The ‘In Love of Egypt' concert, recently held in the Main Hall at the Cairo Opera House, was spectacular not just because the artists and musicians donated their money to the families of people killed in the revolution against the Mubarak regime, but also because it reflected the nationalism and patriotism of the Egyptian people. The concert also reflected a sense of belonging and respect for religion, as both the Arabian Takhat, headed by Yasser Moawad, and the Coptic Um el-Nour Choir, led by Saad Ibrahim, performed. Singing for Egypt, showing a sense of belonging and condemning sectarian strife are not new ideas, as other bands have come up with these ideas before, but what is really new was the performance by these two bands, both very professional in their different ways. The Arabian Takhat is famous for its cultural and religious songs with an Oriental flavour, while the Um el-Nour Choir is famous for its Christian religious singing. Both bands, which performed nationalist songs, beautifully complemented each other and the result was a marvellous concert. Th Arabian Takhat Band was established in 1990, with Moawad as its leader. It has developed into a musical whole, presenting wonderful songs and marvellous new talents. As for the Um el-Nour Choir, Ibrahim established it in 1977, in an attempt to develop Egyptian Coptic music here. It now has 70 singers and 25 musicians. They originally performed in churches, before making their public debut in 2000 at the Cairo Opera House. The concert depended mainly on collective choral singing. It included 19 different songs, remarkable for their national spirit and patriotism, which characterised the recent revolution. The concert began with the national anthem performed by the choir, with the male and female voices in perfect harmony. The piano and stringed instruments played a great role in this concert. We were impressed by Ibrahim's beautiful voice as he sang ‘Hubb el Watan' (In Love of Nation), composed by the legendary Mohamed Abdel-Wahab. The audience also got to enjoy ‘Dakat Sa'at al-Amal al-Thawri' (It's time for Revolutionary Work); ‘Islami ya Misr' (May God Save You Egypt); ‘Ya Aghla Ism fi al-Wogood' (The Most Precious Country in the Whole World); ‘Al-Geel Al-Saa'ed' (The Coming Generation); and many others. The audience also got to listen to the wonderful singing of Nancy Talaat and Mervat Makram who sang songs by Um Kalthoum, and Mina al-Koms, who sang songs by Abdel-Halim Hafez. Meanwhile, the Arabian Takhat presented wonderful songs like ‘El-Ard Betetkalam Arabi' (The Land is Speaking Arabic) that was performed by Sheikh Mahmoud Hamdi, and ‘Oom Ya Masri' (Stand Up You Courageous Egyptian), performed by Atef Gasser and Mohamed Ali. ‘Al-Abtal' (The Heroes), a poem written by Pope Shenouda and distributed and composed by Naggui Youssef, was also very impressive. The programme delighted Arab music lovers. A big thanks must go to oud player Ihab Ibrahim; Fathi Abdel-Hakam, the flute player; violinists Gouda Khalil and Abdel-Rahman Mohamed; Hisham el-Kholi (drums) and Abdo Sayyed (tambourine). Another great song, ‘Azima Ya Masr' (Great Egypt), was performed by the Takhat and choir together. El-Sheikh Mahmoud, accompanied by Michel and Marc Francis, met with huge applause.
