On July 22, the Barbican brought Tahrir Square to London as part of the Blaze festival. The concert featured Ramy Essam, Mustafa Said, Azza Balbaa, and El Tanbura – all musical voices of the Arab Spring.
Essam, who became a YouTube hit during the protests earlier this year, began the show performing his hit songs, accompanied by Yousef Sherif on percussion. Even though some of the audience members had come prepared and were waving Egyptian flags, there was a sense of something missing. Essam’s songs sparked laughter among the Arabic speaking audience members, but they didn’t seem to spark the fire you expected. This was definitely a concert, not Tahrir Square. Even Azza Balbaa tried to get the crowd going, but it just didn’t seem to work.
After the interval, Mustafa Said – the blind musicologist, composer and oud player – performed a beautiful, awe-inspiring set. The music was moving and full of both pain and hope. Said was led off stage, with a giant smile on his face, to loud applause and a standing ovation.
Finally, El Tanbura took to the stage and like a mirage, Cairo and it’s revolutionary spirit began to materialise inside the Barbican. Within minutes, the audience was on its feet and that fiery spirit of the Arab Spring was definitely in the air. Full of band members with more enthusiasm than I’ve ever experienced, El Tanbura performed resistance songs from the 1950s as well as other protest songs made famous during the 2011 revolution.
The concert ended with all the artists back onstage and the audience dancing. Though it got off to a slow start, the Barbican did in fact recreate the spirit of Tahrir Square right here in cold, damp London.
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