Mounir will be showcasing her new project Nozhet El-Nofous (The Picnic of the Souls) - a unique audio-visual music show that revives classic works of a number of Egyptian singers of the early 20th century, including Mounira El-Mahdeya, Hayat Sabry, Fatma Serry, Saleh Abdel-Hay, and Abdel-Latif El-Banna.

“All proceeds from this concert will go towards the restoration of the Nasibian Studio Theater,” she stated.

The iconic studio, which was founded in the district of Faggala in central Cairo in 1937 by Hrant Nasibian, the head of the Armenian community in Egypt at the time, was gutted by a devastating fire in 2021.

The event will be hosted at El-Nahda Association for Scientific and Cutltural Renaissance - Jesuit Cairo 

Mounir has also dedicated the concert to the organisers of the 2022 Urvakan Festival in Armenia, which was postponed due tensions on the borders between Azerbaijan and Armenia.

She expalined that the organisers “worked so hard to feature Nozhet El-Nofous” at the prestigious international festival before the decision to postpone it was made.

On 21 September, Armenia celebrated the 31st anniversary of its independence from the former Soviet Union.

Experimenting with new formation each concert, Mounir will be playing on violin and theremin - accompanied by Youssra El-Hawary (accordion), Ahmed Amin (double bass), and Andrew Milad (piano).

Nozhet El-Nofous is a live performance of Mounir’s new arrangements that accompany repaired song recordings of Saleh Abdel-Hay’s Khafif Khafif, Abdel-Latif El-Banna’s Matkhafsh Alayya, Mounira El-Mahdeya’s Baad El-Esha, Hayat Sabry’s Wallah Testahel Ya Albi, and Serry’s Ana Bas Saktalak, as well as rare radio and newspapers interviews for some of them.

The project, which took almost six years of research and preparation, was first showcased in October 2021 at the Arab Music Institute Theatre.

A studio album version was released on various music platforms later.

The Alexandria-born Mounir became a player in Cairo’s indie music scene after she moved to the capital over 14 years ago when she was influenced by a workshop given by Grammy Award winner Fathy Salama in 2005.

She established her career after taking part in projects with well-known artists such as Dina El-Wedidi and Massar Egbari.

Mounir has also composed and arranged for a number of films and theatre plays, including the recent Netflix’s short film National Day of Mourning in Mexico which was directed by Khairy Beshara.

She also featured as an actor in the film.

Programme:
Nasibian Studio Theater, ‎El-Nahda Jesuit Cairo

15 Mahrany Street - Fagalla, Cairo

Monday 26 September at 8pm