CAIRO - On June 21 of every year more than 110 countries all over the world celebrate "Fête de la Musique", or as it is called in English, the World Music Day. The Egyptian celebration this year was very unique, for it was not held at venues like the Cairo Opera House or the Cairo Citadel – to celebrate music, culture and freedom, instead many artists performed in the street, right in front of the Ministry of Culture headquarters. The man who tried to fire artists (the appointed minister) is now banned from entering the ministry and artists took over completely. We all know that things are better off without him anyway. However, in a very nice gesture, artists paid tribute to him by hanging a huge banner of him on the outside wall of the ministry. How thoughtful of them... Have I told you that the banner features him with a frying pan on top of his head? My friend Abd Al-Wahab El-Sayed was in charge of organising this very special event and didn't care about the consequences he might face later like revenge, vengeance and retaliation. I am aware it's the same thing but since revenge is all what the brotherhood of anti-Egyptians can think of, I thought I'd offer them a variety to make them believe they are active. The performance started at eight and as I was approaching I heard music playing and people cheering. When I got there I found out that the first act was performed by kids from Suzuki Class – the violin class of Cairo Opera House's Talent Development Centre, supervised by Osman El-Mahdy. The young talents were really impressive. One of the things I loved about that day was the crowd of hundreds who were present. I went on my own and bumped into zillions of friends... people who love music, culture and Egypt in general. This is my kind of crowd – people I could easily relate to. Everyone was very excited and there were countless side talks about participating in anti-regime marches on the 30th of June. That's the spirit. Then it was time for young members of the Arabic Music Choir, who gave very nice performances and were loved by all. The word "young" here means children or young teenagers. Seeing promising youngsters gives me hope in the future of Egyptian music. Next to go on the tiny stage was renowned harpist Manal Mohei Eldin, who was joined by a band. Having strings to accompany her is fine but I was surprised to see an instrument like the accordion as well. Once she started playing I knew that the best was made out of this combination because the programme included Arabic numbers played on harp! That's original. The first number moved everyone. It was a rendition of Dalida's "Helwa Ya Baladi" (You Are Beautiful My Country), which means a lot to Egyptians in general. After several numbers Manal set the crowd on fire with her anti-Muslim Brotherhood chants, which were repeated by all. You are amazing Manal. Then the stage got ready to receive a woman who has exceptional popularity – Nesma Abd Al-Aziz with her marimba and of course she was backed up by a band, which included gifted keyboardist Mohamed Essam. Nesma was warmly received by everyone and after playing a little she announced that the reason she and other artists were performing that evening was to say that they are going to participate in marches against the regime on June 30. She then introduced Inas Abd Al-Daiem, the former President of the Cairo Opera House, who was recently dismissed by the man with a frying pan on his head. Inas was met with a storm of applause and the crowd kept shouting "Inas, Inas" to welcome her. Together the two ladies played many wonderful numbers, ranging from international pop to Egyptian patriotic tracks like Abd Al-Halim Hafez epic "Ahlef Besamaha We Betrabha" (I Swear by its Sky and Land). Once this particular number was finished the crowd called out for an encore of it and the artists couldn't let their fans down. Moreover, the dynamic duo ended their session with a third performance of the same track, but this time they were joined by Abd Al-Wahab El-Sayed who gave a very pleasant vocal rendition. As a bass singer I was surprised that he hit all those relatively high notes. However, my favourite part was when he changed a bar of the lyric to slag Mohamed Morsi off. I couldn't have done it better myself. Once he finished, Abd Al-Wahab chanted against the so called Brotherhood and the crowd repeated his chants. I don't know about others but I found the next act very peculiar because I have never attended a street ballet before. Yes, a few dances from "Zorba" ballet were performed by Hany Hassan and Amr Farouk to prerecorded music. Although it was their fourth time to do this since the sit in started last month, I have never witnessed anything like it before. Hany later told me that usually more ballet dancers participate in this act. I have to tell you that Hany was very active cheering with all chants screamed by other performers throughout the evening. The show took another sharp turn when three Arabic music songstresses and two singers went on stage to perform patriotic songs. They were Rehab Metawi, Marwa Nagi and Iman Abd Al-Ghani, as well as Amgad El-Atafi and Khaled Abd Al-Ghaffar. The band accompanying this quintet was led by famous zither player Maged Soroor. They presented very moving renditions of well selected numbers and again the crowd was on fire. Finally, the evening ended with folk singer Hamdy El-Ganaini, who sang one number called "Etmarad" (Rebel). Despite lip syncing to his own prerecorded vocal track, the crew shouldn't have started taking equipments off the stage while he was still performing! The very enjoyable evening ended around half past midnight and what matters the most is that it made us all feel like one again. Daily free shows are held at the same place and I strongly recommend attending them. Send me your frying pans to: [email protected]
