We saw last week how downtown Cairo was designed along the lines of the Paris of le Baron Haussmann. This part of Cairo has retained its style and flavor over time. However, if we compare the evolution of Cairo to … Continued
It is time now to move to another type of heritage – our architectural heritage, specifically buildings belonging to the nineteenth and twenties centuries. The architectural heritage of Cairo is very much related to that of Paris. After the French … Continued
In the previous two articles, we talked about the legendary singer Om Kalthoum. This week we will talk about someone else at the pinnacle of Egypt’s musical heritage – Mohamed Abdel Wahab- who was dubbed the “Musician of the Generations”. … Continued
As we saw last week, the first publication of the centre for the Documentation of Cultural and Natural Heritage in the field of musical heritage was the works of Om Kalthoum as a book and a CD. The book contains … Continued
They say that the only time the Arabs were united was when Om Kalthoum, the famous Egyptian singer, was around. Born most probably in 1898 in the village of Tamai El-Zahira, el-Daqahliya Governorate, she was a typical country girl who … Continued
Last week, we reviewed the efforts of the 1932 International Conference for Arabic music to come up with a method for the study of our musical Heritage. Recently, the Centre for Documentation of Cultural and Natural Heritage came up with … Continued
Upon the initiative of His Majesty King Fouad I, the first and only international conference on Arabic music was held in 1932. A royal decree was issued for the formation of an organizing committee consisting of nine members headed by … Continued
At the beginning of this series of articles, we explained how the UNESCO divided cultural heritage into the tangible and intangible, with one of the components of the latter being music. In order to gain an overview over Egypt’s musical … Continued
In 1972, UNESCO adopted the “Convention concerning the Protection of the World’s Cultural and Natural Heritage”, and formed the governing body, the World Heritage Center. It also formed the World Heritage Committee, while the member states started to nominate different … Continued
After the successful operation of safeguarding the monuments of Nubia, in particular the two temples of Abu-Simbel, was completed in 1968, UNESCO decided to establish an international convention for the protection of world-class monuments. This convention, known as the ‘Convention … Continued