The Orient of the East goes back on stage. Friday, March 6, the famous Egyptian singer Oum Kalthoum will sing on the stage of the Cairo Opera in the form of a hologram. It is "the first time that the Cairo Opera House has used holography," said the director of the cultural establishment, Magdy Saber.

A true star of classical Arab music, nicknamed the Orient of the Orient or the Fourth Pyramid, Oum Kalthoum performed on stage from the 1920s until the 1970s. From taxis to cafes, passing by hearths, his voice - a deep contralto - still resounds today in the four corners of the Arab world.

The holographic passage will last "12 to 15 minutes and the singers May Farouk and Riham Abdel Hakim will perform the greatest songs" of the Arab legend, said Magdy Saber.

"We chose Oum Kalthoum to encourage a return to authenticity and our true identity," said Mohamed Mounir, one of the officials of the Opera. "The use of new technologies aims to attract new generations (...) and to link them to their history," added Magdy Saber.

So many barely concealed allusions to the singers of "mahraganat", a genre of popular electro music in Egypt - especially among young people - and banned in mid-February by the Egyptian musicians' union, attached to the Egyptian Ministry of Culture, due words deemed indecent.

"We plan to organize the same kind of events to pay tribute to other classical singers such as Mohamed Abdel Wahhab or Abdel Halim Hafez", two contemporaries of Oum Kalthoum, added the director of the Opera.

Oum Kalthoum had already appeared on stage twice last year thanks to the same technological process, first in Saudi Arabia and then in Dubai.

When future technologies take you to the beautiful past. Um Kulthum's Hologram Concert ♥ ️ pic.twitter.com/TuTnJN4X10

- ٠٠٠ (@iHessalshhi) December 29, 2019

His repertoire of melodies and chiseled texts has crossed the ages and the borders of the Arab world.

With AFP

The France 24 week summary invites you to come back to the news that marked the week

I subscribe

Download the app

google-play-badge_FR