Al-Sawy Culture Wheel revives classical Arab music with a monthly concert held at its Puppet Theatre, an event named after the great diva Um Kulthoum, where audiences are mesmerised by her presence and that of the great musicians who worked with her, including Mohamed El-Qasabgi, Ahmed Hefnawi and Abdu Saleh. The Second Alexandria Arab Music Festival (9-14 August) opens at the Sayed Darwish Theatre, Alexandria, giving you the perfect excuse to escape the heat of Cairo and enjoy milder weather by the sea. According to festival curator Ratiba El-Hefni, the event features singers from all across the Arab world: Hani Shaker from Egypt, Fouad Zabadi from Morocco and Jihad Aql from Lebanon -- to name but three. Honoured this year is the name of the late composer Mohamed El-Mougi, who played a major role in developing contemporary Arab music. photo: Sherif Sonbol Through August, as per the orders of Chairman Ahmed Nawwar, the General Organisation of Culture Palaces will send its folk dance troupes to festivals all over the world: Ismailia in Jarash, Jordan (7-12); Aswan in the Czech Republic (15-22); the Tannoura in Konya (16-26); even the newly formed spontaneous troupe of Toshka will be going to Bulgaria (21-25). Deputy Chief of the Mission at the Indian Embassy Rahul Kulshreshth gave away honorary medals to members of the Indian Music and Dance troupe after the Indian Odissi dance performance took place at the National Theatre in Attaba Square. The Ateneo de Davao University (AdDU) in the Philippines has conferred an honorary doctorate on Egyptian jurist Adel Omar Sherif, deputy chief justice of the Supreme Constitutional Court, at an impressive Special Academic Convocation at its Finster Hall -- in recognition of his contributions to human rights, constitutional justice, Islamic Sharia, environmental law and international judicial cooperation. Present were Father Antonio S Samson, S J President of AdDU, Chief Justice Reynato S Puno, president of the Supreme Court of the Philippines, and Egyptian Ambassador to the Philippines Salwa Moufid Kamel Magarious. Following the ceremony, Sherif delivered the Supreme Court of the Philippines' second distinguished lecture of 2007 on Islamic law, stressing that it can co-exist with other legal systems to protect and defend human rights and dignity. The American University in Cairo (AUC) computer science professor and alumnus Sherif Ali has won Egypt's State Achievement Award. Achievement Awards are annual prizes presented in recognition of outstanding research and especially its practical applications. One of two recipients of the award in the science and technology category this year, Ali has worked in mobile and pervasive computing, the latter being the integration of computers into day-to-day life, often in subtle ways, with home devices to monitor health, for example. Ali, 32, worked with IBM following his graduation in 1995, whence he moved to the United States to obtain his PhD from George Washington University, during which time he also worked as guest researcher at the National Institute of Standards and Technology and as research scientist at Bell Communications Research, currently known as Telcordia Technologies. On his return to Egypt in 2001, Ali rejoined the AUC. The popular band West Al-Balad, led by Ahmed Adel, is giving three concerts in the Opera House Summer Festival: at the Open-Air Theatre, Salaheddin Citadel and the Roman Amphitheatre in Kom Al-Dekka, Alexandria. West Al-Balad presents its own contemporary fare as well as folk songs tackling social issues and new interpretations of Sayed Darwish and Mohamed Abdel-Wahab compositions. Under the leadership of Mahmoud Ezzat, the sports section of the Bibliotheca Alexandrina (BA)'s Gateway to Egypt's Modern and Contemporary History -- an electronic documentation project -- is underway, with documents, photos and mementoes concerning sports clubs and activities from the time BA started carrying out its electronic documentary project. The project is due to launch a website that scrutinises all the important documents, photos and events of the sports clubs founded throughout Egypt's history starting from Mohamed Ali Pasha to President Anwar El-Sadat making their way into computers and eventually onto the web. Ezzat explained that the BA will celebrate Ahli Club on its fifth anniversary and is collecting material as furiously and as fast as it can. On the occasion of the 60th anniversary of India's Independence, a flag hoisting ceremony will be held at the Indian House 'Bharat Bhawan' in Zamalek, on 15 August. Indian Ambassador in Cairo A. Gopinathan will hoist the Indian tricolour.
