Spending the holy month of Ramadan in Egypt is an incomparable experience.
While in the morning, the day may seem a bit slow, in the evening, all the fun begins.
This is because every year, the Ministry of Culture is keen on organising a huge number of events in various places to attract ordinary families and make them enjoy heritage art and concerts like puppet shows, tanora, folk dance, and religious chanting.
This year, the Minister of Culture Dr. Inas Abdel Dayem announced that the Ministry will organise 1,479 cultural and artistic events during the holy month of Ramadan.
This year’s events comes within the framework of the celebrations of choosing Cairo as ‘Capital of Culture in the Islamic World’, held in cooperation between the Ministry of Culture and the Islamic World Organisation for Education, Science and Culture (ICESCO), which aims to preserve identity and highlights the role of arts in raising awareness.
Egypt’s various governorates will host a number of cultural events from April 8 to 28. Here are a number of the activities that will be held during the month:
Cairo Opera House
The Cairo Opera House, headed by Dr. Magdy Saber, organises 49 concerts during the holy month. Each concert starts at 9:30PM and will be held in the Opera’s various theaters in Cairo, Alexandria and Damanhour.
This is in addition to the continuation of the activities of the Opera’s artistic programme, which includes: 3 concerts on the Fountain Theater for well known singer Medhat Saleh – accompanied by the famous pianist Amr Selim – veteran singer Ali El-Haggar, Syrian singer Tariq Al-Arabi Tarkan. There will be also ten concerts in the Open Air Theater including: Brass Sound Band Ensemble, Hadra Band For the Sufi chanting and concerts by marimba player Nesma Abdel Aziz, Jordanian singer Makadi Nahas, Tunisian singer Ghalia Benali, the Umm Kulthum Arab Music Ensemble led by Maestro Muhammad Abdel Sattar, chanter Sheikh Yassin Al-Tohamy, Syrian singer Lina Shamamian.
The Small Hall Theatre will host six Islamic evenings which will be held at 9pm featuring the musical and lyrical heritage of the countries of Morocco, Tunisia and Algeria.
The Theatre of the Arab Music Institute hosts four concerts for Wanes Ensemble, Coptic Praise Ensemble led by Maestro Diaa Sabry, Tunisian singer Maleha and the Rawaa El Nagham Ensemble led by singer Reem Kamal.
The Alexandria Opera Theater organises three Concerts for Tunisian singer Ghalia Benali, Jordanian singer Makadi Nahas and Al-Hadra Ensemble for Sufi chanting.
The Damanhour Opera Theater is organising two concerts for chanter Mahmoud Al-Tohamy, Noor Al-Nabi Ensemble for religious chanting. There will be also concerts by Abdel Halim Nouira for Arab Music, Cairo Symphony Orchestra, Talent Development Center and two concerts for the Arab National Music Ensemble, two concerts for the Religious Chanting Ensemble, the Arab Heritage Music Ensemble, Alexandria Opera Orchestra, three concerts for Alexandria Opera Band for Music and Singing, Kulthumiat concert, Cinema Club, Opera Arts Club, two concerts for works by composers Baligh Hamdi and Mohamed El Mougy.
Plastic arts
The plastic Arts Sector, headed by Dr. Khaled Sorour is organising 156 offline activities and 66 online activities, including a number of workshops for heritage crafts in the affiliated sites and museums, workshops for leather works and the fifth experimental session for visual arts 2021/2022 under the title ‘Young Arab Creator’s Salon’. There will also be a celebration on Ramadan 10 to commemorate Egypt’s victory in the 1973 war, honouring the heroes of the War.
General Authority of Culture Palaces
The General Authority of Culture Palaces, headed by theatre director Hisham Atwa, organises 578 intellectual, artistic and creative events in all governorates of Egypt, including a screening of a documentary, ‘Historic Old Cairo’ produced by the National Centre for Cinema, the operetta ‘Here in Cairo’.
National Centre for Translation
The National Center for Translation, headed by Dr. Karma Sami, is holding seminars every Wednesday. Each seminar will discuss one of the centre’s special publications including: ‘Cairo in Modern Egyptian Literature’ written and translated by Dina Heshmat, ‘Ayyubid Cairo’ by Neil D. McKenzie and translated by Othman Mustafa Othman and many others.
Cultural Production
The cultural production sector, headed by theatre director Khaled Galal, is organising its annual programme ‘Hall Hilak’ which includes 35 various artistic activities: the celebration of the 1973 war anniversary, a puppet show as well as concerts by vocalist Wael El-Fashni, the small finger band, Tablat Al-Sit band, The Circus Shows, Reda Troupe for Folk dance, chanter Sheikh Mahmoud Al-Tohamy, Ratiba El Hefny Foundation for Special Needs Ensemble, Angham Youth Ensemble, a poetic evening by poet Mohamed Bahgat, Al-Haramlik Troupe, Al-Hadra Ensemble, among other events.
The Artistic House of Theatre
The Artistic House of Theatre headed by the artist Ismail Mokhtar presents seven theatrical performances, 34 nights in Cairo and Alexandria.
The National Cinema Centre
The National Cinema Centre, headed by scriptwriter Zainab Aziz, is organising 14 events and documentary film screenings and seminars from 10 to 20 April.
The Cultural Development Fund
The Cultural Development Fund headed by Dr. Fathi Abdel Wahab organises 57 events from 6 to 27 Ramadan in its creativity centres.
In Qoubet of Al-Ghouri, religious chanting and concerts will be held by Tawasheh band and Adnan Al-Sasa and Banat Al Gewar band, Al Tanoura Heritage, Samaa Ensemble for Chanting, Indonesia Ensemble for Chants, Bangladesh Ensemble for Chants, Yemen Ensemble for Chants and a concert for the artist Ali Al Halbawi.
The General Authority of the National Library and Archives
The Egyptian General Authority for National Books and Documents, headed by Dr. Nevin Mohamed, is organising artistic and intellectual events and documentary exhibitions, including: the “Khedivial Mosques of Egypt”, “Ramadan in Egyptian Documents”.
Foreign Cultural Relations
The Foreign Cultural Relations Sector headed by Sabri Saeed is organising various artistic and cultural activities including hosting concerts by international troupes from Algeria, Tunisia, Morocco, Palestine and Indonesia.
National Centre for Child Culture
The National Centre for Child Culture, headed by the writer Mohamed Abdel Hafez Nassef, is organizing 265 different cultural and artistic events in the cultural park in Sayeda Zeinab from 13 to 22 April including puppet shows, a play titled ‘Ramadan Jana’, a concert titled ‘The Peace Choir, ‘Operetta Al-Obour’, and performances of Tanoura and many other shows.
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