Tips from the culture desk: From Korean music to Dear Animal

Recycling pops up in various artistic manifestations in Cairo this week. In Maadi, Nevine Soliman Design is exhibiting recycled-metal sculptor Abdo Ramzy until April 30, while Mashrabia Gallery has organized a series of screenings of Waste Land, a 2010 documentary about a collaboration Brazilian artist Vik Muniz did with a Brazilian community of garbage collectors, starting at 7 pm on Sunday. It's part of Mashrabia's ongoing Rags to Riches project.

You might find this a good week to go up to Moqattam and find the right spot to see eL Seed’s anamorphic mural in the garbage-collecting community of Manshayet Nasr. Also on Sunday, the Netherlands/Flemish Institute in Cairo shows Naji Abu Nowar's acclaimed film Theeb at 7.30 pm, for free as usual.

Otherwise, check out these tips. It's a good week for music in particular.

Heritage and Modern festival – Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday

The European Egyptian Contemporary Music Society has dedicated its annual festival to exploring the impact of music tradition on the development of contemporary music. While the festival runs for two weeks and involves over 38 musicians from around the globe, only three performances are open to public. On April 12 is the premier of a commission called Caprice, three compositions Oscar Bianchi, Zaid Jabri and Wilbert Bulsink  for oud and ensemble played by the Egyptian Contemporary Music Ensemble at the beautiful Manasterly Palace (tickets LE50). On April 13, the Korean gayagum player Yi Ji-young gives a solo recital of traditional Korean music and contemporary compositions, with a pre-concert presentation by ethnomusicologist Hilary Finchum-Sung. And Egyptian artist and musician Hassan Khan will perform his piece Taraban, which takes two early-twentieth-century songs by Youssef El Manialawy as a starting point, on April 14. The latter two events are at the Ewart Memorial Hall and are free.

Two artist talks in Alexandria and Cairo – Wednesday

Audiences in both Cairo and Alexandria have the opportunity to attend two different arts talks on the same day. At Alexandria’s Fine Arts Museum, artist and Contemporary Image Collective co-founder Maha Maamoun shows her new 60-minute film Dear Animal, followed by a discussion around it as well as her artistic approach in general. Dear Animal interweaves a short story by Haytham El-Wardany about a drug dealer who turns into a strange animal with a selection of letters written by Azza Shaaban, a director-producer now living in India. The Cairo-based artist tends to work in photography and video, and is widely shown in Egypt and abroad.

Cairo’s Goethe Institute is organizing a talk at the Italian Cultural Institute in Zamalek with Amelie Deuflhard on urban sites being used as spaces of theater. Deuflhard is a German theater producer and cultural operator who directs the Kampnagel, and she has interesting ideas about working in public space and repurposing spaces for theatrical interventions.

Maha Maamoon’s talk is at 6 pm on April 13 at the Alexandria Fine Arts Museum on 6 Moharam Bek Street, Alexandria. Amelie Deuflhard’s talk at 7pm at the Italian Cultural Institute on 3 Sheikh al-Marsafi Street in Zamalek, Cairo. Entrance is free for both.

Alif – Saturday

A performance by regional band Alif at Al Azhar Park’s Geinana Theater is an exciting affair and sure to draw a crowd. Their music combines the dynamic background of each member. Palestinian Renaissance man Tamer Abu Ghazaleh handles the buzuq and vocals, shape-shifting British-based Iraqi musician Khyam Allami (who recently did the music for this brilliant Tunisian film) handles oud and composition, electric bassist Bashar Farran is on bass, Lebanese musician Khaled Yassine is on percussion, and our very own Maurice Louca is on keys and electronics.

Released September 2015, Alif’s debut album Aynama-Rtama (Wherever it Falls) is a wonderfully engaging listening experience mixing poetry by Sargon Boulus (Iraq, 1944-2007), Mahmoud Darwish (Palestine, 1942-2008) and Faiha Abdulhadi (Palestine, 1951) with Abu Ghazaleh’s strange surrealism.

Tickets LE50. Facebook event here.

What we’re excited about this week D-CAF

D-CAF intensifies on Thursday when the Arab Arts Focus week, which organizes various events for invited arts programmers, kicks off. Some are open to the public.

On Thursday night four members of Arabstazy, a Tunisian collective of electronic musicians, visual artists and performers, rock Shahrazade nightclub with an audiovisual performance that continues their exploration of links between traditional exorcism ceremonies and contemporary trance (70LE).

Tania El Khoury’s acclaimed interactive sound installation Gardens Speak starts on Friday. It contains the oral histories of 10 ordinary people who had to be buried by friends and family in Syrian gardens after being killed during the uprising. Check the website to see when you can experience the work in Arabic, English or French.

Thursday and Friday see contemporary dance works from Mithkal Alzaghir (Syria), Danya Hammoud (Lebanon) and Ezzat Ezzat (Egypt), while Friday afternoon has the first performances in the Urban Visions program on the pedestrian street Alfy Bey, with works by Kousha Puppets (Egypt), Mohamed El-Deep (Egypt) and Stopgap Dance Company (UK). These will be repeated on Saturday on Shawarby Street. You can also catch one of Remini Protokoll’s intriguing Home Visits performances, and the film program at Zawya.