Tag: Egyptian Records

EGYPT & ARAB: Heritage of 12 Arab countries on show at the 1st Bayt Al-Arab Fair (House of the Arabs) 2023 in Cairo

The first Arab exhibition for productive families, Bayt Al-Arab (House of the Arabs) opened in Cairo in the presence of Ahmed Aboul Gheit, the Arab League secretary-general, and several Egyptian and Arab officials, including a high-ranking Saudi delegation.

The products at the exhibition reflect the identity of the 12 participating Arab countries.

It offers an important opportunity to learn about the richness of the cultures of these countries in craftwork and handicrafts in order to protect these industries from extinction.

The number of participants featuring at the exhibition is about 150, of which 70 are Egyptian and 80 from other Arab countries.

The exhibition, which continues until Jan. 11, opens areas for the exchange of expertise between craftsmen, producers and exhibitors. 

Saeed Al-Zahrani, head of the Saudi delegation, shared with the audience at the opening ceremony a number of success stories, and said the participation of the Social Development Bank aimed at supporting and empowering micro-enterprises for family businesses, which are considered a fundamental pillar of the Kingdom’s Vision 2030.

At the Saudi pavilion, visitors were drawn to the heritage products of various regions of the Kingdom, such as Al-Sadu weaving, Al-Qat Al-Asiri, and the manufacture of Al-Masleh, in addition to the products of many Saudi family businesses displayed within the Tagseed (incarnation) initiative, which is marketed for home projects in all international and local exhibitions. 

Nevin Al-Kilani, Egypt’s culture minister, said that the participation of dozens of families from Egypt and the Arab world was “the best evidence of Egypt’s keenness to support heritage both locally and regionally.”

Raef Al-Khouli, an official involved in the organization of the exhibition, told Arab News: “The Arab House exhibition in the Dome Palace is a wonderful opportunity to visit because there are many handicrafts from all Arab countries, which are sold at very reasonable prices, because all who are present are the owners of the profession or craft, and are not merchants.” 

At the entrance, Al-Khouli said, visitors can register their names and phone numbers, and will receive entry for free, taking a dedicated bus to the exhibition venue.

Al-Khouli added: “At the Saudi pavilion there is a wonderful medal that the visitors can buy. It is a commemorative medal for the door of the Kaaba and the door of the Prophet’s Mosque.

“On the sidelines, there is a large theater and artistic performances are held in it throughout the day,” Al-Khouli said, adding that visiting families could bring children as well, because there is a play area and many drawing and coloring activities.

source/content: arabnews.com (headline edited)

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The first Arab exhibition for productive families, which continues in Egyptian capital Cairo until Jan. 11, opens areas for the exchange of expertise between craftsmen, producers and exhibitors. (Supplied)

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EGYPT & ARAB NATIONS

EGYPTIAN Mezzo Soprano Farrah El-Dibany Performs French Anthem in FIFA World Cup Qatar 2022 Final – December 18th

Egyptian mezzo soprano Farrah El-Dibany has performed La Marseillaise the French national anthem, in the beginning of the final FIFA World Cup match against Argentine in Doha, Qatar on Sunday.

Farrah El-Dibany has sang during the re-election of Emmanuel Macron on April 24.

She was awarded France’s Ordre des Arts et des Lettres in the grade of Chevalier (Knight) by France’s Ambassador to Cairo Marc Baréty during an official ceremony in April.

Born in Alexandria in 1989, El-Dibany is one of the well-known Egyptian singers of her generation, establishing herself on an international scale in a short time.

Read more about Farrah  El-Dibany here.

source/content: english.ahram.org.eg (headline edited)

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EGYPT enlists ‘Journey of the Holy Family Festivals’ on UNESCO List of Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity

“Festivities and celebrations affiliated with the Journey of the Holy Family in Egypt are now on UNESCO’s Representative List of Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity,” professor Nahla Imam, heritage consultant at the Egyptian Ministry of Culture and country representative of Egypt at the 2003 Convention of Safeguarding the Intangible Heritage of UNESCO, told Ahram Online on Wednesday.

Imam credited the move to the efforts of the Egyptian ministries of culture and foreign affairs, adding that Egypt’s efforts were almost unanimously supported by UNESCO’s Inter-Governmental Committee.

