Not to be missed: From Alexandria, Aswan film festivals to Samih Sawiris on piano, Jazz Day, El-Masreyeen - Music - Arts & Culture

Al-Ahram Weekly

30-04-2025

Ahram Online highlights a selection of do-not-miss events this week from 30 April to 7 May in Cairo, Alexandria, and Aswan.
Alexandria Short Film Festival's 11th edition (ASFF)
27 April - 2 May
Across several venues in Alexandria
The ASFF, organized by the Arts' Circle (Dayret Al-Fann) Association, offers film screenings, panels, workshops, and masterclasses, among others.
The films compete in several categories: fiction films, documentary films, animation films, Arab films, and Egyptian student films.
Follow the festival's page for more details about its programme.
New films across cinemas
Thursday, 1 May, brings several new films to movie theatres across Egypt:
- Thunderbolts, starring Florence Pugh, Sebastian Stan, and David Harbour;
- Popeye The Slayer Man, starring Jason Robert Stephens, Sarah Nicklin, and Angela Relucio;
- Sneaks, starring Martin Lawrence, Keith David, and Lawrence Fishburne;
- Daniela Forever, starring Henry Golding and Beatrice Grannò.
Mazaher ensemble (Zar) - music
Wednesday, 30 April, 8pm
Egyptian Centre for Culture & Arts - Makan, 1 Saad Zaghloul Str., Cairo
Mazaher is an ensemble where women play a leading role. Its music is inspired by the three different musical styles of the Zar tradition practised in Egypt.
Um Sameh, Um Hassan, and Nour El-Sabah, the musicians of Mazaher, are among the last remaining Zar practitioners in Egypt.
El-Masreyeen band and Ziad Zaza - music
Thursday, 1 May, 5pm
Greek Campus, 171 Tahrir Str., Downtown, Cairo
The band, one of the most famous Egyptian bands during the past few decades, was launched in 1977 by composer and conductor Hany Shenouda.
This year, its fame shone again after its music was featured in the series Hala Khassa. The band is regularly performing in different venues.
Egyptian rapper Ziad Zaza began his musical career three years ago.
He released five EPs, two albums, and several singles. His song Dayra (2022) has garnered over 3.6 million views on YouTube.
Ali Omar El-Farouk & Ahmed Harfoush - music
Thursday, 1 May, 8pm
Room Art Space & Café, 10 Etehad Al Mohamin Str., Garden City
Dubbed "The Greatest Egyptian and American Songs," the evening will present a selection of jazz and pop classics from the golden era of music, featuring songs by Cole Porter, Abdel-Wahab, George Gershwin, Fareed El-Atrash, Jerome Kern, and Kamal El-Taweel.
The night will be filled with nostalgia, music, and escape with the guitar and vocal sounds of Ali Omar El-Farouk and Harfoush.
El-Farouk is an Egyptian-Canadian guitarist and oud player based in Montreal and Cairo.
He is an active performer, teacher, and composer with a professional career spanning more than two and a half decades.
Harfoush is an Egyptian jazz and pop vocalist based in London and has performed around the world for over two decades.
Aswan International Women Film Festival (AIWFF) - film
Friday, 2 May - Wednesday. 7 May
The 9th edition of the Aswan International Women Film Festival will be held across several venues in the southern city of Aswan.
The festival is named after Umm Kalthoum, so the star's face is featured on the AIWFF's poster.
This unique event is the brainchild of Mohamed Abdel Khalik, the festival's president, and Hassan Abou Eleila, its director.
It is also a platform for films created by women or that tackle women-related issues, featuring workshops, seminars, discussions, and screenings.
The AIWFF invites men to conversations and craft talks to build a dynamic balance between the two genders through the topics tackled and the journeys of the movies' creators.
Moreover, the festival also plays an educational role. Among its various activities aimed at developing and supporting young and aspiring filmmakers, the festival holds workshops in the weeks leading up to the event.
As a result, those from Egypt's south who participate in these workshops start to create short films.
Sheikh Mahmoud El-Tohamy - music
Friday, 2 May, 8pm
Wisdom Hall, El-Sawy Culturewheel, 26th of July Street, Zamalek, Cairo
Mahmoud, the son of the famous Sufi chanter Sheikh Yassin El-Tohamy, is among the masters of deeply rooted Islamic musical art.
He has performed Sufi poetry chants at traditional Islamic Sunni events across the country, often appearing at significant moulid events in Cairo's Al-Hussein and Al-Sayeda Zeinab districts.
El-Tohamy often collaborates with Egyptian Grammy award-winning Fathy Salama and his band Sharkiat in a project launched in 2018, titled Sufism vs. Modernism.
Cassette 90 band - music
Saturday, 3 May, 8pm
Wisdom Hall, El-Sawy Culturewheel, 26th of July Street, Zamalek, Cairo
The band consists of eight musicians who revive songs from the 1990s, including those by Egyptian singers Mostafa Amar, Hisham Abbas, Alaa Abdelkhalek, and Ehab Tawfik.
International Jazz Day - music
Tuesday, 6 May, 8pm
Theatro Arkan, Sheikh Zayed City, Cairo
International Jazz Day, organized by Cairo Jazz Society, will feature over 40 of Egypt's jazz stars.
These include vocalist Noha Fekry, pianist Fathy Salama, guitarist Amer Barakat, and saxophonist Shady El-Qasseer.
Abdel-Halim Nowera Ensemble for Arab Music - music
Sunday, 4 May, 8pm
Cairo Opera House, Main Hall, Zamalek, Cairo
In memory of the prominent 20th-century Egyptian singer and composer Mohamed Abdel-Wahab, the ensemble will perform some of his best-known works.
The ensemble was founded in 1967 by maestro Abdel-Halim Nowera.
Its mission is to revive the authentic musical heritage, presenting various traditional vocal and musical forms.
The evening, conducted by maestro Ahmed Amer, will feature singers Ahmed Abdel-Kerim, Rehab Omar, Hossam Hosni, and Essam Mahmoud, among others.
Egyptian Philharmonic Orchestra featuring Samih Sawiris - music
Wednesday, 7 May, 8pm
Cairo Opera House, Main Hall, Zamalek, Cairo
The Egyptian Philharmonic Orchestra will celebrate its 20th anniversary with a special concert featuring Samih Sawiris, a well-known Egyptian businessman, who will perform on the piano.
Conducted by maestros Ahmed El-Saedi and a guest conductor Lena-Lisa Wüstendörfer, the orchestra will perform Joja Wendt's Concert for Piano and Orchestra "The Challenge," followed by Beethoven's Symphony No. 5 in C minor.
Sawiris, a business tycoon and the executive chairman and CEO of Orascom Development Holding, has been studying piano as a hobby for eight years, supported by El-Saedi.
His first appearance on stage was in 2023, accompanied by the Cairo Symphony Orchestra, in a grand charity concert in Gouna.
Additionally, in the first half of the evening, the Al Nour Wal Amal Orchestra, conducted by Tamer Kamal, will perform two pieces: Saint-Saëns' Danse Macabre and Breval's Sinfonia Concertante for Flute, Bassoon, and Strings.
The soloists of the orchestra are Basma Ahmed on the flute and Mariz Makram on the bassoon.
Al Nour Wal Amal, founded in the 1060s, is Egypt's renowned orchestra of blind and visually impaired women musicians.
The orchestra has toured the world performing in more than 30 countries across five continents.
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