A full house at Geneina Theater in Al-Azhar Park came together last Thursday to absorb a group of Egyptian and Spanish artists sounding off, defying gravity, and invigorating the rise of the hip hop culture in both countries.
The show was part of the third Mediterranean Urban Culture Gathering, which featured breakdancing performances by the Supremos Crew of Valencia and the EGY Crew of Cairo; hip hop in Spanish, Arabic and English by Arianna Puello (Barcelona), the Arabian Knightz (Cairo), and the Asfalt (Cairo); Parkour (freerunning) by Parkour Egypt (Cairo); and Grafitti (street art) by ZETA (Madrid) and Sameh Ismail (Cairo). Tanoura (Sufi) dancing by Mustafa Sina and Emad Magdy added an extra dose of cultural vintage to several numbers.
The event series was hosted by the Spanish Embassy in Cairo, in cooperation with the Cultural Resource, Townhouse Gallery and the National Fund for Cultural Development. In addition to performances at Geneina, the Townhouse Gallery, and El Balloon Theater, the series offered dance workshops directed by the event’s founder and director, Dani Pannullo.
For the past three years, the Mediterranean Urban Culture Gathering has provided “a platform to show the new artistic expressions that are born in the streets of large cities,” said Ana Alonso Giganto, cultural attaché for the Spanish Embassy in Cairo.
In Giganto’s words, the Spanish and Egyptian artists selected by Pannullo “reflect the motivations and desires of a whole generation of young people whose everyday reality is the urban space.”
“The central aim of this event is to communicate with the young public of Cairo, to convey a message of understanding between [Spanish and Egyptian] cultures and between two young generations who are the future of their countries,” she said.
In addition to promoting cultural exchange between Spanish and Egyptian artists, Karim Adel Eissa of Arabian Knightz and Mohamed Gad Elkarem of Asfalt observed that the festival and other similar initiatives were effective in aiding the spread of the hip hop culture in Egypt, which has boomed in recent years.
“We hope for more occasions like this to make [Egypt’s hip hop scene] grow even more and to give chances for local talent to be a part of something as big and global as this show was,” Elkarem said.
The event will help Egyptian hip hop artists promote their music internationally, showing people from diverse backgrounds and cultures that there is hip hop in Egypt, said Elkarem.
While entertaining across the board, several particularly stand-out acts deserve a special mention.
From an acrobatic opening display in which dancers vaulted above the audience between the theater’s ramparts, to an equally-explosive onstage closing sequence, Parkour Egypt was arguably the most impressive attraction of the evening.
“We are dreaming of performing outside Egypt to prove that we do have talent that needs to be seen by the whole world,” said Parkour Egypt member Tarek Ahmed.
By the looks of it, they are on the right track: This talented troupe left crowd members aghast and shaking their heads over their creativity, fearlessness, and general disdain for the gravitational pull.
Perhaps most striking was the carefree, laid back vibe exuded by the dancers as they jumped, crawled, somersaulted, crab-walked, cartwheeled and backflipped over, under and around each other. The artists traversed not only the stage, but also one’s wildest dreams of the human body’s full capabilities.
The Supremos Crew rocked a furious display of the body- and mind-bending agility and power that makes for great breakdancing. Feet whirling in the air, b-boys (breakdancers) spun and vaulted off of their heads, knees, hands, and backs, snapping into their next move before one could even process the astounding muscle memory needed to execute the move they just completed.
Arianna Puello, the only female artist in the show and a dominating stage presence, put on a brash and flashy display of social and political commentary.
The Arabian Knightz did an outstanding job of mixing intelligent lyrics with souped-up Arabic melodies. forming a concoction that was distinctively Egyptian yet also bursting with universal appeal simultaneously. The energy and the depth of their performance were heightened by the accompaniment of b-boys and Sufi dancers on several songs.
