Austrian band Fatima and The Freedom Fries delivered a rousing performance at the Sariyat El Gabal stage in the Salah Eddin Citadel on the opening day of the 17th Music and Singing Festival.
The Citadel s beauty really comes out at night and the long walk from the Citadel entrance to the stage allows one to enjoy it. Something about its mixture of dark stone corridors, soft lighting, and quiet atmosphere makes you feel like you ve left Cairo for another time and place. Of course, the ambassadors and VIPs present, who took the choice parking spots next to the concert, drove through in their limousines.
Singing in English, Austrian, and what sounded like Turkish, Fatima mostly sang a mix of swing and jazz tunes. Fusion was the word of the night – the band members hailed from various European countries while Fatima s origins are Turkish. The music was also mix between famous American swing tunes, a Yiddish song Joseph Joseph, Austrian and Turkish melodies, and original compositions in English, Turkish and Austrian.
For large segments of each song, Fatima simply danced to the music while the band took the lead. This was most amusing at moments when the music was not exactly suitable for dancing and Fatima was forced to make do.
The most interesting moment of the concert came at the end, during Dubya, a song about American President George W. Bush – the players went all out after saying the president s name. The trumpet player jammed a trumpet and a horn in his mouth, the saxophone player belted out his best and the accordion and drums followed suit. The result was a cacophony, clearly intended to symbolize Mr. Bush. Unfortunately, members of the crowd who did not speak English were confused and protected their ears from the dissonant wave of sound.
Dubya itself was an interesting allegorical political piece. You should really check out the lyrics, Fatima said. And the lyrics were certainly working on a deep metaphorical level, deeper than this reviewer was able to follow. The song was nice and the chorus line dubya dubya dubya dubya was catchy. The aforementioned dissonance following the invocation of Mr. Bush s name was rousing, to say the least.
Another tense moment occurred when Fatima announced that they were playing Yiddish song Joseph Joseph. She introduced it as, Joseph Joseph, a Yiddish song, a Jewish song she emphasized. There was no reaction from the crowd, but the introduction was quite off-putting.
The most moving piece actually came at the encore. Entitled Radio Kabul, the highly poetic lyrics about war in Afghanistan were quite touching. The song brought the band and the singer together perfectly, drawing the most enthusiastic reaction from the crowd.
The 17th Music and Singing Festival is taking place at the Salah Eddins Citadel from August 10 to August 25. For only LE 2, you can see four or more acts every day on the four stages.
