Marcel Khalife in Cairo

Marcel Khalife did a concert at the Cairo Operahouse on Tuesday, on the occasion of the 30th anniversary of the launching of al Ahaly, the tagamoú party newspaper. In a press conference before the concert, he paid tribute to Mahalla and Gaza. I have had the pleasure of being to two concerts with him before and my favourite is Rita, but i will give you a clip of oummi instead. If you want to hear Rita , you can find it in an earlier posting by me on my other blog,Diwan of democracy that i recently relaunched after a long break.

UPDATE: Here are two reviews of the concert, Amnesiac´s is really funny and especially when read with the previous entry of Mozza Marcel in mind. I also have trouble understanding ,why they couldn´t sell tickets for a somewhat smaller sum and fill the Opera. The other one is written by Nida Mariam and i would like to quote her:

¨To me, a novice to the mastery of Khalife, the music was magnificent. Coming from the cacophony of Cairo, my sensibilities were susceptible to the magic of Arabic melody while my ears were eager for the impulse of Jazz improvisation. Carrying no aficionado antics in my purse that night, I easy one to please.¨

His latest album Taqasim that seem to have been the bulk of first set is perhaps not an instant and easy listening experience, but his music has never been that way. Marcel Khalife has been travelling around the globe for the past years, playing his first set like this, instrumental Oudo-jazz fusion and then giving the audience what they want(and what they came for in the first place..) in the second. The first time i saw him live, my initial impresion was pretty much?????? What is thiiiis... but it only took 15 minutes or so to come over that, close my eyes and concentrate on the music, and suddenly i was somewhere else. The music is beautiful and then hearing Rita live for the first time with the audience singing along was beyond words.