Cheers

The twenty-second session of the Arab Music Festival and Conference in Egypt began today, Friday, and is dedicated to the musician Sayed Darwish on the occasion of the centenary of his death.

At the opening, the festival showed a short documentary film about the life of the late artist, and the Egyptian Mohamed Hassan, the Syrian Lina Chamamian and the Tunisian Lotfi Bouchnak sang excerpts from his heritage with modern arrangements, and his grandson sang Ahmed Darwish’s solo violin performance with the band.

The second part of the concert, which was held in the outdoor Fountain Theater at the Cairo Opera House, was performed by the Egyptian singer Medhat Saleh, who played over an hour and a half a collection of personal songs his and some songs by singing giants such as Umm Kulhum, Abdel Halim and Mohamed Qandil.

The program of the festival, which lasts until October 24, is full of singing nights with a group of Egyptian and Arab artists, including the Jordanian Nidaa Sharara, the Syrian Waad Al-Bahri, the Iraqi Hammam Ibrahim, the Egyptian Ali Al-Hajjar and the Egyptian Reham Abdel Hakim, while the Lebanese Wael Jassar and Assi Al-Halani announced their apologies because of the situation in their country.

33 music bands are also participating in the festival, including the Sayed Darwish Heritage Ensemble, the Arab Heritage Music Ensemble, the Umm Kulhum Ensemble for Arabic Music, and the Alexandria Opera Ensemble for Arabic Music and Singing.

The festival’s performances are spread over the theaters of the Egyptian Opera in Cairo, the Alexandria Opera, the Damanhour Opera, the Arab Music Institute Theater, and the Republic Theater.

At the opening, the festival honored 19 famous names in the field of music, including the Moroccan singer Fouad Zabadi, the Egyptian writer Salah Al-Sharnoubi, the Saudi musician Mamdouh Saif, the Omani musician Khalid bin Hamad Al-Busaidi, Egyptian singer Muhammad Mounir, and Lebanese Composer Ziad Rahbani.

In parallel with the singing and music performances put on by the festival, an Arab Music Conference will be held, which will discuss in this session the topic (Arabic music between influence and influence) with the participation of researchers and experts from 20 countries.

The festival will also organize four competitions for playing, singing and arranging music with the name of Ratiba Al-Hafny, the first woman to assume the presidency of the Egyptian Opera House, as well as an exhibition of the art of Arabic calligraphy which includes Egyptian works. artists Khalifa Al-Shimi and Mohamed Hassan Ahmed Atta.