Conga Line

Skipped a chapter here, or episode.

That of transferring from Luxor to Cairo yesterday Friday. It all went rather smoothly and uneventfully, so not much there to write about. Even the taxi ride from airport to the hotel on Zamalek Island had lost much of its original impact, perhaps due to it being on a holy day with much reduced traffic.

While on the plane the Egypt Air in-flight magazine Horus had caught Denny's eye, especially an article about Grammy Award winner musician Fathy Salama, a Cairo-born sensation who weaves a fusion of jazz, house-digital, African and Muslim genres. He was playing last night in Downtown Cairo. Once we got to the hotel, Denny looked him up online, found where he was playing and how much the tickets were and called the box office. No need for reservations. We'd take a cab there.

Friday night in downtown Cairo is like Saturday night at the county fair, on acid. I think I even saw some tri-color cotton candy sold to celebrate the revolution on Tahrir Square. The population is definitely young. All the stores are open. Vendors spill out from the sidewalks and onto the roadway, selling piles of clothes, electronics and assorted nicknacks. We go around in circles, not finding the venue, stopping thrice to ask for directions. Our driver, arranged by the hotel, neither speaks nor reads English, and the address is handwritten in English on the page Denny tore out of the magazine. Once we find it, the concert is already underway. We slip in.

The music is very good, I think, but not a genre we would go out of our way to attend a concert of if it were in our hometown. The musicians are excellent, especially the drummer and the tabla player - divine. I appreciate stepping out of our comfort zone and am grateful Denny suggested it. After the concert, we still have a bit over a half-hour to kill until midnight when our driver is to pick us up, so we stroll the human carnival that's moving like a conga-line on both sides of the street, leaving little space for vehicles in the middle. Methinks we're the only Westerners in this sea of Egyptians. We do stand out.

Intense.