CAIRO - Here we go again with another evening at the Cairo Opera House. Yes on Friday the Cairo Opera Company presented a gala concert at the Main Hall and I was there to attend but I decided not to write a review. That's it. Goodbye. Fine, I will stay only because you are insisting, but you will buy me coffee. The thing is I made up my mind not to review that performance while I was there. Let's say that I was there to meet friends and also to support some of the performers. We stood in the wings and didn't even enter the hall. We just had friendly chats with almost each and every one of the numerous soloists; yes they were so many because as I said it was a gala concert and it was also dedicated to musicals. The orchestra was conducted by Tarek Mahran who, for some strange reason, chose to include classical music in this evening of musicals! The atmosphere was very strange on that day; artists were not in a good mood and members of the audience were not many to say the least. I guess if it was up to them most artists wouldn't have performed despite their love for music. The only thing that made them do their jobs that day was their sense of commitment. I am not saying that they didn't do well. In fact I know they impressed the audience but being in the wings with them I also know how they felt. The thing everyone was talking about was the sit in at the Ministry of Culture and I was even asked by more than one artist "why don't you join us there?" Upon reminding them that I have recently had a death in the family they apologised and understood what I was going through. So this sit in is currently the hottest entertainment spot in Egypt. Daily shows are performed there by countless artists who present various genres and it is all completely free of charge. Why shouldn't it be? The purpose of these performances is to prove that Egyptian artists will not give in to the tyrants and will not keep their mouths shut. As for the attending crowd, their presence proved that despite the hard times Egypt has been facing and the attempts by the appointed Minister of Culture to destroy culture, people will always enjoy and support various kinds of decent art. While standing in the wings I ran into my old friend, pianist Greig Martin, who told me that in a couple of hours he was going to appear on the show of hugely popular Bassem Youssef, which was recorded two days before. Greig was the pianist who accompanied a group of singers called Fabrica, which sang Arabic adaptations of Schonberg's "Les Miserables". As much I know the group was coached by soprano Neveen Allouba. On the following day I watched that performance on YouTube and the work was highly appreciated by audience of the programme in the studio. Actually I received a message on Saturday from my friend Karim Ghazy who asked me to thank Neveen and the group of artists for presenting decent art to the people. What Bassem said after the performance made a lot of sense to me. He made a remark about the so called Minister of Culture and I totally agree that this man has his own motives which are totally unacceptable. Now culture is being presented by people through performances held at places that have nothing to do with the Ministry of Culture. The appointed "person" seems to be happy that he is massacring culture and he was showing off by saying he is now more famous than artists! When asked in an interview if he believed he was in the same standard of legendary Culture Ministers we had before, he said that he was! The man is incapable of realising his standard and size. How could he compare himself to iconic figures that, at certain points, shaped Egyptian culture? He went to the extreme and fired employees, clerks and security people from his "privately owned" ministry. So, as a result, those people stood in solidarity with artists who sit in there. What kind of a genius do we have here? Anyway, enough talking about him because I shouldn't waste time and energy on such a worthless person. Next week I should be over my disappointment. You can send me emails to: [email protected]
