Culture Minister Plays Flute alongside Cairo Steps

By: Nour El Houda Fouad

CAIRO, Dec. 20 (SEE)- Egyptian-German jazz ensemble Cairo Steps ignited the main hall of the Egyptian Opera House with surprise participation of the Minister of Culture Enas Abdel Dayem on flute.

Cairo Steps blends traditional Egyptian and oriental grooves with modern jazz improvisation. Influenced by spiritual ethnic music and the traditional European one, the ensemble shifts between unison rhythms, virtuoso solos, and meditative soundscapes creating a unique harmonious sequence.

Abdel-Dayem surprised the audience with a magnificent performance, in which she performed three operetta songs including "Siwa" as well as the "dance du Nil", in which the Opera House Ballet group participated in a dance show expressing the greatness of the Nile River.

The Nubian song "Nubi" was conducted using guitar, saxophone, drums along with flute and oud.

The ensemble doesn't rely only on musical persity but, they convey a spiritual state through the use of paintings and lighting visual effects.

The distribution of melodies depends on mixing cultures through the blending of traditional instruments with western ones in an evident competition between the oud and the guitar, the piano and the accordion with the overlapping of the Qanun and the drums.

A video playback displaying the beauty of the governorate and its perse culture was presented during the concert besides the song Alexandria.

Sketches of the artist Osama Bushra were also represented along with the "Holy of Holies," exposing ​​the struggle between good and evil. Egyptian pianist Rami Atallah performed the operetta's new distribution. Atallah is the grandson of the Egyptian jazz superstar Habib Haneen.

Egyptian guitarist Osso Lotfi, known for his contributions for superstars like Amr Diab and Mohammed Mounir, also performed in the concert.

The ensemble toured as many as 22 countries performing their unique Sufi jazz genre.

They released five albums including Silk Road in 2004, Oud lounge in 2007, Arabiskan in 2014, Gnossienne No. 1, and the Flying Carpet in 2017, which won the German Jazz Awards that year.

Last November, Cairo Steps performed in the World Youth Forum in front of President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi in the Red Sea resort of Sharm el-Sheikh, and also conducted concerts in Frankfurt Opera and Elbphilharmonie Hamburg and Berliner Philharmoniker.

German pianist Matthias Frey and Egyptian and oudist Basem Darwisch Founded Cairo Steps in 2002. The ensemble's pianist and conductor is Sebastian Müller-Schrobsdorff.

Translator: Taarek Refaat