Festival week of Egyptian culture

Sowetan

The Egyptian Embassy is hosting Culture Week to showcase features of Egyptian culture.

Deputy minister for foreign cultural relations, Salah Hassab Elnaby, said: “This year we decided to focus on cultural relations in Africa. Of course we started with the most important country on the continent, South Africa.

“Besides the folk group of artists from northern and southern Egypt, we are going to share the drum philosophy ,” said Elnaby . “We believe drums can bring people together. Although considered to be of war, they can be used for peace. There will also be other traditional instruments like the rababa which looks like a violin. Both produce beautiful traditional sounds that take you to our stunning country. The language of music is international and can be understood by all.

“Today’s performance at Church Square is a collaboration with South African dancers.”

There is also an exhibition of Egyptian artifacts at the Cultural Museum in Pretoria. These go back to 3000BC and to the Greek-Roman era at 200BC.