This is the seventh intangible cultural heritage element that Egypt enlists in UNESCO. Prior to the Journey of the Holy Family, the Egyptian manual-textile industry in Upper Egypt was put on the UNESCO List of Intangible Cultural Heritage Sites in Need of Urgent Preservation.

Egypt first enlisted El-Sirah El-Helalya (The Epic of Beni Helal) in 2008, Tahteeb (Stick Art) in 2016, the Aragouz Puppet in 2018, and the knowledge and traditions affiliated with palm trees in 2019.

According to the accounts of historians, the Holy Family spent around four years in Egypt.

Their trip started in the Sinai at Al-Farma, on the border with Gaza, where they arrived after fleeing Jerusalem. Their trip ended in Durnaka, Assiut, venue of the famous Monastery where the feast of Virgin Mary is celebrated in August each year. ​

source/content: english.ahram.org.eg (headline edited)

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EGYPT: 15th November: Google Doodle Celebrates Iconic Egyptian Scientist, TV Presenter Hamed Gohar

Google search engine celebrated the late Hamed Gohar’s 115th birth anniversary on 15 November with a Google Doodle.

The Egyptian scientist, marine biologist and TV host, Gohar is considered the founding father of oceanography in Egypt and the Arab world.

Born on 15 November 1907, he studied medicine at Cairo University in 1925 before shifting to biology. He then received his master’s degree in oceanography from Cambridge University in 1931.

The note under the doodle adds that “Gohar discovered that dugong, a sea mammal that was thought to be extinct in the region, still existed in the Red Sea. He continued studying underwater life for 25 years at the Hurghada marine biological station.”

He worked with the Arabic Language Academy to create scientific dictionaries in Arabic and served as an adviser to the United Nations’ Secretary General and helped organize the first International Conference on Law of the Sea in Geneva.

The general public knows Gohar for his educational show called “The Sea World” which he hosted on national television for 18 years. The programme highlighted underwater scenery and natural sea life, bringing the viewers closer to marine biology.

Gohar died on 17 June 1992 at the age of 84.

source/content: english.ahram.org.eg (headline edited)

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EGYPT : The Digital Archive Preserving the Fading Art of Egyptian Typography

Two graphic designers decided to share their most inspirational street finds with everyone on the internet – and launched an online platform to let everyone else share as well.

In Egypt, where there are streets and roads and passageways, there are signs and posters and billboards dating back decades and even centuries, each reflecting their own era of styles, tastes and contexts. It’s a beautiful mess of typography that often gets lost with time, and the Egyptian Type Archive was born to capture and encapsulate it for good.

The founders, Toka Assal and Abdo Mohamed, met online and bonded over their shared interest in street typography, drawing inspiration from their travels to cities across Egypt, from Aswan to Minya and Port Said. As graphic designers and type artists, they decided to share their most inspirational street finds with everyone on the internet – and launched an online platform to let everyone else share as well.

“When we started we didn’t even have a logo, we just used a picture I took of some text on a microbus that said ‘Semsem’ and ‘Semsema’,” Mohamed tells CairoScene. “We found out later that those were the names of the bus owners, a brother and sister. Although we know it’s not professionally designed, the text really looked like it was. But now everything is digital and fast-paced, so we’re losing the artistry and craftsmanship of typography and calligraphy.”

Exclusively focused on Arabic street typography in Egypt, the Egyptian Type Archive has amassed a loyal community on Instagram. They collectively document any text they stumble upon, from the quirky to the horrific to the beautiful, whether it’s an ancient sign on a vintage shop or an announcement sprayed on the walls of a local cafe.

“My favourite finds are food carts, their typography has a very distinct style embodying the essence of street art,” Asal shares. “It’s also very instinctual with the text written tackling hasad or rizq.” Here Asal refers to written prayers or phrases traditionally used to ward off the evil eye, or invite God’s blessing – a visual manifestation of deeply held beliefs and spirituality.

Mohamed and Asal’s view on what constitutes art or on the nature of street typography questions notions of ‘professionalism’, where they treat every sign and piece as a story on its own. Initially, they wanted to document the names of the calligraphers until they found that – more often than not – the text is created by commission, so the artists don’t normally sign their names under their work.

Although strangers in the street often regard them with confusion when they see them taking pictures of manhole covers or old movie posters, the founders believe their documentation serves a purpose to typographers, designers, and Egyptians at large. Through their work, and the work of their burgeoning community, they preserve a dying visual culture and ensure it survives to the next generation of Egyptian creators.

source/content: cairoscene.com (headline edited)

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EGYPT: World’s Oldest Star Map Has Been Found in St. Catherine’s Monastery, South Sinai

A fragment of the legendary star map by ancient Greek astronomer Hipparchus has been uncovered in St. Catherine’s Monastery.

