The initiative will put online excerpts of landmark music performances to help assuage anxiety amid the Covid-19 pandemic

Thanks to three-dimensional hologram technology, iconic Egyptian singer Umm Kulthum (1920-1975) continues her reign as an outstanding performer, entertaining live thousands of fans across the globe, easing quarantine tensions with her exceptional talent.

The first video of the Egyptian initiative ‘Culture Between Your Hands’ featured an excerpt of an Umm Kulthum hologram concert staged in early March.

The free-streaming video, published Tuesday at 9pm, is the first of a series of performances to be showcased on the YouTube channel and Facebook page of Egypt’s minister of culture.

The Culture Between Your Hands initiative aims to bring theatre performances, concerts and other cultural events to audiences amid the current hiatus on theatre, cinema and concert hall shows over the coronavirus pandemic.

Other events that will be uploaded include ballets (The Nutcracker, Zorba, Swan Lake, Carmen) as well as concerts by the Talents Development Centre and by famous Egyptian performers including Omar Khairat.

Affectionately known in Egypt as “El Sett” (“The Lady”), Kulthum’s deep and resonant voice enthralled the Arab world for decades, inspired Western singers like Bob Dylan and Robert Plant, and can still be heard in Egypt’s streets, cafes, taxis and Nile sailboats.

The March performance was the first of its kind in Cairo. Other hologram concerts of Umm Kulthum have been staged in Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates.

ahramonline