Vijay Sankar, Deputy Chairman, The Sanmar Group was felicitated at the inaugural reception organised on 12 April 2013 at India House to formally launch the festival.
(L to r) Sanjoy Roy - Managing Director, Team Work Production, Ila Gupta, Director, International Festivals, Team Work Production, Mani Suri, wife of Ambassador Navdeep Suri & Vijay Sankar.
TCI Sanmar Chemicals S.A.E. was the lead sponsor of the “India by the Nile” festival presented by The Embassy of India in Egypt. The festival, produced by Teamwork Productions, was a celebration of contemporary and classical music, dance, theatre, visual art, film, food and literature. The festival facilitated a collaborative exchange between literary figures, performers and visual artists from India and Egypt. Collaboration between them was the over-riding theme in some of the shows.
The Festival was a platform to showcase the wealth of India's classical and contemporary cultural heritage and an attempt to provide the Egyptian audiences with the cultural diversity of the country.
The four-week long show began on 13 April 2013 with a literature symposium with Indian and Egyptian authors. This was followed by classical and contemporary music, theatre and dance, a food festival and a free master class in Bollywood dance.
The shows were presented at a number of venues in Cairo and Alexandria such as the Opera House, Bibliotheca Alexandrina, Sawi Cultural Wheel and Hanager Arts Center.
The festival attracted over 7500 visitors from across Egypt, a tremendous amount of press articles, blogs, interviews and coverage on TV and radio channels.
“India by the Nile”, is definitely the new star on Egypt's festival firmament” – |
Programmes:
Bollywood Fusion: Indian choreographer Gilles Chuyen trained the soloists of the Cairo Opera Ballet Company for one week to perform to Bollywood music with Indian singers Mukesh Tomar and Parul Mishra. The show was a whirlwind of vibrant dancing and singing.
Performance by Gilles Chuyen at the Inaugural Ceremony.
Words on Water: Speakers from India and Egypt engaged in dialogue and debate on topical issues of interest to both countries.
“The focus of the ‘India by the Nile' festival is on forging meaningful and sustainable collaborations between India and Egypt in the field of arts and crafts”. Navdeep Suri, |
Akshara – Calligraphy in Crafts: The exhibition enabled Indian and Egyptian calligraphers to create collaborative pieces of art and exposed each to the craft traditions of the other country. Displaying over a hundred handicrafts featuring calligraphy, it was very well received and proclaimed as an exhibition “not to be missed, and one of the most interesting displays held at the Centre in recent months”!
“We in Sanmar, feel proud to have associated ourselves with the ‘India by the Nile' festival. PS Jayaraman , |
Shubha Mudgal: One of India's eminent vocalists, Shubha Mudgal gave a splendid concert of Hindustani classical music.
Shubha Mudgal
Nrityagram Dance Ensemble: Regarded as one of the foremost dance companies of India, the ensemble from Karnataka performed Sriyah to a spellbound, overflowing audience. Al Ahram Weekly dubbed it as a ‘powerful closing' to an extraordinary festival.
Nrityagram
The Artistic Creativity Centre (Cairo) hosted the Indian Film Panorama, which showcased a varied selection of Bollywood movies.
Bollywood Workshop: The dance workshop communicated the energy and fun of Indian cinema. It was attended by an audience of different ages and interest levels.
Did you Sense the Spirit of Gandhi @ Tahrir Square: The poster exhibition delved into the relationship between Gandhi's philosophy of non-violence and the largely peaceful revolution at Tahrir. The opening was attended by Gandhi's great granddaughter Kirti Menon.
An exhibition on Gandhi
Mrigya: A rich blend of Classical, Blues, Funk, Folk, Latin, Rock and Jazz lends Mrigya's music a unique texture bordering between Indian Classical and World Music. Their concerts were a great hit.
Mrigya
Indian Food Fiesta: Two chefs from India whipped up delectable Mughlai dishes as part of the week long food festival at Sonesta Hotel.
The Indian Food Week (May 7-13) and tea tastings at the Sonesta Hotel featured chefs Vikram Udaygiri and TS Nanaiah under ‘Savour the Flavour' theme
(L to r): PS Jayaraman, Chairman, TCI Sanmar Chemicals, Mani Suri, wife of Ambassador, Navdeep Suri, Ambassador of India in Egypt, KR Kumar, CFO, TCI Sanmar Chemicals, Port Said, Egypt at the food festival.
Savour the Flavour: An evening of Indian tea tasting was presented by the Tea Board of India.
Tea Tasting
Festival Highlights
The first Indian festival of the arts in Egypt.
Month long festival of Dance, Music, Film, Bollywood, Literature, Exhibition & Food.
An annual festival of Indian Visual & Performing Arts in Egypt.
Distribution of printed festival flyers through performing venues, partner organisations, government & educational institutions.
Social media was the prime publicity driver.
The press had been supportive with coverage both through the electronic and print media in Cairo and Alexandria. Social media was an effective tool in creating awareness and publicising all the events through Facebook and Google plus.
The month long programme was a resounding success both in terms of audience participation and the media attention it received.
Coming in the wake of President Morsy's visit to India and at a time of transition for Egypt, “India by the Nile'' was warmly welcomed by both the Egyptian Government and local cultural organisations. It was the largest foreign festival in recent times.