I'm amazed at statements made by the British Ambassador in Cairo, John Casson, who continues to lure Egyptians with charming tweets, ranging from ones about a soccer player to eating baked beans at the gates of the embassy that stifles Egyptians in (...)
With more and more old buildings being demolished since the revolution, the work of architects-turned-activists in defending the country's architectural heritage is more vital than ever, writes Osama Kamal
One of the foremost defenders of Egypt's (...)
Osama Kamal discovers how Port Said's heritage is threatened by illegal demolitions
In the early hours of the morning three weeks ago, the façade of the Athena Hotel in Port Said came tumbling down. The hotel, one of 500 listed buildings in Port (...)
Osama Kamal enjoys an art form that may be as old as humanity but manages to be incredibly new
The art of storytelling is both ancient and eternal. For millennia, oral recitation was the means by which myth and history were recorded to hand down a (...)
As people start buying new clothes to celebrate the Eid Al-Fitr holiday, things have remained quiet in Port Said, writes Osama Kamal
The world of bala, a variation of the English word "bale", or trade in secondhand clothes, is as immense as it is (...)
This offering for TV falls well below expected standards, according to Osama Kamal
Firqat Nagi Atallah (Nagi Atallah's Squad) is Adel Imam's first television serial in 30 years. His last undertakings for TV were Ahlam Al-Fata Al-Taer (Dreams Of The (...)
Osama Kamal has been watching the TV dramatisation of the life of Tahia Karioka
Dramatising biographies is not always easy. This is especially true when the memories are still fresh in the minds of the living, as the current television series about (...)
Osama Kamal meets a man who has devoted his life to writing, but has thus far seen few, if any, rewards
He lives alone with his withering dreams, living in a shack on the banks of the Suez Canal. When that gets too uncomfortable, he also has the key (...)
Osama Kamal finds artist Ibrahim El-Baridi sewing satire into childhood memories
Al-Leila Al-Kabira was not just a blockbuster puppet musical show of the 1960s. It was not just the product of music, poetry, and stage geniuses such as Sayyed Makkawi, (...)
Osama Kamal welcomes a reprise of the songs of Ahmed Mounib
Since Nubian crooner Ahmed Mounib passed away in 1991 at the age of 65, his son Khaled Mounib has been organising annual recitals in homage to his father. The latest recital, held recently (...)
Xenia Nokolskaya's photographs on show at the Townhouse Gallery evoke an Egypt that is gone but not yet forgotten. Osama Kamal reports
Xenia Nikolskaya came to Egypt for the first time in 2003, just another photographer visiting Egypt's (...)
Osama Kamal discovers the story behind a statue of former King Fouad, hidden in the storerooms of the Suez Canal Authority in Port Said
In a dark corner of a storehouse belonging to the Suez Canal Authority, a statue of King Fouad (1868-1936) has (...)
sang some favourite tunes at the Sawi Culture Wheel last week, Osama Kamal reports
The 25 January Revolution brought to the fore a whole new generation of musicians, but only one singer can claim to have sung for the revolution before it took place. (...)
Osama Kamal unthreads an unusual artwork that was given a brief public viewing last week
It is not every day that one encounters an appliquéd, tent-fabric mural measuring eight metres by five and depicting scenes from the Arabian Nights. Hani (...)
After the People's Revolution, Osama Kamal looks at the People's Art
An art that is not confined within the walls of a museum reaches straight out to its audience. When it comes to graffiti no curators are needed, no framing is required, no (...)
Osama Kamal explores the art of Ahmed Salim, whose upbringing in Upper Egypt has been pivotal to his work
As a child, Ahmed Salim was enamoured with Nubia. The infinite magic of the land, the lively colours, that folk art that bordered fantasy were (...)
Osama Kamal keeps an eye on the changing times of New York
There is something exquisite about the art of Amir Wahib. Perhaps it is the uncanny ability to capture the soul of a building, to impart life on inanimate objects, or to explore daily (...)
Osama Kamal interviews one persistent candidate who has managed to lose in both elections for parliament
The political destinies of a man and a bird were entwined for weeks. In the recent elections for the Shura Council, the upper house of the (...)
Osama Kamal visits an idyllic children's world and finds it is not all that far from home
wiss writer Peter Stamm, 49, and Egyptian storyteller Abir Soliman, 34, may live thousands of miles apart, but they have one thing in common: an interest in (...)
Port Said is still in mourning three weeks after the deaths of 74 Al-Ahli fans at a football match in the city, writes Osama Kamal
No one could ever have dreamed that the day would come when Port Said, a city that has fought off invaders more than (...)
Not surprisingly, the Arab Spring dominated the recent Human Rights Film Festival, says Osama Kamal
Films about the 25 January Revolution and other protest movements around the Arab world were recently screened at the Sawi Culture Wheel (Sakkiet (...)
Osama Kamal attends a piece of theatre where the audience is an essential part of the performance
Nora Amin, no specific genre of artistic experience is enough. The 41-year-old choreographer and theatre director has written fiction, experimented (...)
Osama Kamal views a photographic archive of an area that is famous for more than radishes
Imagine five people who have spent their whole lives in one section of Cairo, not necessarily being well acquainted but perhaps running into each other in the (...)
Osama Kamal has a glimpse of the mediaeval poets in the music of a revolutionary new singer-songwriter
There is a point to the singing of Dina . Twenty-four year old and a relative newcomer to the musical scene, she has a penchant for revolution, (...)
Osama Kamal celebrates the musical diversity of a city where East meets West
Port Said is a city with a chequered past, an unusual history and forgotten tales waiting to be told. Since it was built a century and half ago to connect East and West, (...)