The Cairo Symphony Orchestra conducted by Nayer Nagui is taking part in two concerts staged on 29 and 30 October at Cairo's Abdeen Palace as part of The Sound of Movies initiative.

Organised by MBC Group, the concert on 29 October saw a large turnout at the open-air space of the historical palace.

The audience enjoyed many songs from the known Egyptian films performed with a new orchestral arrangement. A walk through the films highlighted some older gems of the Egyptian cinema and the newer productions, from Qalby Daleeli (My Heart is My Guide, 1947), Ayam w Lialy (Days and Nights, 1955), and Maabodat El-Gamahir (The Deity of the Masses, 1967) to Alemny El-Hob (Teach Me Love, 2005), among many others.

With the songs having created a strong imprint in the collective memory, the listeners sang along the tunes which were originally performed by Abdel-Halim Hafez, Laila Mourad, Shadya, and Medhat Saleh. Among the songs that received the biggest enthusiasm was Haga Ghareeba (A Strange Thing), originally sung by Shadya and Hafez in Maabodat El-Gamahir and which was performed by Saleh and Reham Abdel-Hakim.

The concerts staged at the Abdeen Palace garden are the first events in the series of The Sound of Music, presented by MBC Group in cooperation with RMC Company.

The initiative is meant to hold more live events at the historical venue, bringing to the listeners the immortal works from the history of the Egyptian cinema that spans over 100 years.

The MBC Group, in cooperation with RMC Company, has previously held concerts focusing on songs by Um Kolthoum and Hafez.

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