Following Oufuqy's early success in attracting wide audiences and presenting a new forum for musical performance, the festival returns for a second round with an even more ambitious programme that aims to expand its reach.
The Oufuqy festival is the brainchild of Ayman Asfour, an Alexandrian violinist. Asfour runs 'El-Mashtal' (The Green House), the independent music scene development project which works in collaboration with the Gudran Association for Arts and Development.
The festival will take place from 17 to 23 June and will be hosted by an array of independent culture venues.
Oufuqy, which translates to "Horizontal," takes a unique approach to festival hosting that was inspired by Asfour's research on culture festivals in London. The festival is held over a span of several days and offers music concerts, film screenings related to music, and musical workshops.
“Most festivals that host live concerts come in the form of a large condensed event over a short period (1-2 days) with many musicians and different genres playing one after the other,” Asfour told Ahram Online during the first edition of the festival. “This creates a vertical accumulation of music, which musically confuses the audience, where they end up listening to some of musicians and not all.”
This year, the organisers plan to take the horizontal approach even further by hosting the programme in a number of cultural venues. Some of these venues are run by Gudran, such as El-Cabina, El-Dokan and Wekalet Behna, while others are run by independent cultural organisations such as Janaklees for Visual Arts, El-Madina, Pause and the French Institute. Other events will be hosted by Calithia restaurant and Hamada Café.
This expansion of event locations, according to Asfour, was done to give participants a chance to discover the independent cultural map of the city. He hopes this strategy will nurture a spirit of cooperation between the cultural actors and spaces that offer an alternative to mainstream arts in Alexandria.
Programme:
Monday 17 June
5pm Yellow Submarine (1968) Film Screening in El-Cabina
7.30pm La Vie concert in El-Madina
9pm Youssra El-Hawary concert in El-Cabina
Tuesday 18 June
3pm Sound Theory Clinic by Hussein Sami in El-Cabina
5pm Hold on my Glamorous (2009) film screening in El-Cabina
7.30pm Ramy Sebei concert in Wekalet Behna
9pm Tarek Abdalla concert and discussion in El-Cabina
Wednesday 19 June
5pm Hair (1979) film screening in Janaklees for Visual Arts
7:30pm Drum Clinic with Ismail El-Wahsh in Pause
9pm Like Jelly concert in the French Institute
Thursday 20 June
5pm Fela Kuti/Music is the Weapon (1982) film screening in El-Cabina
7:30pm Takaseem concert in El-Dokan
9pm High Dam concert in the French Institute
Friday 21 June
5pm Crossing the Bridge (2005) film screening in Janaklees for Visual Arts
7:30pm Maktoob concert in Janaklees for Visual Arts
9pm Aya Metwalli concert in El-Cabina
Saturday 22 June
5pm Pink Floyd & Syd Barrett Story (2003) film screening in Janaklees for Visual Arts
7:30pm Fo' El-sefr Group with children of the neighbourhood concert in Hamada Café
9pm Telepoetic concert in El-Cabina
Sunday 23 June
5pm Latcho Drom (1993) film screening in El-Cabina
9pm Improvised music night with Amir Elsaffar, Lety El-Naggar and Guests in the French Institute
In addition to the regular festival programme, late musical nights will be hosted in Calithia restaurant and bar
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El-Cabina
11 San Saba Street, behind cinema Rialto, El-Raml Station, Alexandria
El-Dokan
2 Adeeb Street, El-Mansheya, Alexandria
Wekalet Behna
1 El-Keneisa El-Marounia, Orabi Square, El-Mansheya, Alexandria
French Institute
30 El-Nabi Daniel Street, Mahatet El-Raml, Alexandria
El-Madina Studio
8 Talaat Harb Street, El-Raml Station, Alexandria
Janaklees for Visual Arts
10 Hussein Hassan Street, Al-Azarita, Alexandria
Pause Studio
22 Sultan Hussein Street, El-Raml Station, Alexandria
Hamada Café
1 Sukkar Street, next to Chez Gaby restauraunt, El-Raml Station, Alexandria
Calithia
83 El-Cournich road, El-Raml Station, Alexandria
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