A timeless icon Diva Umm Kolthoum, icon of classical Arab music and singing, remains long after her demise a source of inspiration for a great deal of plastic artists, not only in Egypt but across the Arab world. One such artist is Bahraini painter and sculptor Gamal Abdel-Rahim, who showcased his recent collection of paintings and portraits of Umm Kolthoum at his last exhibition in Bahrain's Arts Centre. During the exhibition, Abdel-Rahim also signed his new book, named after the Egyptian singer, and comprising all his artwork dating from 2006 to 2011, in which he depicts her. Last week, Cairo Opera House hosted a press conference announcing the launching of the 20th Arab Music Festival's activities, in the period from 11 to 20 November. Among the attendees were festival Secretary- General Ratiba El-Hefni, media expert Wagdi El-Hakim, maestro Abdel-Hamid Abdel-Ghaffar and artist Gihan Mursi. During the festival, El-Hefni announced that concerts will take place in the opera's five venues, including the main and small halls, Al-Gumhouriya Theatre, and the Alexandria and Damanhour Opera Houses. This year's round features 26 singers from 10 Arab countries including Egypt, Morocco, Tunisia, Kuwait, Syria, Algeria and Palestine. Among participating singers are Angham, Medhat Saleh, Ghada Ragab and Mohamed El-Helw (Egypt) Fouad Zabadi and Gannat (Morocco), Abdallah Al-Rewishad (Kuwait) and violinist Gihad Aql (Lebanon), accompanied by 12 musical troupes. photo: Nasr Attia Turkish Ambassador to Egypt Hèseyin Avni Botsali welcomed guests at his Giza residence, to celebrate Turkish National Day. A delegation of Turkish business ladies were present, as well as Turkish Minister of Family and Social Politics Fatma Sahin and her husband Izzet Sahin, European Union Ambassador to Egypt Marc Franco and his wife Rita Janssen, as well as Egyptian singer Ghada Ragab. Celebrated Egyptian cartoonist and painter Mustafa Hussein together with Indian Ambassador to Egypt R Swaminathan distributed prizes and certificates to the 80 winners of the 17th annual "Glimpses of India" painting competition at a ceremony which was organised at Al-Gumhouriya Theatre. To commemorate the birthdays of Mahatma Gandhi, the Maulana Azad Centre for Indian Culture (MACIC) has been conducting a painting competition for Egyptian school children called the "Glimpses of India" painting competition in November every year in cooperation with the Egyptian Ministry of Education. This year, around 2200 children in the age groups 6-12 years (primary), 13-15 years (preparatory) and 16-18 years (secondary) including children with special needs from 245 governments, private and national schools in Cairo and Giza governorates participated in the competition which was held at the Orman Botanic Garden. A three-member specialist jury have selected 75 winners from 15 different categories. In addition, all 25 participating children with special needs were given prizes. photo: Ayman Barayez At the Arab League's grand conference hall, Ambassador Wagih Hanafi stood in for Arab League Secretary-General Nabil El-Arabi to launch the Arab Conference for Law Awareness, presided by Khaled El-Qadi. More than 400 people from 15 different countries attended the event. Conference participants included President of the National Centre for Human Rights Boutros Ghali, who was honoured during the conference, Minister of Culture Emad Abu Ghazi, Minister of Religious Endowments, or Awqaf, Mohamed El-Qousi, President of the International Union of Muslim-Christian-Jewish Dialogue and Peace Education Ali El-Samman, Director of the National Social and Criminological Research Centre Soheir Lotfi, Iraqi Minister of State for the Council of Representatives Safaaeddin El-Safi, educational expert Nawal El-Degwi and cinema critic Rafiq El-Saban. Fifty four new Egyptian students whose undergraduate education will be fully funded by United States Government scholarships as part of the Leadership for Education and Development (LEAD) scholarship programme were welcomed at AUC. Attending the event were Ambassador Anne W Patterson ; AUC President Lisa Anderson and US Agency for International Development (USAID) Egypt Mission Director Walter North. The event was also attended by various partner organisations, top performing students, alumni, and AUC faculty members and administrators. For the first time in Egypt and the Arab world, and in cooperation with the Anna Lindh Foundation for Dialogue between Cultures, the Arab Origami Centre held the first round of the Arab Origami Festival at the Saint Gabriel School in Alexandria, under the framework of the Art for Social Change Initiative. The festival featured numerous origami-related activities, suitable for all ages, such as workshops, exhibitions for some folded-paper patterns, live demonstrations, specialised lectures, and animation and documentary film screenings. Founder of the Arab Origami Centre Osama Helmi aims through this project to promote and support the art of origami in the Arab world, by strengthening the ties between origami artists locally, regionally and globally. The aim is also to emphasise the role of origami in the educational process, by making an attempt to merge it with other arts.
