A folkloric night
Humongous Wael is first and foremost a friend… he is also a subordinate at my work place… but I reiterate, he is first and foremost a friend.
And not because he takes a good care of me, and is extra-affectionate towards me. But because there is a streak of absolute innocence in him, almost child-like… that would refrain us from thinking anything otherwise for him. And who can be a better friend than an unbridled child?
So yesterday when I received a call from him telling me about the Reda folkloric troupe performing in Balloony Theatre in Agouza… I could not help thanking him and telling him to find about a Baladi Hammam (going to an Egyptian bath is one of my last wishes). He promised that he will find it for me.
Folklore, according to Wikipedia, is the body of expressive culture, including tales, music, dance, legends, oral history, proverbs, jokes, popular beliefs, customs, and so forth within a particular population comprising the traditions (including oral traditions) of that culture, subculture, or group. And if that is the case… then I must attend this show, I said to myself.
Reda Folkloric group is one of the most accomplished folkloric groups of Egypt. Wael professed by their excellence. This group has been formed by the great artist Mahmoud Reda. It has performed in many countries and has won a lot of national and international acclaim.
Balloony seems to be a rather funny name for a theatre… the name actually is Balloon theatre… and one look at it and I knew why it is called so. The theatre is in a shape of hemisphere and thus comes the name Balloon. It houses the National Folklore Troupe that has teamed with Reda's troupe to produce a two-hour extravaganza at the Balloon Theatre.
I placed an offer before Amit and Brahma, my colleagues to accompany me at the show… Brahma responded positively, albeit a bit skeptically.
We walked down to Agouza from our residence… it takes hardly 10 minutes to reach the Balloony Theatre from my residence. A couple of yards away from the Balloony theatre is the Egypt's National Circus… I have been here… kitschy, but not tasteless, it can be a wonderful evening for kids. Pity that I couldn’t take my son to the circus.
A kilometer away from the theatre is Neima Fast Food Joint. I had accidentally discovered it, a fortnight ago. It is an absolute gem… and if one wants to taste the best of Egyptian ready to eat cuisine… the Fuul and Tammaiyya and Koshri… I bet that there cannot be a better place than Neima. Pity that not many are aware of the joint, and go on believing that Felfela and Gad is the best on offer. So if you are really serious about tasting Egyptian take away food at its best… head for Neima.
Tickets worth 10, 20, 30, and 40 Egyptian Pound were available for the show. We decided to buy a 20 Pound ticket… arguing that the show might not be what we expect… and therefore minimize our risks. Towards the end, we discovered that it was worth even more than 40 Pounds (if only there was someway of sitting nearest to the performing artists… and have an eyeful of beautiful dancer girls)
During the interval of the show we met an Egyptian gentleman… he teaches in Helwan University… has been in the US for five years. He told us some fine pointers about the Egyptian folklore… like that the first item presented during the program on Luxor was actually from a film of 50s and had assumed iconic proportions in Egypt. It was a pleasure meeting him.
The program started with an item on Luxor… the singer sang a melodious song… and though I have studied Arabic for last two years… yet I could make only a few words here and there. His voice was coupled by a wonderful live orchestra. It was pleasure to hear a live orchestra.
The art of live orchestra is dying at an alarming rate in India. It is being replaced by a ubiquitous Keyboard that can imitate all the sounds and play more than 100 tracks at a time… of course it reduces the human labour… but does it make the music more melodious. I have my doubts… the sound of original instruments have a fallibility, of going astray at times… this fallibility is desirable- for it reminds that humans are playing it…. If it were not to be so… then the human element would have gone missing. After all what are musicians… humans who play those instrument… and not robots who robotically follow the fed musical notes. And what is music… but an expression of human emotions that can be improvised and altered at the last moment… unlike those sacrosanct notes that robots follow.
And with every item that followed the colours became brighter… costumes of the female dancers became… ahem, skimpy & a sight to watch and the music became faster… we waited with abated breath for the next item… time flew at a furious pace…
And then there was a magical Tanoura dance… it is an Egyptian Sufi dance patterned on the lines of Whirling dervishes of Turkey… and even though I have seen them performing many a times… the more I see it, the more I want to see it.
By the time the program ended it was 11:30 pm… two hours of pure entertainment. What else we could have asked for… we entered the hall with skepticism and exited as die hard fans… vowing to return again and cursing ourselves for not bringing a camera to take good photographs of the proceedings.
