25 January Revolution at the Opera The Cairo Opera House celebrated the first anniversary of the 25 January Revolution with concerts of classical Arabic music featured by various troupes at the Cairo Opera Main Hall, the Sayed Darwish Theatre, and the Damanhour Opera House. On 28 January, the Opera House Main Hall commemorated the first anniversary of the death of the opera's own graphic artist Ziad Bakir, who died in the course of protests: the Cairo Symphony Orchestra, conducted by maestro Frans Rasmussen, and featuring the Danish accordionist Andres Singh played music by, among others, Carl Nielsen, Jacob Jad and Rageh Dawoud. Sherif Sonbol was there with his camera. Egyptian singer Tony Kaldas was recently nominated for an award at the European Parliament's Time for Peace for Music and Film in Brussels, whose results will be announced by the end of the year. Kaldas, who participated with his recently released song Anta Akhi (You are my brother), based on excerpts from Gibran Khalil Gibran, is the first Egyptian ever to be nominated for the prize. His song, a video of which he directed with Mohamed Laymouni, promotes tolerance and inter-religious understanding. photos: Abdel-Hamid Eid Hundreds of artists and writers including Minister of Culture Shaker Abdel-Hamid marched from the Cairo Opera House to the People's Assembly on 24 January to present the first session of parliament with "the cultural constitution" and a statement of "the Egyptian creative front" on the need to safeguard freedom of expression and artists' rights. Among the participants were filmmaker Khaled Youssef, actors Farouk El-Fishawi, Ahmed Abdel-Aziz, Laila Elwi and Fardous Abdel-Hamid, producer Mohamed El-Adl and journalist Fatma Naout. The Cairo Opera House gave its annual charity concert featuring the Lebanese singer Assi Al-Hellani and the rising star Nesma Mahgoub ; revenues will be donated to the Kidney Dialysis Unit in the village of Aghour and for improving housing throughout the governorate of Qalioubiya. At the end of the concert, Al-Hellani gave a well-wishing speech on the future of Egypt after the 25 January Revolution, stressing stability. The Lebanese Ambassador to Egypt Khaled Ziyada, the Qalioubiya Governor Adel Zayed, the Vice President of the Egyptian-Lebanese Friendship Association Ghazi Nasser, and society ladies Awatef Serageddin, Samia Abul- Fotouh and Tahani Zaher were all present. On the occasion of the 62nd anniversary of the declaration of the Republic Day of India, a flag hoisting ceremony was organised at India House in Zamalek, where Indian Ambassador to Egypt R Swaminathan, hoisted the Indian flag. Members of the Indian community and many Egyptians were present. The board of the American Metropolitan Opera delegated its member Mahmoud Abdallah to honour Director of the Cairo Opera House Abdel-Moneim Kamel, who was granted a memorial gift and a certificate of recognition for his tireless efforts in enriching cultural and artistic life in Egypt and his support for the cultural partnership between both operas. The ceremony took place before the on-air screening of The Enchanted Island from New York at the Small Hall. One Country's Revolution is the name of a group exhibition that opened last week at the Balad Party gallery in downtown Cairo. It was inaugurated by head of the party Mohsen Shalabi, artist and secretary-general of the party El-Sayed Rashad and world-renowned artist Hassan Ghoneim, its guest of honour. The exhibition, running through mid-February, showcases work inspired by the revolution to mark its first anniversary. The keynote speakers were writer Ammar Ali Hassan and art critic Ezzeddin Naguib. The Awtar Ensemble for Classical Arabic Music gave a concert. The Children's Right to Sight (CRTS) is a Qasr Al-Nil Rotary Club project for eradicating blindness among children and supporting those who require immediate eye surgery or medical equipment but cannot afford the cost or the wait required at public hospitals. The club's average number of operations per year are 250 operations with an annual budget of LE1 million. Each patient must be qualified for the CRTS programme as per the preset selection criteria. The World Cinema Cinematography Award was awarded to the film My Brother the Devil at the Sundance Film Festival, which closed five days ago. The festival featured six screenings of the film all across Sundance in Utah. David Raedeker was handed the award by Alexei Popogrebsky. As Raedeker put it during his award speech, "I went on a journey with this film, and it was a rollercoaster." The film was co-produced by Mohamed Hefzi and the Film Clinic company along with producers Gayle Griffiths, Julia Godzinskaya, Michael Sackler and Sally El-Husseini. It was developed through the Sundance Screenwriters Lab and Sundance Director's Lab. The cast includes James Floyd, Said Taghmaoui and Fady El-Sayed. El-Husseini and Hefzi have proven their talent in the Arab world with this stunning debut. Filled with contradiction, love, hate and understanding, My Brother the Devil is a film about two British-Arab brothers who learn the extraordinary courage it takes to prove yourself on the streets of gangland London. Mahmoud Abdel-Rehim published Aam fi Midan Al-Thawra: Wogouh wa Seraat wa Aqnea (A Year in the Square of Revolution: Faces, Conflicts and Masks) just in time for the Book Fair this year. Published by the Geziret Al-Ward Bookshop, the book recounts the experience of Abdel-Rehim as a political activist during the Egyptian revolution, explaining the role of the young in the unfolding of events. In 240 pages, the book also deals with the Supreme Council of the Armed Forces, the Muslim Brotherhood and the rise and fall of a "popular committee" founded by Abdel-Rehim in the course of events. The General Organisation of Cultural Palaces (GOCP), presided over by Saad Abdel-Rahman, participated in the 43rd round of the Book Fair with various activities and music troupes -- in the framework of cooperation between different sectors of the Ministry of Culture.
