By Max Martin
The Cabina Cultural Centre in Alexandria is celebrating World Music Day by organising a series of musical events that will last until the end of the week. The festival which started 21 June on the official World Music Day runs the whole week and includes concerts, films, and workshops.
The Cabina Cultural Centre is hosting a forum called ‘2ufuqy’, [Horizontal], which started 21 June and will run until 25 June. The forum includes music related films and workshops as well as music concerts.
Each day begins with a film screening followed by a workshop for the benefit of young artists, concluding with a concert of local bands from Cairo and Alexandria. Ayman Asfour, the director the ‘Mashtal’ Project at the Cabina Centre, helped organized the ‘2ufuqy’ forum and outlined his projects goals, saying “When a band comes to play they interact with the place and the people and a community forms. We try and provide support to bands with an original vision.” He added that World Music Day was a perfect occasion to showcase local talent and to promote the project’s mission.
Cabina is a project by the Gudran Foundation that seeks to promote the arts and social development. Abdallah Daif, Program Manager at the Gudran Foundation, said he hopes that Cabina will become “a label to promote contemporary arts in Egypt, and especially young artists.” He added that his organisation is dedicated to facilitating social change and development by promoting socially conscious, contemporary art.
The Cabina Centre serves as a concert venue as well as a practice space that music groups can rent for EGP 5 per hour. The Centre also contains a library run by the poet Abdel Raheem Youssef, where members can borrow materials and are invited to film screenings and lectures. All shows at The Cabina Cultural Centre are free, as is membership to the library.
The programme for the last two days of ‘2ufuqy‘ is:
Sunday:
5:30 P.M. – Film: “The Doors”
by Oliver Stone, a biography of the band.
8:00 P.M. – The “Puzzle Band” from Cairo followed by “Telepoetic Band” from Alexandria, both play
electronic music.
Monday:
5:30 P.M. – A drum clinic with Amr Galal.
8:00 P.M. – The “Deep Fish Band” play electronic music from Alexandria.
