VALLETTA ---The world-renowned Egyptian folk troupe "The Nile" is one of 14 companies performing in "The DJingo World Music Festival" that kicked off in Malta on Thursday. The colourful event is due to end on Saturday at the National Museum of Archaeology. "There is no better place for the Django World Music Festival than Malta because it occupies a very strategic and an important position among the Mediterranean countries and connects Europe to the Arab and Turkish cultures," Jean-Francois Delahaut, the Belgian Ambassador in Valletta said during the opening ceremony on Thursday night. The festival is the final event organised by the Embassy of Belgium to Malta to mark the end of Belgium's presidency of the Council of the European Union and celebrate the centenary of the Belgian guitarist Django Reinhardt (1910-1953), Delahaut said. "Django was a great master of the guitar, which is the European-Mediterranean musical instrument par excellence, given by the Arabs to the Europeans in Muslim Spain in the 10th century,” he said. The festival will host artistic shows from eight countries including Egypt, Belgium, Germany, Austria, Japan, Italy, Malta and Turkey. The proceeds of the event will be used for charity purposes in Malta. The Nile Troupe for Folkloric Art, which was established in 1975, will give a series of shows that include folk songs and Tanura performances. The performances are directed by Abdel Rahman el-Shafie, who has a pioneering and a unique style while dealing with Egyptian folk music. "The Django World Music Festival is a perfect opportunity for bolstering the inter-cultural dialogue among the countries," he said.
