Ahmed El Maghraby

Ahmed El Maghraby ( Arabic أحمد المغربي, DMG Aḥmad al-Maġribī ) is a figure on the Egyptian cultural scene. He was cultural attaché at the Egyptian embassy in Paris , worked as a translator and editor and taught as a professor of Italian at the Ain-Schams-Universität .

In 2002 he founded the independent Makan Music Center in Cairo with the official English name Egyptian Center for Culture and Art (EECA) at Saad-Zaghlul-Strasse 1 in the center of Cairo, near Tahrir Square , of which he is director, with the aim of doing To “document, present and preserve the musical traditions of Egypt”.

Egyptian Center for Art and Culture (Makan)

According to his own statement, it was important to him to save the musical heritage of his country from being forgotten and distorted by tourist-folkloric productions, to preserve it and to develop it further.

"Local and traditional culture of any sort does not government institutions in Egypt pay little attention to traditional arts, except as they serve a nostalgic and touristic public. In the field of musical arts, for example, the majority of troupes performing in official theaters, cultural centers, hotels and tourist boats and are self-consciously 'folkloric': the performers, dressed in color-coordinated costumes, dress up the music and dance with showy effects. (German translation, cum grano salis from the not entirely flawless original: State institutions in Egypt pay no attention to traditional art of local and traditional culture of any kind, unless they serve a nostalgic and tourist public. In the field of musical arts, for example Performances mostly take place in official theaters, cultural centers, hotels and on tourist boats and are deliberately 'folkloric': the performers, in color-coordinated festive costumes, turn the music into a show and dance with eye-catching effects. ) "

- Egyptian Center for Culture & Arts

literature

Tanja Granzow: ZĀR RITUALS IN CAIRO Between tradition and medializations. Master's thesis, 2008 (online at tobias-lib.uni-tuebingen.de )

Web links

Individual evidence

↑ makān (Arabic for place, place)
↑ Granzow, p. 76 ff.
↑ Granzow, p. 109.
↑ Granzow, p. 76 ff.
↑ egyptmusic.org ( Memento from April 26, 2014 in the Internet Archive )

personal data
SURNAME	Maghraby, Ahmed El
ALTERNATIVE NAMES	Al-Maghrabi, Ahmad
BRIEF DESCRIPTION	Founder of the Makan Cultural Center in Cairo
DATE OF BIRTH	20th century

[1] ān (Arabic for place, place)

[2] Granzow, p. 76 ff.

[3] Granzow, p. 109.

[4] Granzow, p. 76 ff.

[5] yptmusic.org ( Memento from April 26, 2014 in the Internet Archive )