CAIRO: Fifteen thousand Cairean teenagers sporting the newest model of name brand sneakers, sunglasses, and designer jeans poured into the Chinese Garden at the Cairo International Conference Center to see their favorite bands perform at the Vodafone-sponsored Save Our Souls Music Concert (SOS). I am here to see Jaffa Phonix. They totally rock. I am so excited about this concert, an enthusiastic young concert attendee tells me while hurrying through the entrance gate. Coined "Egypt s answer to Woodstock by many, SOS is a concert with its own beat intended to provide creative music talents and their fans with a platform. With SOS, we are calling for saving the music and saving ourselves from what the music is becoming these days. We have endless confidence in the potential of many Egyptian talents. That s why we aim to promote this scene and make it possible, to support Egyptian talents and musicians, an SOS representative says on the official website for the concert. This year s SOS concert featured a variety of music genres, ranging from oriental tunes and rock to Arabic metal and teen pop performed by Sahra, Wust El-Balad, Nagham Masry, Ressala, Love and Peace, Jaffa Phonix, Wyvern, and DaVinCi. At the security check, a large group of young girls sporting nose rings, red and green hair, and black clothes with safety pins are ranting about the performance of Wyvern, a fairly new four-piece heavy metal band. I wonder if security will stop us if we head bang too wildly, one of the girls says with a worried tone in her voice.While the majority of concert attendees were teenagers, a number of families gathered on the lawn as well to "simply enjoy Wust El-Balad play and be in the atmosphere of young people, as one mother puts it. Dalia, a 20-year-old, is dancing around to the tunes of Sahra in the crowd of people singing, smoking, and wearing the Vodafone paraphernalia the company has been given out throughout the night as the main sponsors of the concert. The SOS concert is one of my favorite events of the year. Me and my friends don t like the mainstream music on the radio and this is one of the few places we can see bands like Sahra. It s awesome, Dalia says. The organizers of SOS hope to make the concert a monthly event in the near future. A calendar of SOS Music Festivals in 2007 will be announced on the web soon.For more information about SOS concerts, visit http://www.sosmusicfestival.com
