On Saturday art festivities took place across the country in an initiative entitled ‘Al Fan Midan’ (Art is a Square), organised by the Coalition of Independent Culture.
In Cairo, ‘Al Fan Midan’ was held in Abdin Square, which played host to many artists, from the Hasaballah troupe, to circus performers, musicians, poets and story-tellers. A photography exhibition was displayed, along with cartoons by Nabil El Sonbaty.
There were two stages in Abdin Square, perhaps one of the setbacks of the event, since it became distracting and each performance overshadowed the other.
The large stage hosted several contemporary musicians, including ‘Fok El Sotooh’ (On the Roof) and ‘Transistor’, with satirical songs about the current political and social status in Egypt.
Ramy Essam, well-known in Tahrir Square as the ‘musician of the revolution’, also took the stage and received the most applause. His performance takes the form of chants with ‘The people want to cleanse the regime’ and ‘Where is the Egyptian army? – In Nasr City’ amongst his most popular.
The smaller stage hosted theatre troupes as well as poetry readings. A duet by a boy and girl accompanied by the ‘tabla’ (drum) entitled ‘Abdo and Aziza’, was also about the current political situation.
The performance by the Utopia choir, which consists of amateurs and professionals, had great energy. The puppet theatre put on ‘An Mawdoa El Fool Wel Lahma’ (On beans and meat) by El Sheikh Imam.
Aly El Haggar also performed and started with his well-known but long-censored song ‘Hona El Kahera’ (Here is Cairo).
In Alexandria, the event took place in two side streets, El Bakht and Souccar off Fouad street. Both streets are known for the famous Chez Gaby restaurant.
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