Colours of Germany: On the occasion of launching the German Cultural Weeks in Egypt, the Cairo Opera House's Main Hall witnessed for four consecutive days the performance of Carl Orff's Carmina Burana and Maurice Ravel's Boléro ballets by the Cairo Opera Ballet Company, accompanied by the Cairo Opera Orchestra, the A Cappella Choir, along with the Mènchener Percussion Ensemble, conducted by Adel Shalabi. Sherif Sonbol captured the picture. Last Friday, the Cairo Opera House's Open-Air Theatre was rocked by the thrilling performance of BLUZAPALOOZA band that brought to Cairo the music of Memphis and its famous Beale Street, a place synonymous with the blues tradition in the United States. Invited by the US Ambassador to Egypt and native of Memphis Margaret Scobey, who attended the concert, headlining the tour were the Prince of Beale Street Billy Gibson and Eden Brent, who mesmerised the audience with her piano playing and strong voice, and the Memphis-based blues band Delta Highway. On the occasion of commemorating the 19th anniversary of Namibia Independence Day, Namibian Ambassador to Egypt Andrew Intamba hosted a big celebration, during which he highlighted the strong ties between the two countries. The party was crowned by the presence of the Foreign Minister's Assistant for African Relations Mona Omar, as well as a galaxy of African ambassadors in Cairo. At Sawiris Club in Garden City, head of Al-Ein Publishing House Fatema El-Boudi celebrated the publication of veteran writer Salama Ahmed Salama 's new book The Press on a Hot Tin, complete with a signing event. In his book, Salama details the problems of and restrictions on the press in Egypt. He also explores the role played by "private newspapers", the blunders of some journalists and the possible scenarios for the future of the profession. The book is a compilation of Salama 's daily columns in Al-Ahram which he wrote over the past 10 years. A bevy of Cairo's cultural community and friends of Salama attended the event, including Al-Ahram Weekly Chief Editor Assem El-Kersh, Al-Beit magazine Chief Editor Silvia El-Naqadi, Alaaeddin children magazine Chief Editor Magda El-Guindi, former TV presenter Salma El-Shamaa, Weghat Nazar magazine Chief Editor Ayman El-Sayyad, eduaction pioneer Hamed Ammar, Al-Ahram writer Aisha Abdel-Ghaffar, and writers Youssef El-Qaeid and Aisha Abul-Nour. On a sunny day the Breast Cancer Foundation of Egypt (BCFE) organised its seventh annual "Run for Cure" event last Friday at Al-Gezira Sporting Club. The day featured a number of activities such as shows by the Egyptian-European Circus, massages, exercises, painting workshops for children, lucky dip, talk shows and exhibitions. The BCFE provided a free breast cancer test for women aged 40 and above on the occasion of Mother's Day. The event was attended by a bevy of high-profile figures and celebrities. On top of the attendees were US Ambassador to Egypt Margaret Scobey, Minister of State for Administrative Development Ahmed Darwish, head of BCFE Mohamed Shaalan, head of Nile Culture Channel Gamal El-Shaaer, actor Khaled Abul-Naga, actresses Nelly and Basma, head of the Egyptian-European Circus Faten El-Helou, Dream satellite channel presenter Salma El-Sabahi and breast cancer rehabilitation specialist Nura Abdel-Wahab. Al-Ahram Al-Arabi magazine celebrated its 13th anniversary in a prestigious celebration attended by Al-Arabi 's staff. The celebration was crowned by the presence of Al-Ahram Chairman of the Board Mursi Atallah, Editor-in-Chief of the magazine Abdel-Atti Mohamed, Al-Arabi Managing Editor Ahmed Abdel-Hakim, General Manager of Al-Ahram Printing Department Mohamed Taymour. At South Valley University, a lavish ceremony was held to mark the inauguration of the 12th Art Forum of Universities under the auspices of the university President Abbas Mansour. University Vice-President Mohamed Tharwat distributed awards among a galaxy of stars and media figures, including media figure Soheir Shalabi, comedian Al-Montaser Bellah, actress Hanan Suleiman, director Sherif Samir and photographer Sayed Shaarawi. In a very humane gesture, singers Maye Selim and Mohamed Nour paid a visit to the