CAIRO - The Lebanese band Mashrou Leila will perform Saturday at 8pm at El-Geneina Theatre in Al-Azhar Park in Cairo. In Arabic, mashrou leila means ‘overnight project'. According to Raafat Majzoub, the band members are Haig Papazian, Carl Gerges, Hamed Sinno, Omaya Malaeb, Andre Chedid, Firas Abou Fakher and Ibrahim Badr, on the microphone, violin, bass, two guitars, drums and keyboards, respectively. Majzoub describes Mashrou Leila as one of the most important bands in the Arab alternative music scene. Their lyrics are about the daily lives of Lebanese and Arab youngsters and also controversial issues in their societies. At 8pm on Sunday at the same theatre, Wust el-Balad will be playing songs from their new album ‘Alashanek ya Baladi' (For Your Sake, My Country). Founded in 1999, Wust el-Balad is hugely popular across the Arab world. At 8pm on Monday, the Tunisian artist Dhafer Youssef will be celebrating the end of the summer season at El-Geneina Theatre, presenting a new fusion of Sufi, electronic and jazz music. Dhafer performed in the same theatre, when he held a concert in Egypt as part of a world tour to promote his latest album ‘Dorar Abu Nawas', released last February. Born in the city of Teboulba, Dhafer began his musical career in the Qura'nic school, absorbing the musical influences around him. He worked as a muezzin and eventually saved enough money to buy his first oud. When he was 19, he decided to move Vienna, where he met the Austrian percussion player Gerhard Reiter, who introduced him to Toni Burger and other members of the Vienna jazz scene. For more information, please contact:[email protected] or on 0108559220
