Bokra

Bokra feels like an atempt of doing another al helm al 3arabi , with mainstream artists like Kazem al Saher, Saber al Rabeieh and Tamer Hosny , but also more artists with an activist perspective like Rim Banna and Souad Massi.

2011 has seen a new genre emerge , revolution songs , this is not one of them, but it still tries to capitalize on that trend , but in the end one could hope that tommorow will bring a much better future. The voice and the mindset of the people throughout the Arab World has , and will change even further. That is the great gain of 2011 , the year of the Arab Revolutions.

Free Zeid Hamdan

Update:
According to Zeid's facebook page, he's been released, lets hope that turns out to be correct, and that is the end of the story. Mabrouk! The message:

"I am free now , thank u for your help !"

According to the gifted lebanese alternative musician Zeid Hamdan's facebook account, he´s currently held at the police station of the Palace of Justice in Beirut. The reason being the song "General Suleiman" about Lebanon´s President.

This was Hamdan's status update on Facebook.

“Message from Zeid in prison: Dear friends, I am now in the prishttp://www.blogger.com/img/blank.gifon of the police station of the palace of justice in Beirut because of my song "General Soleiman". They are prosecuting me for defammation of President Soleiman. I dont know, until when I am staying in prishttp://www.blogger.com/img/blank.gifon. Please mobilize,” http://www.blogger.com/img/blank.gif

There is a facebook page in support of hamdan's release.

More on Hamdan's arrest. Some more info can be found here.

Angie Nassar's interview with Hamdan in September about the song that apparantly caused the commotion can be found here.

A bit more on Zeid Hamdan here.

My favourite, and Zeid's tribute to the Arab revolutions is Eskat al Nizam

He has also worked with Egyptian singer maryam Saleh in the song Eslahat, and they performed together at the London "Shubbak festival" and in Rome earlier this month.



More on Hamdan's music here and here.

Cairo artists for Gaza

Starting today (Thursday Jan 22nd,and continuing to Saturday Jan 24th) , some of Cairo´s brightest artists and musicians show their solidarity with the People of Gaza, in an art exhibition with 50 artists, donating a piece each from their work to be sold on spot. This will take place at the Cairo Atelier on 2 Karim al Dawla St.(Talat Harb Sq).

The second part, is a three nights music and theater festival (Friday Jan 23th-Sunday Jan 25th) featuring among others two of my favourite groups , Ana Masry and Wust el Balad.This will be held at the Townhouse factory space on 10 Nabrawy St off Champollion St.

The benefits from the events will go to Gaza through the Egyptian Popular Committee for Solidarity with the Palestinian People and the Give Gaza Organization.

You can find more information on the events, venues and schedules here.

The people of Gaza has been constantly on my mind since December 27th, my mood is perhaps best described by the title of Um Kalthoum, s famous song al Atlal (The Ruins).

Words have failed me, when i´ve tried to put them down on a sheet of paper, though having tried on several occasions , during the last month. Having had no desire to blog on anything else, but Gaza, i kept my silence.

The posters seen above provided , courtesy of Salma Said

UPDATE: I would like to share a link to To Tom Glasspool´s photography blog,Snapshot of Life with some really great photos from the concert, but i would also like you to browse the blog for fantastic pictures of Cairo. Many Thanks Tom for sharing , and for telling me about your excellent blog!

Oum Kalthoum : The fourth Pyramid

The new exhibition at the Institut du Monde Arabe opens today in Paris, France. The theme this time is Oum Kalthooum :The Fourth Pyramid.

If you live in the city of light or have the chance to visit Paris during 17 June - 2 November, make sure to add institut du Monde Arabe to your itinerary, just as our Minister of Culture, Farouk Hosni did today(of course Paris is like a second home to him, unlike Israel) Besides Oum Kalthuom, the institute has one of the best views overlooking Notre Dame and a very good book shop!

Some furher information on the greatest musical diva ever can be found here.

Finaly i would like to point to an interview with the lady, just after her legendary concert at the Olympia in Paris made by Egyptian television in this You Tube-clip.

UPDATE: Here´s an article from al Ahram Weekly about the exhibition about the little girl from Tamay whom later in life, enchanted the audience around the Arab World, like no other, neither before, nor after her time.

Qawkab ash Sharq on NPR

NPR has a 13 minutes piece on Umm Kalthoum here. Interviews with the director of the Umm Kalthoum museum, Dr Walid Shousha and Virginia Danielson , whom has written Umm Kulthum: A Voice Like Egypt on the star, it´s also available in a DVD version here.

Danielson says that in order to describe the lady and how popular she was(and still is) you have to think of the musical tops of Ella Fitzgerald combined with the public persona of Elinor Roosevelt and the audience of Elvis Presley - it´s pretty much what i usually say when being asked the question of her popularity, though i would say that if you combine the popularity of Elvis, the Beatles and Michael Jackson(in the 80´s, before turning bad), then perhaps you will begin to grasp her popularity, callled the fourth pyramid, the only name that perhaps can match her in Egypt during the last 60 years of Egyptian history is Nasser´s. Maybe it´s no coincidence that their respective careers were so intertwined. Her career was huge prior to the 1952 revolution, but she would probably not have been able to transcend the boundaries of Egypt and become the Arab diva of her generation, if not for the parallel political change in the Arab world with Nasser as it´s undisputable leader from 1956-67, and the importance of the radio station Sawt al Arab, that in some way was the equivalent of al Jazeera today, in terms of impact. at the time, her song "Walla Zaman Ya Selahy" (Oh, My Weapon) was the national anthem from 1960 to the Camp David accords 1979.

Her most popular songs are anta oumri and al atlal, and she is the definite voice of her century in Egypt. More about her life and music can be found here, here, here and here.