Children's Cancer Hospital on the occasion of Mother's Day. Chairman of the Children's Cancer Hospital Ashraf Zaghloul welcomed Selim and Nour and accompanied them during their tour in the hospital as they visited the children presenting gifts for them. Zaghloul applauded Selim and Nour 's visit assuring the importance of these visits conveying joy to the children. On the occasion of celebrating the International Day of Francophonie, a football league was held at Wadi Degla Sporting Club for francophone schools in Egypt. The event was jointly organised by the French ADO magazine, the French Embassy in Cairo, the French Cultural Centre and the Egyptian Federation for Football. A hundred students participated in the event representing eight different schools from Cairo and Alexandria. Popular singer Essam Karika was honoured after featuring a concert singing his famous songs. The boys of College de la Salle Daher School were granted the first place. In the girls category, the first prize went to the students of Lycee Français Maadi School. The prizes were distributed by the Cooperation Attaché in the French Embassy Erick Garnier and member of the FIFA Women's Committee Sahar El-Hawwari. On the occasion of signing the memorandum of understanding between the Bibliotheca Alexandrina's Depository Library and United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF), the Bibliotheca hosted the celebration of launching the UNICEF report on the State of the World's Children 2009 -- focussed on maternal and newborn health. Erma Manoncourt, UNICEF Egypt representative, welcomed the attendees and introduced the report. Alexandria Governor Adel Labib, Assistant to the Minister of Health for primary healthcare Nasr El-Sayed, and actor and UNICEF Egypt Goodwill Ambassador Khaled Abul-Naga were among the attendees. Ambassador Hagar Islambouli, director of the Bibliotheca's External Relations section, declared that the report will be among the first publications to be deposited at the library as part of the newly signed partnership between the library and UNICEF. Sherry Fashion Show, created by the Egyptian designer Talaat Sharkas -- who presented his latest creation of soirée and wedding gowns for the Red Carpet Collection for 2009 -- took place at the Ramses Ballroom where more than 500 state officials, ministers, ambassadors as well as celebrities were present. The event was organised by Onsi Barakat, director of international events. The Ramses Hilton prides itself on having brought over the past few years some of the most world-renowned fashion houses such as Valentino, Balestra, Ungaro, Rocco Barocco and Christian Dior. Last week Google Egypt, partnering with several organisations, launched a design competition for 160 orphans in Cairo who were selected by Resala, the Egyptian based charity. Youngsters taking part in the "Doodle 4 Google -- My Egypt" competition designed a Google doodle, explaining what it means to be Egyptian. The winning doodle, which will be displayed on the Google Egypt homepage www.google.com.eg for a whole day, will be seen by millions of Egyptian Internet users. Professors and students from the Faculty of Applied Arts supervised orphans during the drawing session. Google Marketing Manager in the Middle East and North Africa region Wael Ghoneim said, "At Google, we like to reflect the ever-changing world of our users through the logo designs on our homepage. These "doodles" celebrate different people, events or special dates. Whenever we change these doodles we receive a lot of public interest and so we felt it was a great idea to extend this competition for the first time in the Middle East to orphans in Egypt in commemoration of Orphans Day on 3 April." The competition was attended by actor and UNICEF Goodwill Ambassador Khaled Abul-Naga, who motivated the children to think of what inspires them about Egypt and being Egyptian and infused a mood of fun and excitement to the day. Over 200 doodles were submitted and an expert panel from the Faculty of Applied Arts at the German University of Cairo narrowed down the selection to 25 doodles, making their choices on the basis of artistic merit, creativity and theme.
