Cairo, the 9th January, 2010

“Twilight zone – Pyramids Street”


Which kind of lunatic dancer dares to be seen in a Pyramid’s street night club at 4h in the morning just for the sake of finding a great musician she’s in need of?!
I guess you have the answer: ME.
Appearances mean a LOT for Egyptians/arabs. It seems that BEING something/someone is not that important but APPEARING to be something/someone makes this world go round and forward.
People here seem to live for these appearances and pretend they believe in the illusions they and their neighbours create for themselves but I refuse to make part of the charade so I simply don’t give a ……………. to look anything in particular. I know who I am and simply don’t care with others may think of me.


I surprise myself to the extent of absurdity I expose myself to in order to get the music I want for my work. I guess most dancers in Cairo will go party, home or prostituting themselves (facing the cold facts here) but I have never seen any of my “colleagues” (dancers currently performing in the Cairo market) browsing the famous and decadent Pyramid Street by their own searching for…MUSIC!

FACTS:
The Pyramids Street used to be this city’s “Broadway”. The best dancers – like Souhair Zaki, Nagwa Fouad, Fifi Abdou and so on – used to perform all over the street (that actually leads to the Giza Pyramids) and all night-clubs were fancy, respectable and homeland of the true art of Oriental Music and Dance.
Due to many factors I will not describe now the street – and the whole dance/music scene – went, literally, down the toilet and the street which represented ART became a place for prostitutes and arabs/Egyptians who wish to get wasted by drinking alcohol, smoking drugs and sharing a bunch of almost naked girls (prostitutes, again!) whom invade the night-club’s stages to do their own sad, sexually teasing (or supposed to be) dance to attract costumers.

VENUE:
I expected it to be bad. But not soooooo bad…WOW!
I entered the Twilight Zone involved in “shisha” smoke and drunk arab guys with prostitutes hanging from their arms.
No mentioning the name of the night-club but a simple note to describe it: DECADENT.
I felt I was inside of a nightmare with no end. It seemed to be the end of the world with all its worst treats: all human weaknesses and chaos, women selling themselves with no shame and even with pride and the whole staff treating these prostitutes like queens (I am guessing the night-club has a percentage of the dirty gains).
The girls arrive all un-dressed up, they sit at the best tables, order expensive alcoholic drinks, sway their hips and breasts on the stage until they get some costumers and hang on to them for the night.

The shows – not that I can call it a SHOW – were mainly “khalleegy” to please the paying crowd from Saudi Arabia and such and I can summon them in a single word: NOISE.
Only wasted, drank people can enjoy this noise. Oh, my dear LORD!
Thousands of dollars were thrown on the singer’s and “dancer”’s heads for no reason like an endless shower of paper.
I tried to listen to the musician I was searching for but, even with my blessed ears, I could not distinguish the sounds he was producing because the noise was so overwhelming.
There was an act from a girl called Nelly (will not, absolutely WILL NOT call her a DANCER because that would be way too offensive for me) who did nothing but chew gum (what a common place!), walk around the stage shaking her breasts once in a while and receive loads of dollars the arab guys threw on her for no reason (other than her nakedness).

I was open mouthed and confused. It really felt like a nightmare with no end.


CONCLUSION:Money seems to buy it all around here.
The prostitutes were treated like queens in the place and the staff attended to every one of their smallest needs. They don’t even pour beer in their glasses. They call the waiter to pour it for them. They do it, they bow their heads and pay attention to see if there’s any other service in need until they are dismissed with a small, despising movement of the head.

I understand why people think the way they do about Oriental Dance if the places they know are similar to this one.
I am talking about a BIG name in the Pyramid’s Street, a night-club with a tradition of huge artists and now…well…it’s a brothel. Simple as that.

As an artist working in Cairo, this scenario can only make me sad and even depressed.
I see my own music and dance being dismantled and trashed into something they’re not in order for some dirty “pashas” to make big money from prostitutes/drugs/alcohol. I wonder where is famous dancer’s police which screws my head so often when I am doing an honest, hard job. Where are them? Why aren’t them in these places where dance is just an excuse for millions and millions of dollars to be made out of human misery?!
The answer is simple. These same police men are, most of the times, the clients of these places PLUS their owners bath their hands with generous amounts of cash in order to be left in peace doing their “business”.
I am also guessing – just guessing – there are another reasons of convenience and favours exchange between the owners of these places and … (not referring the names here, if you’re smart, you’ll know what I am speaking about).
It’s revolting that night-clubs like this substitute the respectful venues where you could once – long time ago! – watch great musicians and dancers cherishing and dignifying Egyptian culture.

LEARNING:

Oh…I am good in the learning department.
I can learn from the air, in fact.
Of course, I learnt a few “khalleegy” steps from both prostitutes and arab guys who danced more than the women.
I also listened to some mean percussion sets and saw how the “under world” works and how low can the human being descend to.
I learnt, above all, that you cannot have light without darkness and that my only MISSION is to make my best job ever in order to compensate for all this mess they’re doing around my beloved ART.
Being GOOD yourself is the best weapon to combat the evilness.