Within the library of St. Catherine’s Monastery in South Sinai – the oldest continuously-running Christian monastery in the world – researchers have uncovered a fragment of history’s oldest complete star map, penned by ancient Greek astronomer and mathematician Hipparchus.

Hipparchus is considered to be the greatest astronomer in ancient Greece, and so researchers had been searching for his catalogue of stars for centuries. The manuscript in St. Catherine’s Monastery appeared to be something completely different; the pages contained a collection of 10th or 11th century Syriac text called the Codex Climaci Rescriptus. But as it turned out, it wasn’t just that – the pages were a palimpsest, or a parchment in which previous text was wiped clean so that it can be reused.

But much like scribbling your pencil over recently erased writing, it was possible to discover what was erased from a palimpsest. Researchers from the University of Cambridge, the University of Rochester in New York, the Early Manuscripts Electronic Library in Rolling Hills Estates, California and the French national scientific research centre CNRS in Paris worked together to find layers of writing that had been wiped away. Amongst them were the coordinates for the constellation Corona Borealis, and by comparing these precise coordinates with how the night sky would have been arranged in antiquity, the researchers found that the coordinates would have been made in 129 BC – right when Hipparchus was making his revolutionary cosmic calculations.

An excerpt of the discovered document was recently published in the Journal for the History of Astronomy, and is available online.

source/content: cairoscene.com (headline edited)

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SYRIA: ‘Exodus’ starring Kinda Alloush Wins Award at the 79th Venice International Film Festival

Winner of the Audience Award at Venice Film Festival’s Orizzonti Extra Section, ‘Nezouh’ follows a Syrian family on the verge of becoming refugees.

Syrian film ‘Nezouh’ starring Kinda Alloush and Samer Al Masri, and directed by Syrian filmmaker Soudade Kaadan, won the Audience Award at Venice Film Festival’s Orizzonti Extra Section, supported by Armani Beauty. This is Kaadan’s second win at the festival after ‘The Day I Lost My Shadow’ (2018), her first feature-length film and the winner of Best Debut Film.

The film stars the Cairo-based Syrian actress Alloush,  known for her roles in Egyptian and Syrian dramas. She was first introduced to Egyptian audiences in 2009 with her role in ‘Welad El A’am’ and has since starred in multiple films and series including ‘El Maslaha’ (2012), and ‘El Asliyyin (2017). She’s also part of the cast of ‘The Swimmers’ (2022) which debuted at Toronto Film Festival.

‘Nezouh’ is set in war-torn Damascus and tells the story of a Syrian family at a crossroads choosing between fleeing or clinging on to their home. The father, played by Samer Al Masri, refuses to become a refugee while his fourteen-year-old daughter yearns for freedom. The film is inspired by the filmmaker’s personal journey away from Damascus and the effect of the conflict on Syrian women’s social reality.

source/content: cairoscene.com (headline edited)

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EGYPT: Construction of the Egypt’s First Reactor at El-Dabaa Nuclear Power Plant, Marsa Matrouh Governorate Begins

The plant is located in the northwestern governorate of Marsa Matrouh. 

Minister of Electricity and Renewable Energy Mohamed Shaker and General Director of Russia’s State Atomic Energy Corporation (ROSATOM) Alexei Likhachev attended the ceremony at the plant, giving the green light to start the construction works.

Shaker said that El-Dabaa’s reactors comply with the International Atomic Energy Agency’s (IAEA) safety measurements. They can endure earthquakes and airplane crashes, he noted, adding that the reactor’s operating span may extend to 60 years.

“Building El-Dabaa NPP allows Egypt the chance to achieve a new level of industry and technology. This will be the biggest project between Russia and Egypt since establishing the High Dam project in Aswan. It has been a dream of Egyptians to acquire nuclear energy for more than half a century. ROSATOM is honoured to fulfil it,” the Twitter account of the Russian Embassy in Egypt quoted Likhachev as saying at the ceremony.

The event was attended by Osama Asran, the deputy minister of electricity and renewable energy, CEO of the Egyptian Electricity Holding Company (EEHC) Gaber Desouky, Advisor to the Minister of Electricity Amgad Said, a delegation of senior officials from Russian companies implementing the project, as well as Amgad El-Wakil, the chairman of the NPPA, which organised the event.

