TRAVELS - in Egypt  - March 2018
An epic trip covering Cairo, Luxor and Abu Simbel.

This trip began in Cairo, with a room overlooking the Nile and the party boats moored by the El Tahrir Bridge.  A visit to the Cairo Opera House and a trip to Mohammed Ali Street to buy a drum were musical interludes in between filming inserts for a future project.  And a trip to the Egyptian Museum revealed a wonderful relief of dancers and drummers that I'd never noticed before.

Cairo is amazing at night. On the last evening before heading south, I had dinner with friends in a restaurant right on the edge of the Nile. It was a cool night and I was glad I brought my shawl. The party boats kept passing us blaring out shaabi music.
Afterwards we went to a hotel for a drink. I noticed people arriving - the women in really beautiful dresses. A wedding.
​I thought my ears were deceiving me - could that really be bagpipes?  Yes - it was - a bagpipe player escorted the bride and groom down the stairs. Then the other musicians started playing, the mizmar cutting through the zagareets and then the drums started.
Mabrouk! Congratulations!

A wedding in Egypt usually features live music - in this case drums, mizmar and .... bagpipes

Then it was a journey to the far south of the country, to Abu Simbel on  the shores of Lake Nasser to explore further the often neglected Nubian culture.   Watch out for much more on this later in the year.

We returned to the wonderful Eskaleh (waterwheel) Nubian Ecolodge which is more than a hotel; the building itself is constructed in the traditional mudbrick style designed to keep cool in  hot temperatures, and the team behind the hotel, led by musician Fikry Kashif and his family, are working to give visitors a chance to experience their heritage and culture.   It is a place of peace and serenity, somewhere to really take time to gaze at the rich ochre desert and blue blue waters of Lake Nasser around you, and wake to a gentle pace of life giving you time to relax into the heat of the air and open your ears to the birdsong and wonderful music coming through the sound system.

And the landscape reflects some of those meditative rhythms we've been doing in the internet drum class.  I shot inserts for both my internet drum and dance classes whilst I was there.

Filming inserts for the drum class

As well as filming I spent time just being .... walking down to the water - watching the red kites coming home for the night - eating delicious salads - and all to the backing track of Nubian music.
​One of the most loved singers is Hamza el Din and if you'd like to hear his delicate but earthy music, you can find CDs on the internet.  A favourite of mine is Eclipse. 
And when we went out walking into the local town, I spotted a mural of him on one of the houses just round the corner from us.  The town is quite small with an amazing amount of parks and a very chilled atmosphere.

I don't quite remember when I realised that Nubian dance and music were special for me.  But on this visit I started to go deeper into my research and worked on a couple of very easy translations on songs which we'll be dancing to over the next year. The Nubian people have their own language, and of course it's the language of their music.  Thank you to the Ecolodge team for their help on this.
Many visitors to this part of Egypt are unaware of the unique identity and richness of the Nubian culture. They come for the temple of Abu Simbel. And it really is spectacular.   Putting it all together - you have a very special place.

Translating some Nubian songs which you'll be singing with me later this year.

Staying at Abu Simbel means you can visit the temple and have it nearly to yourself. It is simpy stunning.

 ​On the final evening in Abu Simbel I was in musical heaven: a boat trip and musical picnic to the other side of Lake Nasser where we drank coffee ground with ginger and cardamom as the music was made around us.   If you'd like to hear it, go to my homepage where you can see the video I shot.

A beautiful friend...

We had to leave the Eskaleh too soon.  But after a fascinating drive watching the landscape change from deep yellow desert to rocky outcrops and finally to the increasingly green farmlands fed by the Nile, passing trucks loaded with camels and trailers heaving with sugar cane, we got to our Gezira Garden home in time for one of their famous parties.  We were entertained by the local stick dancers, a tannoura (dervish) with veil and 2 Bastets welcomed me home.

As usual my workshps in Luxor focussed on the saidi style of Egyptian dance.  I also filmed inserts with drummers Hamada Fathy and Saleh Dahab for the internet dance classes.

Dance in the cool of the morning (Photo - Frances Ottaway)

Hamada Fathy and Saleh Dahab

​I don't usually get a chance to do much other than teach when I have a group with me from the UK.  But on this trip I wanted to get some footage of life in Luxor so as well as going to some of the sights on the West Bank, I also crossed the Nile for a caleche ride.  I'd been recommended a young horse owner who took the welfare of his horse very seriously, and it was wonderful to see how Karim cared for Natalie - a very happy and loving horse.  He also stopped to buy us a fresh sugar cane juice.

The heat started to rise and after a day filming in 35 degree heat, we cooled off with a trip on the Nile at sunset.  The evening was perfect with pastel colours reflecting on still water.  Swallows dived, moorhens paddled away from us and plentiful feluccas and motorboats were evidence of the return of tourists to Luxor.

For fans of saidi music - here is the film I shot of a great mizmar band in El Tod village a few years ago - just in case you've missed it.  El Tod is just behind the banana plantations from Ramla and the Nile.

 
​Then for the final leg of the journey it was back to Cairo and to our hotel,the Sphinx Guesthouse, with the most amazing view of the Pyramids and the Sphinx.  We ate my favourite Egyptian breakfast, fuul and taamiya with aish baladi (mashed beans, falafel and unleavened bread) and watched the pulsating life in the streets below us; camels appeared on the skyline next to the pyramids, horses and caleches constantly clattered past us, groups of schoolchildren got excited as they waited for their tickets and we heard the sight and sound show three times a night.  I'm now singing the theme tune in my head constantly.......

The Cairo traffic is crazy.  But we were in the hands of a good driver,Mohamed, who took us out to the pyramids of Dahshur and Saqqara, south west of Giza.  He claimed he had four eyes (as opposed to eyes in the back of his head) and he certainly needed them. We drove out of the busy street life of Giza, past some affluent areas with large villas and through date palm farmland.  We climbed to the viewing balcony of the Red Pyramid and even the hassle at Saqqara couldn't spoil some of the best reliefs I've ever seen at the Tomb of Ka-Gmni, including a frog hiding in reeds, goats on leads and a wonderful depiction of dancers doing something that looks rather like the can can!

No - I won't be asking you to do this. Although it would be great for core strength....

And on our final evening he drove us to the wonderful Khan el Khalili.  I'm afraid we were too busy shopping to take many photos, but we visited the famous dancewear store Mahmouds and drank my favourite guava juice in Al Azhar Square.  It was a wonderful end to a wonderful trip.

Egyptian fabric often used for folkloric dance costumes. A colourful feast for the eyes.

Big thanks to so many people.
The Eskaleh Nubian Ecolodge, especially Hasan and Shady Kashif.  And Hecham Bata.
The Gezira Garden Hotel, especially Gamal Mahmoud, and all his wonderful team.  To Saad Hassan for artist liaison and to Hamada Fathy and Saleh Dahab for their skill and enthusiasm.
The Sphinx Guest House, especially Shaimaa.  

And finally ... the team who brought you the images and the films you are now seeing and are yet to see.  Big, big thanks to ...

Kate Smith

Frances Ottaway

The connection I have made with Egypt, and the joy it has brought to my life I still consider to be a miracle.  I don't know how it happened but will be forever grateful that it did.

I hope I can communicate here some of what I have learnt, the warmth of the Egyptian people and the vibrant joy of the dance and music.

And hopefully I'll be back at the end of the year to bring you more.

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