Most orchestra conductors worldwide, and in our region of course, are men. Female maestros are scarce to find. But Eman el-Genedy, an Upper Egyptian, has broken the rule.
Growing up in a house filled with music in the Governorate of Beni Suef, about 115 kilometres south of Cairo, el-Genedy has managed to fulfill a dream she embraced since her childhood dream, and became Egypt’s first female music conductor, breaking social stereotypes about a male-dominated job.
El-Genedy’s father used to play the piano and the lute. She also had siblings who play the piano.
It was a real challenge that Beni Suef has no music institutes or faculties, and el-Genedy had to study in Cairo, where she joined the Faculty of Music Education, Helwan University, and had to spent five years at a student hostel
After graduation, she worked as a music teacher in Egypt and some Arab countries.
In 2005, she led the National Arab Music Ensemble in Beni Suef Cultural Palace, to be the first woman in Egypt and the Middle East do so.
“Before the 2011 January Revolution, I resigned from the National Arab Music Ensemble and I formed my own orchestra, named it
“The Maestro”, el-Genedy told
The Egyptian Gazette.
“I faced several difficulties, and criticism, at the beginning of my career in music, especially for a woman from Upper Egypt, known to be a very conservative, male-dominated society. It was, and still is the rule, that most, if not all, music troupes are composed of male musicians.
“It was hard in such a conventional society to accept the idea of a woman leading male musicians, but I was determined to see my dream coming true, and I did it,” Genedy added.
“I always encourage girls, care for them, support them, and teach them how to manage goods of their talents”, she said.
El-Genedy has formed a female-only troupe of musicians and singers, naming it “Egypt’s Flowers”.
Egypt’s female maestro was honoured, among others, by President Abdel Fattah El Sisi’s spouse, Entissar El Sisi, in a ceremony held in March.
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