El-Wakil told Al-Ahram Arabic news website on Wednesday that El-Dabaa is located on the Mediterranean, 140 kilometres west of Alexandria.

He noted that funding for the project is based on a governmental financial agreement. Loans will be acquired after operating the plant and collecting revenues from electricity generation. 

El-Wakil said the project is expected to generate net revenues of $264 billion for the state treasury over 60 years.

In December 2017, President Abdel-Fattah El-Sisi and Russian President Vladimir Putin  signed an agreement in Cairo to initiate work on the plant at a construction cost of $28.75 billion.

Russia will finance 85 percent of the cost with a loan of $25 billion, while Egypt will provide the remaining 15 percent in the form of installments. The Russian loan is repaid over 22 years, with an annual interest of three percent.

On 30 June 2022, the Egyptian Nuclear and Radiological Regulatory Authority (ENRRA) permitted ROSATOM to start the construction work on El-Dabaa project, which Egypt and Russia signed an agreement to build in November 2015 to generate a total of 4,800 megawatts via four reactors.

Earlier in June, ROSATOM announced that it started the manufacture in Saint Petersburg of electrical components for the plant’s reactor vessel, according to Sputnik news agency.

ROSATOM had submitted a request to establish the first two reactors out of four reactors in January 2019, and received the permission in June 2021, after safety measures were checked and qualified workers and means of conducting safety tests were available.

El-Dabaa NPP is designed according to the latest 3+ Generation which is fully compliant with all post-Fukushima requirements of the International Atomic Energy Agency.

ROSATOM had previously announced that 40% of the cost of Dabaa nuclear power plant is allocated for safety measures.

The four units of the plant are expected to operate at full capacity of 4,800 megawatts by 2030, with the first reactor operating at a capacity of 1,200 Megawatts at the first phase, said El-Wakil.

According to the project’s design, the nuclear plant will have four VVER-1,200 reactor units, with the first unit scheduled for operation in 2026.

In November 2021, Egypt signed a long-term $1 million agreement with the Czech ÚJV Rež Research and Development company to consult on El-Dabaa Nuclear Plant, according to ENRRA Chairperson Sami Shaaban.

According to the contract, ÚJV Rež will provide technical assistance to the ENRRA in licensing the nuclear plant.

source/content: english.ahram.org.eg (headline edited)

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A scene of pouring concrete of the building the 1st reactor of El-Dabaa Nuclear Power Plant on July 20. (Photo courtesy of the official Twitter account of the Russian Embassy in Egypt)

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EGYPT: Among the Most Powerful CEOs of 2022 – Forbes Highlights Hisham Talaat Moustafa, CEO & MD of the Talaat Moustafa Group

Forbes Middle East has announced its annual list of the 100 Most Powerful CEOs in the Middle East for 2022.

 The American magazine confirmed the status of businessman Hisham Talaat Moustafa, CEO and Managing Director of Talaat Moustafa Holding Group, who ranked 61st, up 6 places from last year’s ranking.

 Forbes Middle East magazine said that Hisham Talaat Moustafa is the youngest son of the founder of the Talaat Moustafa Group, which is currently the largest listed real estate company in Egypt.

 The magazine stated that the assets of Talaat Moustafa Company amounted to 7.5 billion dollars in 2021, while the group owns a portfolio of land with an area of 74 million square meters.

   The group’s revenues amounted to 825 million dollars last year, while the company developed more than 33 million square meters of land, and sold more than 90 thousand housing units.

 Forbes reported that the Talaat Moustafa Group recently launched giant projects, including: Privado – Madinaty, Celia and Noor City.

 The magazine said that the group has extensive investments in the hospitality sector, including: Four Seasons Resort Sharm El Sheikh, Four Seasons Nile Plaza, Four Seasons San Stefano Alexandria, and Kempinski Nile  Cairo.

 About the methodology used in the classification, Forbes indicated that its methodology in preparing the list was based on collecting information from financial market disclosures, industry reports, annual reports of companies, financial statements, and other primary sources.

 As for the classification of CEOs, it is based on several factors: the influence of the CEO and the company on society and the country, the markets they supervise, the CEO’s experience in his current position, as well as his general experience.

