On three consecutive nights, in three very different spaces, with different artists at each show, La Voix Est Libre (The Free Voices Festival) is set to be performed at the Falaki Theatre, the French Institute in Alexandria and Shahrazad Nightclub in downtown Cairo on 9, 10 and 11 April.

These events mark the end of this year's edition of the Downtown Contemporary Arts Festival (D-CAF), which has brought a wide range of multidisciplinary art to the heart of Cairo from several corners of the world, with a special focus on the Middle East.

La Voix Est Libre, produced by Jazz Nomades and L'Onde et Cybèle, kicked off in 2005 at the Bouffes du Nord Theatre in Paris. At this time, active figures from the contemporary culture scene were setting out to use this as a platform to experiment with breaking down the walls between music, dance, song, science and poetry.

In their Egypt debut, they will collaborate and improvise with Egyptian artists along with ones hailing from France.

The French artists include: Marlène Rostaing (dance, acrobatics, vocal improv), Élise Caron (vocal improv), Élise Dabrowski (double bass, classical singing, vocal improv) Médéric Collignon (voice and trumpet), Philippe Gleizes (drums), Jörg Müller (hanging tubes), Mehdi Haddab (electric oud), Peter Corser (saxophone) and Blaise Merlin (artistic director).

For the Falaki Theatre performance, the Egyptian artists participating include: Mohamed Shafik (dance), Abdullah Miniawy (poetry, singing), Ahmed Saleh from Telepoetic (electro), Mohamed Sami (violin) and Mirette Michail (dance).

The Egyptian artists performing at Sherazad Nightclub are: Nass Makan (trad-fusion), Abdullah Miniawy, Ahmed Saleh from Telepoetic, Mohamed Sami, Islam Chipsy (electro-shaabi) and Dawcha (rap).

Programme:

Wednesday, 9 April at 8pm at Falaki Theatre
24 Falaki Street, Downtown, Cairo

Thursday, 10 April at 9pm at the French Institute in Alexandria
30 Al-Nabi Daniel Street, El-Raml Station, downtown, Alexandria

Friday, 11 April at 9pm at Shehrazad Nightclub
Alfi Bey Street, off Oraby Square, Downtown, Cairo