Art

'Metaphysics': One man’s enduring passion for painting

  Birds, horses, fish and unclothed, amorphous male and female bodies are common motifs Ahmed Morsi's solo exhibit, "Metaphysics" shown at Gallery Misr.
13 Feb 2013
At a commercial gallery in Zamalek, there is currently an exhibition of work by an Egyptian painter and writer who lives in New York. It consists of about two dozen pictures ranging date-wise from the early 1950s to 2012. The artist is...
Yes

Egyptian Project debuts with their electronic-folk album 'Ya Amar'

12 Feb 2013
“Our folkloric instruments are dying,” says 61-year old, Egyptian musician Salama Metwally as he tunes his favorite rababa. He is wearing his traditional ensemble; a black kaftan overtop a gallebaya with his head wrapped in a...
Yes

Amid increasing censorship, Georges Bahgory reflects on bygone artistic era

06 Feb 2013
“I feel like I am one of the last remaining people of an Egypt that will soon be dead forever,” says the 80-year old visual artist Georges Bahgory from his studio as he looks down upon the crowded and loud Marouf Street in...
Yes

Popular singer Mohamed al-Ezaby dies at 74

06 Feb 2013
Popular singer Mohamed al-Ezaby died on Wednesday morning after being rushed to a Mohandiseen hospital. The 74-year-old suffered from unspecified health problems. Ezaby, who sang several famous songs such as “Luxor baladna balad...
Yes

Fact box: Shortest-living culture ministers since the 25 January revolution

Group of intellectuals and artists staging protest, Culture Ministry, Cairo, 27 February, 2011. Protesters chanted and played music during protests against caretaker culture minister Mohamed al-Sawi, describing him as traditional businessman who is not the one for the post. They also described his appointment as an underestimation of Egypt's intellectuals.
05 Feb 2013
Culture Minister Mohamed Saber Arab is the fifth Culture Minister to submit his resignation in the two years since the revolution began in January 2011. In contrast, during former President Hosni Mubarak's three decades in power, only...
Yes

Culture Minister Saber Arab resigns, citing ongoing violence

05 Feb 2013
Culture Minister Saber Arab submitted his resignation to the Cabinet on Monday in protest of the violence that erupted across the country since the second anniversary of the 25 January revolution, an informed source from the Culture...
Yes

The Nile Project debuts with a cross-cultural bang

Sudanese born singer, songwriter and ethnomusicologist Alsarah performs at The Nile Project concert at Al-Azhar Park.
03 Feb 2013
“My southerners, my southerners,” sang Egyptian musician Dina El Wedidi during the closing set of The Nile Project's concert in Al Azhar Park Thursday evening. The song — an ode to her southern neighbors along the...
Yes

Foundation uses dance, theatre and singing to open up young minds

31 Jan 2013
For many people in Egypt, art is considered a luxury — a hobby for rich folk rather than an advisable or respectable career path. Sadly, due to years of institutionalized negligence mixed with staggering poverty, the role of art in...
Yes

Bands to watch: Kay Nassef

30 Jan 2013
Although 29-year-old Khaled “Kay” Nassef only began his professional music career a few short years ago and, to date, has just a handful of songs available online, he has found a niche on the global stage. “It’s all...
Yes

A retrospective of the artist and martyr does not explain Ahmed Basiony

28 Jan 2013
I barely knew Ahmed Basiony in person. I only got to meet him casually at exhibition openings around downtown or ran into him on the side street leading up to the Townhouse Gallery. I did hear much about his artistic experiments, though,...
Yes

Our Recommendations