Cairo,the 19th January, 2011

Misr!

While filming some Cairo street scenes for a portuguese television show, I remembered - once more - how ALIVE, full of contrasts and interesting dilemas this city really is.
Even the traditional classics gave me a new pleasure to revisit:

The ancestral Nile (we rode the felluca on a rainy sunset);

The Hussein with all its "akhwas" smelling of shisha and boiling over sweet teas, the efervescent activity and goodies for dancers, spices, noise and hassle and "all that oriental jazz...";

Mohamed Ali street with the remains of a rich artistical past where we shot some very challenging street scenes due to people's intervention (both funny and disturbing!).
We also sat with my friend (and artist) Mohamed el Sayed and talked about the beauty of percussion while he played the tabla for us and another friend (Moustafa) played an amazing solo of "toura" full of soul and unexpected twists...

This day of shooting was a rememberance of how much I used to enjoy the simple cultural delights of this city. The amazing thing is ...I still do.