Tips from the culture desk: July 26-August 1 in Cairo and Alexandria

After an extended holiday period, people are back to work — and it shows in the cultural happenings in Cairo and Alexandria this week.

Normally, the season doesn’t really get underway until late August, but even at the zenith of this sweltering summer, we already find ourselves torn between intriguing events that have unfortunately been scheduled for the same night. After a month of relative quiet, we're starting to get spoiled for choice again.

Starting Sunday, July 26  - Cairo Opera House Summer Festival

The annual event at the Cairo Opera House open-air theater features concerts by an array of musicians across all genres, from classic to independent to folkloric acts. The second week of the festival kicks off with violinist Hassan Sharara and guitarist Emad Hamdy on Sunday, and internationally celebrated, Grammy-winning Fathy Salama on Monday. On Tuesday evening, songstress Dina El-Wedidi will take the stage, while the rest of the week will see Basata Band (Wednesday), Wave Jazz Band (Friday) and Oshaq al-Nagham Band (Saturday).

All events start at 8 pm at the Cairo Opera House open-air theater in Gezira. Ticket prices vary from LE25-50, and can be purchased at the Cairo Opera House between 10 am and 8 pm. For inquiries, call: (02) 27390188.

Monday, July 27 - Conversation with Iman Mersal at Townhouse

Last year, new Mada Masr contributor Ada Petiwala launched the Townhouse Salons — a deeply engaging series that featured fantastic writers including Nael al-Toukhy, Jehan Bseiso and Haytham al-Wardany. The program allowed for intimate discussions with the haut monde of regional contemporary literature in the very cozy setting of the Townhouse library, complete with cookies and tea.

The second season of the Salons begins on Monday under the new leadership of Sarah Bahgat, and it’s getting off to a highly ambitious start with world-renowned poet (and scholar, and occasional translator) Iman Mersal — a Mansoura native now mostly based in Canada. The open conversation will be moderated by fellow poet and translator of note, Ahmed Shafie. The evening promises to be a potent start to the impending cultural season.

If you don’t know Mersal’s work, take this brilliant example from her excellent A Dark Alley Suitable for Dance Lessons (1995):

RESPECTING MARX

Facing bright storefronts
flourishing with panties
I cannot stop myself
from thinking of Marx.
Respecting Marx
is the only thing all those who loved me shared
and I have allowed them all, in varying degrees,
to claw at the cotton dolls
hidden in my body.
Marx,
Karl Marx,
I will never forgive him.

The conversation will be in Arabic, and starts on Monday, July 27, at 6:30 pm in the Townhouse Library (2nd floor of the main building), 10 Nabrawy Street off Champollion Street, downtown Cairo. Event is free.

Monday, July 27 - Panel on Ramlet Bulaq at Megawra

Megawra has come back from Ramadan with a busy summer schedule at its (relatively) new premises in Khalifa. On Monday, the architectural hub is hosting a panel discussion looking at the hotly contested area of Ramlet Bulaq, which proposes to trace the history of the informal neighborhood and offer potential scenarios for its future.

The densely populated area occupies prime Nile-proximate real estate, and its residents have been pitted in a fierce battle against developers and government officials (the neighborhood was a key zone in the Mubarak-era Cairo 2050 plan) for years. This history has elevated Ramlet Bulaq to an almost symbolic site in some ways — the neighborhood has captured the attention of journalists, activists, photographers, artists and filmmakers fascinated by how it functions as a nexus for issues of social justice, urban development, the right to public space, and now, with the shimmering Nile Towers in the backdrop, the visual schizophrenia of fast-growing megalopolises in the so-called “developing” world.

This panel seems to offer a thoughtful and more scholarly approach to considering this neighborhood than many of the articles and obligatory photo essays that litter the internet.

Photo by Mahmoud Khaled, from 'The fight for Ramlet Bulaq'​

On a related note, for those who can’t get enough of discussions on urban development, on Wednesday Megawra is also hosting a talk by Hassan El Mouelhi on Cairo’s informal settlements.

“Ramlet Bulaq: Scenarios of Urban and Social Transformations,” panel discussion in Arabic, Monday July 27, 6 pm. Free entrance. Megawra al-Khalifa (Khalifa Community Center), opposite Saiyyda Ruqayya Mausoleum, beside Sajar al-Durr Dome, Ashraf Street, Khalifa (Google map with directions here). Contact: [email protected]

Starting Thursday, July 30 - Bibliotheca Alexandrina Summer Festival

This weekend, a month and a half of summer festivities begins in the open-air plaza at the Bibliotheca Alexandrina, bringing a variety of musical events and performance art to the coastal city through the beginning of September. On Thursday, beloved Egyptian pop singer Angham will perform at the opening ceremony, while on Friday, independent Cairene band Black Thema perform their blend of hip-hop, R&B and reggae. Saturday brings the Bibliotheca Alexandrina Orchestra, under the direction of violinist and conductor Khaled El-Showeikh.

All events start at 8.30 pm on Thursday, Friday and Saturday at the Bibliotheca’s open-air theater. Angham’s concert tickets go for LE200 seated and LE150 standing; Black Thema tickets cost LE50; Bibliotheca Alexandrina Orchestra tickets go for LE20.