7ayy!
Ramadan in Genaina Theatre
Culture Resource presents at El Geneina Theatre in Al-Azhar Park the annual festival Hay! : Ramadan’s program of live musical evenings. The festival, which includes concerts of Egyptian folkloric singing, oriental, Andalusian, jazz and fusion music, runs from Thursday 20 September until Saturday 6 October 2007.
Hay! starts on Thursday 20 September with a joint concert for Oud and Qanoon by Iraqi musician Raed Khoshaba and the Egyptian musicianSaber Abd El-Satar, winner of the first prize in playing Qanoon in the 2001 international competition held by the league of Arab states in Algeria. He has been teaching Qanoon at the Opera house since 2001.
Raed Khoshaba studied Oud in Baghdad and joined Albayareq Ensemble for traditional Arabic music which was founded by the late distinguished Oud player and composer Munir Bashir. He also taught Oud at the Institute of Musical Studies and The Music & Ballet School. He released his first album Strings of the Soul in 2002, and Later, in 2004, he released an album with the Baghdad Ensemble.
On Friday 21 September, the Upper Egypt Choir presents its latest production “Bilady Gamila” , an evening of singing and poetry with Sayed Darwish’s and Badie Khairy’s songs, as well as poems from the works of Salah Jahin and Foad Hadad. This concert also features the artists Amin Hadad, Samia Jaheen and Hazem Shahine.
Hay! includes two concerts in collaboration with the Spanish Embassy in Cairo: First, a concert by the Spanish group Musica Antigua on Saturday 22 September. Musica Antigua Quintet, under the direction of Eduardo Paniagua, is specialized in Spanish medieval music, with the aim of bringing back to life the rich musical heritage of the Islamic, Jewish and Christian traditions that coexisted in Andalusia.
The second concert takes place on Saturday 29 September, by the well known Iraqi musician Naseer Shama and his Ensemble. The Iraqi Oud player and composer Nasseer Shama, has formed a group with talented musicians from Egypt and Syria to recuperate the rich tradition of Moaxaja or Mouashahat, a poetic form that originated in Andalusia and then was developed in other parts of the Middle East.
Hay! Festival presents on Thursday 27 September Fawanees Misr in an evening of folkloric Egyptian performances entitled Talata Balady. The evening celebrates traditional arts from the Delta and Upper Egypt, and is divided into three segments: wedding songs from the Delta area, Zikr & religious chanting and songs from Upper Egypt. Ayman Khoury has founded “Fawanees Misr” in the year 2000; it started with presenting only Zikr music, and then developed to include most of Egyptian folk music. The group performed several times in Egypt, Europe and the United States of America.
This Year, Hay! Festival proudly presents a concert for the young Syrian singer Lena Chamamyan on Friday 28 September. Lena Chamamian is a rising star in the region. Her debut album “Hal Asmar Eloun” produced with support from Culture Resource, and arranged by the young Syrian composer and saxophonist Bassel Rojoub, received wide acclaim and won the Radio Monte Carlo Music Award 2006. Lena has recently produced her second album “Chamiat”. This is her first concert in Egypt.
On Friday 5 October Hay! Festival presents, in collaboration with the Egyptian Center for Culture and Arts (Makan), a concert entitled Nass Makan (Makan’s People). The concert features Makan’s most recent musical project, in which a new sound is produced fusing Mawal and traditional Balady singing disciplines, with the modern-western sounds of guitars, drums and saxophone.
Hay! Festival concludes on Saturday 6 October, with a concert for Egyptian Musician Fathy Salamaand Sharkeyat Group, presenting their new project Madih. Fathi Salama’s new experiment fuses traditional religious chanting with jazz and electronic music.
All concerts start at 9:00 PM
Please make sure you arrive at Al-Azhar Park 30 minutes before event starting time
All Hay! concerts are free
(Excluding park admission)
Children under 8 are not allowed
For more info and for press interviews call: +202 2362 50 57
