The evening will be part of the ‘Laylat Al-Dikr’ - ASWAT series of music performances focusing on Egyptian culture(s) of music.

The Wajd Ensemble, joined by monshedeen (Singers performing devotional chants) Abu Zeid Azamil and Salim Atallah, will be performing a repertoire of dikr and a vast variety of Sufi songs and tunes from the Egyptian Delta tradition. 

The Wajd Ensemble are Sufi practitioners and professional musicians that are affiliated with the Ministry of Culture. The percussive instruments the band uses are the tabla, frame drums, in addition to other traditional instruments such as the kawala (An Egyptian single reed flute).

The speaker of the evening will be Giuseppe Cecere — an associate professor of Arabic language and literature at the University of Bologna. Cecere’s research focuses on the Sufi “presence” in the multicultural and multi-religious context of Egyptian society, but mainly in the Mamluk era and in contemporary times.

Programme:
Tuesday 12 April, 8pm
French Institute
1. Madraset El-Hokouk El-Ferenseya (off Kasr El-Aini Street), Mounira, Cairo