In midst of the program… I called up Wael and thanked him for informing me about this wonderful place and program. Thanks Wael.
And not because he takes a good care of me, and is extra-affectionate towards me. But because there is a streak of absolute innocence in him, almost child-like… that would refrain us from thinking anything otherwise for him. And who can be a better friend than an unbridled child?
So yesterday when I received a call from him telling me about the Reda folkloric troupe performing in Balloony Theatre in Agouza… I could not help thanking him and telling him to find about a Baladi Hammam (going to an Egyptian bath is one of my last wishes). He promised that he will find it for me.
Folklore, according to Wikipedia, is the body of expressive culture, including tales, music, dance, legends, oral history, proverbs, jokes, popular beliefs, customs, and so forth within a particular population comprising the traditions (including oral traditions) of that culture, subculture, or group. And if that is the case… then I must attend this show, I said to myself.
Reda Folkloric group is one of the most accomplished folkloric groups of Egypt. Wael professed by their excellence. This group has been formed by the great artist Mahmoud Reda. It has performed in many countries and has won a lot of national and international acclaim.
Balloony seems to be a rather funny name for a theatre… the name actually is Balloon theatre… and one look at it and I knew why it is called so. The theatre is in a shape of hemisphere and thus comes the name Balloon. It houses the National Folklore Troupe that has teamed with Reda's troupe to produce a two-hour extravaganza at the Balloon Theatre.
I placed an offer before Amit and Brahma, my colleagues to accompany me at the show… Brahma responded positively, albeit a bit skeptically.
We walked down to Agouza from our residence… it takes hardly 10 minutes to reach the Balloony Theatre from my residence. A couple of yards away from the Balloony theatre is the Egypt's National Circus… I have been here… kitschy, but not tasteless, it can be a wonderful evening for kids. Pity that I couldn’t take my son to the circus.
A kilometer away from the theatre is Neima Fast Food Joint. I had accidentally discovered it, a fortnight ago. It is an absolute gem… and if one wants to taste the best of Egyptian ready to eat cuisine… the Fuul and Tammaiyya and Koshri… I bet that there cannot be a better place than Neima. Pity that not many are aware of the joint, and go on believing that Felfela and Gad is the best on offer. So if you are really serious about tasting Egyptian take away food at its best… head for Neima.
Tickets worth 10, 20, 30, and 40 Egyptian Pound were available for the show. We decided to buy a 20 Pound ticket… arguing that the show might not be what we expect… and therefore minimize our risks. Towards the end, we discovered that it was worth even more than 40 Pounds (if only there was someway of sitting nearest to the performing artists… and have an eyeful of beautiful dancer girls)
During the interval of the show we met an Egyptian gentleman… he teaches in Helwan University… has been in the US for five years. He told us some fine pointers about the Egyptian folklore… like that the first item presented during the program on Luxor was actually from a film of 50s and had assumed iconic proportions in Egypt. It was a pleasure meeting him.
The program started with an item on Luxor… the singer sang a melodious song… and though I have studied Arabic for last two years… yet I could make only a few words here and there. His voice was coupled by a wonderful live orchestra. It was pleasure to hear a live orchestra.
The art of live orchestra is dying at an alarming rate in India. It is being replaced by a ubiquitous Keyboard that can imitate all the sounds and play more than 100 tracks at a time… of course it reduces the human labour… but does it make the music more melodious. I have my doubts… the sound of original instruments have a fallibility, of going astray at times… this fallibility is desirable- for it reminds that humans are playing it…. If it were not to be so… then the human element would have gone missing. After all what are musicians… humans who play those instrument… and not robots who robotically follow the fed musical notes. And what is music… but an expression of human emotions that can be improvised and altered at the last moment… unlike those sacrosanct notes that robots follow.
And with every item that followed the colours became brighter… costumes of the female dancers became… ahem, skimpy & a sight to watch and the music became faster… we waited with abated breath for the next item… time flew at a furious pace…
And then there was a magical Tanoura dance… it is an Egyptian Sufi dance patterned on the lines of Whirling dervishes of Turkey… and even though I have seen them performing many a times… the more I see it, the more I want to see it.
By the time the program ended it was 11:30 pm… two hours of pure entertainment. What else we could have asked for… we entered the hall with skepticism and exited as die hard fans… vowing to return again and cursing ourselves for not bringing a camera to take good photographs of the proceedings.
In midst of the program… I called up Wael and thanked him for informing me about this wonderful place and program. Thanks Wael.
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