Bouhrizi mesmerised the audience with two of her own songs while playing the guitar; then she sang in honour of the revolutionaries in Egypt and Tunisia. The career of Bouhrizi went through different phases including jazz, rock and reggae, before she created her solo project, "Neyssatou", which represents an original take on the North African spirit. Bouhrizi writes and composes her own work, fusing and developing musical genres to create her own distinctive style, through combining classical and electronic music. She won the production award from Al Mawred Al Thaqafy (The Culture Resource Centre) in 2011 ( see Listings p.18 ). The Garden City Lions Club (GCLC), headed by Awatef Serageddin, gave a thrilling Sohour at Imperial Nile Boat in Zamalek celebrating the conclusion of the computer skills training course for the blind. Actress Nabila Ebeid, anchor Soheir Shalabi, former governor of district 352 Maged Azab and GCLC members Bahiya Youssef, Didi El-Sourani and Mustafa Shawqi were all present. photos: Ayman Barayez The Egyptian-Lebanese Friendship Association (ELFA), presided over by Maged El-Menshawi, organised a delightful evening at Conrad Cairo Hotel with attendance from the Lebanese Ambassador to Egypt Khaled Ziyada and Vice President of the ELFA Ghazi Nasser as well as celebrities including Lebanese singer Assi Al-Hillani, actress Nabila Ebeid, composer Gamal Salama and the newly appointed Egyptian Ambassador to Lebanon Mohamed Tawfiq. The Catholic Centre for Egyptian Cinema, headed by Father Boutros Daniel, gave a sumptuous Iftar in cooperation with Goodwill Ambassador Atef Abdel-Latif at the Sea Horse Hotel in Maadi overlooking the Nile. Present were actors Elham Shahine, Laila Elwi, Nabila Ebeid, Laila Taher, Fardous Abdel-Hamid, Sawsan Badr, Ragaa Hussein, Nihal Anbar, Ghada Ibrahim, Madline Tabar, Wafaa Salem, Randa El-Beheiri, Mirna Walid, Nada Basiouni, Tareq El-Desouki, Omar El-Hariry and producer Fayez Ghali. photos: Abdel-Hamid Eid The pop singer Khaled Selim gave a Sohour concert at the Sahrawi Ramadan tent. Golden oldies were brilliantly performed by Ali Shabana at El Sawy Culturewheel. Shabana sang covers of such stars as Abdel-Halim Hafez, Karem Mahmoud and Farid Al-Atrash. The Culturewheel also hosted an important seminar featuring the TV Muslim-angelist Muez Massoud. Entitled "The Right Path: Revolution against the Soul", the seminar discussed negative behaviour such as envy, malice, misery and pride. Among the speakers were El Sawy director Mohamed Abdel-Moneim El-Sawy, the screenwriter Mohamed Diab, the writer Amr Salama, and media figures Ahmed El-Esseili and Bassem Youssef. Following a long-standing tradition by AUC students, community service clubs are actively involved in their annual charity efforts to help the needy during the holy month of Ramadan. Volunteers in Action (VIA), the university's largest community service club, has distributed 3,455 food packages to orphanages in Cairo, Sharqiya, Beni Sweif, and Minya as well as communities in the most underserved communities in Cairo such as Basateen and Masr Al-Qadima. "On 26 August, we are hosting an Iftar event at the Tahrir Square campus for more than 500 orphan children," said Ahmed Korra, VIA president. "And this year, VIA members will have Iftar with the people of Meet Okba -- the area we've been developing for several years -- as well as with the people of Basateen and an orphanage," he said. The Help Club, for its part, is collecting donations for new clothes to be distributed to orphans before Eid (as per Egyptian tradition, where children celebrate the holiday with new clothes). The club has distributed 1,000 food packages to underprivileged residents in Masr Al-Qadima and organised a project, Rahman Delivery, which presides over the preparation and distribution of around 250 ready- to-eat meals per day throughout the holy month. "We are planning to take the kids to shops towards the end of Ramadan to buy them their Eid clothes. This is part of the club's Children Programme that runs all year long in Masr Al-Qadima, and focuses on educating more than 70 youngsters there," said Mohamed Sweillam, president of the Help Club. And, for the eighth year in a row, Alashanak ya Balady (AYB) is distributing approximately 250 food packages in Ain Al-Seera. "We distribute the food packages to the people we work with in Ain Al-Seera, which is the area of our development programmes. This comes as a reward and motivation for their participation with us," said AYB President Ibrahim Gamal. AYB is also preparing for the kisswa project which involves collecting and distributing clothes to the needy. "We receive clothes donations and sell them to the disadvantaged at very low prices; a T-shirt for example costs LE3. We prefer selling the clothes to simply giving them away so that we can extend a sense of ownership," explains Gamal. In addition to the club's activities, AUC's Student Union has partnered with AYB and VIA this Ramadan. "This is the first time the Student Union is working with AYB and VIA on organising Maedat Al-Rahman, where we serve meals to 100 people every day next to the AUC's Greek campus in Tahrir Square," said Mohamed Alaa, the union's development chair. The Algerian audience gave the Lebanese singer Carole Samaha a warm welcome, singing along with Samaha when at one of the historical stages in Setif city in Algeria, in the framework of the seventh Jmila Arab Festival. The festival was held under the auspices of the Algerian Culture Minister Khalida Toumi and it honoured Samaha who was handed an honorary shield after the concert.
