11th Int'l Festival for Drums and Traditional Arts kicks off in Cairo

By Xinhua Published: May 28, 2024 10:34 AM

Artists perform at the opening of the 11th International Festival for Drums and Traditional Arts in Cairo, Egypt, on May 26, 2024. Egypt's 11th International Festival for Drums and Traditional Arts kicked off here on Sunday night, attracting participants from 30 countries and regions.(Photo: Xinhua)

Egypt's 11th International Festival for Drums and Traditional Arts kicked off here on Sunday night, attracting participants from 30 countries and regions.

Under the slogan of "Drums for Peace Dialogue," the festival, which runs through June 1, calls on artistic groups from many countries to share their musical vision, encourage cultural dialogue and embrace peace and inclusiveness worldwide.

The festival's events will be held in various venues in Cairo, including the Northern Wall Theater, the Cairo Opera House, the Sinnari House in Sayyida Zainab neighborhood, and Prince Taz Palace.

During the opening ceremony at the Northern Wall Theater in old Cairo, Intisar Abdel-Fattah, president and founder of the festival, held an artistic workshop in the presence of all participating teams.

Noting that the festival reflects Egypt's openness to others throughout history and is a journey through which different cultures meet, Abdel-Fattah said the heritage of drums is evoked and presented in renewed artistic forms.

"The festival represents a distinguished artistic platform that seeks to promote positive spiritual values, by embracing traditional arts and presenting them as a means of strengthening relations between people," Rafiq al-Tawil, head of Palestine's Falouja troupe for traditional arts, told Xinhua.

He said that his team had participated in the festival over the past six years, and the event is a perfect platform to show the traditional Palestinian arts to the whole world.