Tips from the culture desk: From Nile singing to cognitive audio maps

This could be a good time to see some ongoing art shows.

It’s your last chance to see Randa Shaath's exhibition at Gypsum Gallery (showing until April 5), and an exhibition of the late heavyweight collagist and painter Mounir Canaan at Dokki’s state-run Horizon One gallery is showing until April 12. The Ahmed Askalany exhibition Hippopotamus Amphibious at Mashrabia Gallery has been extended until April 28, the Cairo Bats show at the Contemporary Image Collective is on until April 9, and the group show Sounds As If, curated by Aleya Hamza, shows at the Old French Consulate, the Mahmoud Bassiouny shopfront and the Kodak Passageway.

If you’re willing to jump right into it, today (April 2) is the last day of the Ahmed Nosseir exhibition at Nile Sunset Annex (until 6 pm, see image above), while at 6 pm artist Mahmoud Khaled gives a talk at MASS Alexandria, part of his evocatively named workshop The City as Heavy Stage (technically booked out, but they'll try and find you a seat).

For non-visual arts activities, see our four tips below.

The Nile Choir - starts Sunday

The Nile Choir is the acclaimed Nile Project’s new community choir, and they’re inviting professionals, amateurs and total beginners to meet twice a week at downtown Cairo’s GrEEK Campus to collaborate on writing new songs and composing new music that combines all the languages, scales, rhythms and instruments found in the Nile Basin.

The sessions will also explore the cultures and ecosystems of our watershed, discuss the challenges of making the Nile more sustainable, and involve Nile Project members in teaching participants to sing, play and improvise in different styles. The idea is to learn more about Nile basin communities, make new friends, feel the power of collective singing and produce original songs that belong to you and reflect your hopes and concerns.

Free — if you're interested, fill out this online registration form and the organizers will contact you with more information.

Meet the Patels - Sunday

This documentary that’s also a romantic comedy started off as a family vacation video. Made by first-generation Indian-American siblings Geeta V. Patel and Ravi V. Patel, it follows Ravi’s post-breakup attempt to find a wife the traditional way, because the marriages he knows that formed that way are happy. At Zawya, for a one-off screening amid ongoing screenings of a very different kind of documentary about singer Amy Winehouse and some D-CAF films, the Patel siblings will be present to discuss for a Q&A.

7.30 pm, April 3, Zawya, behind Cinema Odeon, downtown Cairo. Free entry, English subtitles.

When Cities Speak - Wednesday

Radwa Abdelaziz Aghaa, of Al-Azhar University’s Urban Planning Department, discusses (in Arabic) the effect of urban change on Fatimid Cairo’s soundscape and how cognitive audio maps are formed. Her research matches different present-day maps with a present-day sound map and compares these with ancient urban maps and sound maps from films. She also uses questionnaires to investigate the psychological impact of sound, and offers possible solutions to current noise pollution problems.

7 pm, April 6, at Megawra al-Khalifa. See map here and Facebook event here.

Geneina Theater spring program weekend - Thursday + Friday

Established by non-governmental cultural organization Al-Mawred al-Thaqafi (Cultural Resource) in 2005, Geneina Theater closed after Mawred suspended its activities in Egypt and relocated to Beirut in late 2014. Last year, the popular theater, located in the heart of Al-Azhar park, re-opened, operating as a private company to run a summer season. Now it returns with several concerts by regional musicians, starting with Lebanese singer and composer Abeer Nehme on Thursday and the “University of Gnawa” music project by Moroccan musician Aziz Sahmaoui, alongside other Moroccan and Senegalese musicians on Friday.

April 7 and 8 respectively at 8 pm, Geneina Theater, Azhar Park, Salah Salem Road, Darassa. Tickets LE50 (excluding park entrance ticket) and it’s advised to buy them early on Tickets Marche.

What we’re excited about this week D-CAF

D-CAF launched last week and while much of its programming is fitted into the third week’s Arab Arts Focus, there’s enough to keep us going. Apart from the art exhibition, sign up to participate in one of the interactive Home Visits by Swiss-German troupe Rimini Protokoll, in which you go to someone’s house, play a sort of board game and eat cake (free). If you’d like to participate in a collective dream experience check out one of the performances by French sound art duo Kristoff K.Roll of In the Shadows of the Waves (LE20), where you recline, close your eyes and let your ears do the sensing. Last but definitely not least, young Egyptian classical composer Bahaa al-Ansary presents four string compositions, the final one of which involves 30 cellos, at 8.30 on April 7 at Falaki Theater (LE30).

D-CAF continues for three weeks. For full program and ticket prices visit the website here, and for our summary of the events and highlights see here.