 Forbes indicated that the factors affecting the evaluation include: the size of the company in terms of revenues, assets, market value, the CEO’s achievements and performance in the past year, the innovations and initiatives he implemented.

 This year, Forbes magazine’s list of the most powerful CEOs in the Middle East includes 100 business leaders from 26 different nationalities, led by the Emiratis with 19 CEOs, followed by the Egyptians with 16 leaders, and the Saudis with 15 business leaders.

  The CEOs in the banking and financial services sector topped the list with 27 CEOs, followed by the leaders of the communications sector with 8 heads, and then 7 leaders in each of the energy and logistics sector.

  The companies on the list run by CEOs are worth more than 5 trillion dollars, while revenue was more than 1 trillion dollar last year.

source/content: egypttoday.com (headline edited)

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Among the most powerful CEOs of 2022 Forbes highlights the CEO of Talaat Moustafa Group

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EGYPT

8 Arabic Colloquial Words That Were Originally Ancient Egyptian

Did you know that many of the Egyptian colloquial words Egyptians use on a daily basis are not actually Arabic?

The Egyptian Arabic dialect is fundamentally Arabic, but with the influence of history and local populations, some of the peculiarities that set the Egyptian dialect apart come from the integration of ancient Egyptian, Greek and Coptic words and expressions. Surviving for thousands of years, many commonly used, modern-day Egyptian words and phrases can actually be traced back to the current dialect’s ancient predecessors.

Here are some examples of words Egyptians use, often not knowing their ancient origin, as per the books ‘From Pharaoh’s Lips’ (2003) by Ahmad Abdel-Hamid Youssef, and ‘Al Logha Al Masrreya Al Qadeema’ (Ancient Egyptian Language, 2012 ) by Abdelhaleem Nour El-din.

UMBU (DRINK)

Often, in communication with infants or toddlers, broken down or simplified words are used to allow the news speakers to express themselves without too much difficulty. For example, umbu is the word commonly used by Egyptian children to express their thirst. The ancient Egyptian term simply means “from the water”.

TA TA (STEP BY STEP)

When Egyptian parents try to help their crawling baby how to walk, they use the phrase “ta ta” derived from the ancient Egyptian word “ti ti”. Though Arabic became the primary language in Egypt, the Coptic language was initially still being used in everyday life for the majority of the population. The term “ti ti” was adopted by the Coptic language and modified to “ta ta”, which is used until today.

MAMM (FOOD)

The word Mumm is an Egyptian slang word derived from the ancient Egyptian “my wnm”, which means ‘give to eat’. Many Egyptians, until this day, teach their babies to say “mumm” whenever they are hungry — as it is easy and quick to sound out.

DAHYA TIWADDIH AL AMENDI (MAY A DISASTER SEND HIM TO HELL)

The Egyptian phrase “Dahya tiwaddih al amendi”, is originally ancient Egyptian. The word “amendi” is a Coptic word meaning “hell”, which was derived from the ancient Egyptian word “imntt”, meaning the ‘underworld’.

BIKH (BOO!)

The word “Bikh!”, meaning “Boo!”, is often used in modern day Egypt to sneak up on someone and scare them. The term is an ancient Egyptian word “pa akh” meaning “demon” or “ spirit”.

WAHAWY YA WAHAWAY IYUHA (THE MOON HAS APPEARED)

The Egyptian phrase “Wahawy ya Wahaway iyuha” is part of a song Egyptians sing during the holy month of Ramadan. Families and young children swing their fanoos (lanterns) as they sing the lyrics to Wahawy ya Wahaway iyuha. The popular lyric is believed to be inspired from the ancient Egyptian word “wah” meaning ‘to put’ or ‘appear’, and “iyah” meaning “moon”. Thus, comprising the lyric “the moon has appeared” during the month of Ramadan, which is decided upon according to the lunar calendar in Islam.

KRKR (LAUGHING)

The word “krkr” is used frequently in modern Egyptian day to describe someone who is laughing uncontrollably. The term is originally ancient Egyptian “ķrķr” and was adopted into modern day Egyptian society.

GATEK MAW (MAY A LION FETCH YOU)

The phrase “jak maw” or “gatek maw”, often switched depending on the region it is used in, essentially means “may a lion come to you”. The phrase is an Egyptian expression used as an insult. The ‘maw’ is based on a pun on the words “lion” and “mother”. The expression is often used by mothers bothered by their children.

source/content: egyptianstreets.com

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