Cairo, the 14th August, 2009

“More readings related to my surrounding world”

*** How do I even manage to read l when I have no time to breath?
The addiction itself keeps it going, I guess…I have different books scattered all over the house and purse.
There´s a book for the bed (when I have a bit of extra energy to read a few pages after I lay down in total exhaustion), one for the bathtub (very neglected since I haven´t performed my full immersion salted baths for such a long time…), another “hopeful” one in the living room near from my oriental couch I also haven´t used in a long time and another book in my hand bag which I read on my way to work, while walking in the street, by the gym´s swimming pool, on elevators and all kinds of occasions when I have to wait for something or someone (not a fan of waiting for anything…).

*** Reading bits of this and that and trying not to go totally schizophrenic during the process.

*** Here´s what I am digging in right now (all related to the Middle East, somehow):

1. I am happier to know you, by Jeanne M. Eck
This is not a literary masterpiece but it has a lot of common knowledge informations and insights about the experiences most foreigners have while living in Egypt. It´s curious to notice the author lived very near from my actual home and frequented CSA Institute (where I am teaching Oriental Dance) plus all the Maadi references she includes in the book (familiar places, roads, shops, etc).
In this book, you can clearly see Egypt from the perspective of a single woman who, may I add, has a very compassionate approach towards the egyptian people.
Let me be clear: this is not Shakespeare we´re talking about. Not even close. The writing is practical, straightforward and kind of journalistic but, as an Egypt resident, I can find many points of common distress and fascination in this book.
There is something reassuring and comforting, somehow, in knowing that we´re not the only ones to have nervous breakdowns at the absurdities of this complex country.
If you live in Egypt and feel like you´re often surviving in the middle of a chaos without solution…if your hands reach for your own hair to rip it off in a single, dry thrust due to any kind of repeated incompetence, dishonesty or absurd mentality issue…this is your book!


2. Asmahan´s Secrets, by Sherifa Zuhur

One of the marvellous things about living in Egypt is the continual discover of its incredible history and cultural.
More even if you´re a dancer dealing directly with musicians, empresarios and audience on a daily basis (like me!) with no intermediary to soften the rough edges of mentality differences and behaviours…then you´re forced to know this country and its mind/heart/soul from the inside out. It´s great, some times! And it´s awful, a lot of another times.

One of the joys of working as a dancer in Cairo – if you´re REALLY into the dance and the arts field – is discovering one and another and yet another great singer, composer, musician…there seems to be a great bag full of treasures, musically speaking. It has no end…you get one after another great artist and the flow of talent never ceases. Incredible.
I am discovering the singer Asmahan, the “almost” substitute to the great Om Kolthoum. She didn´t enjoy the dimension of Om Kolthoum or her global recognition but she was, as I´m learning now through the book and the cds I am buying from the street, another great voice with a dramatic life story.
Asmahan was the sister of also famous and great singer/composer/actor Farid el Atrash and they both came from a rich, well connected druze family from Syria.

As any other perfomer who had a piece of fame for herself, Asmahan was surrounded by an image of “vamp”, loose woman and also an alleged spy – some claim this was the reason of her death – ending her life in a sad way and having lived as an “outsider” from her own country and from her own condition of women (or what arabic mentality dictates women should be).

Through her life story, you end up learning about her art and the art of so many contemporary artists of her time.
I´m searching for one of her songs to perform on stage. Any suggestion?!



3. A Thousand Splendid Suns, by Khaled Hosseini
A book by the same author as the famous “The Kite Runner” ( recently made into a movie).
A great romance coloured by cultural, political, historical real facts of the wounded Afghanistan. More than everything, an ode to WOMEN and their noble spirits preserved even in the worst of nightmares.
I always think latin -american authors (Gabriel García Marquez and Pablo Neruda at the top) have a way of describing human nature and sensuality that is unique and so wonderfully warm and moisty. No one describes passion, love, lust and passion like latin people (sorry for another nationalities).
There is a fire running in our veins that impresses our eyes and senses with a peculiar way of seeing things, feeling them and, ultimately, describe them.
Although that´s true and I also find arabic authors a little crude in their way of describing women and sensuality, this author is an exception.
I loved the way he makes his feminine characters talk and the sensitive, intelligent, honest way he also describes women´s frustrated loves and lives.
If you´re interested in Afghanistan, its history and women – main victims of the Taliban and most wars that have desolated the country – this is a book for you.
I can´t wait to read “The Kite Runner”.


4. Cocktails and Camels, by Jacqueline Carol
This is another light book describing Alexandria and its cosmopolitan residents in the beginning of the 20th century.
Distant from the current Alexandria – total hell in the summer when all Cairo residents still run to the Mediterranean sea to clog all the city´s arteries – the place that the author describes was close to heaven on earth, at least for the ones with money.
Besides describing several aspects of the Alexandrian high society of that time – with a melting pot of nationalities that conferred this ancient city all the magic it still has till today – the author also paints a panorama of what you can still find today in arabic and egyptian mentalities, despite all the efforts to look and act westernized.

Also not Shakespeare as far as the writing quality is concerned but it´s a fun reading full of rich characters and an honest insight into the main eastern complexities and contradictions (juggling roles and aspirations between their own traditions and the foreign allure of modernity and freedom).