Thousands of local and foreign residents of Cairo gathered June 17 at Al-Azhar Park, a vast green space in the Egyptian capital, to celebrate Fete de la Musique, also known as World Music Day.

The six-hour event brought together groups playing music ranging from hip-trip to rap to Balkan beats. The grand finale, featuring Grammy Award-winning Fathy Salama singing with underground music groups, could not be undermined by a power failure that left the park and the stage in darkness. The audience continued to enjoy themselves and provided lighting with their mobile phones turned toward the stage. The music played on.

A tradition born in France and celebrated in Egypt since 1992, this year’s Fete de La Musique in Cairo featured 20 native and international artists, who performed jazz, reggae, rock, hip-hop, acoustic pop and other genres of music.

“The audience who attended this free festival had a chance to listen to different types of music, including a blend of percussion and rock,” Ronan Prigent, cultural attache at the Institut Francais d’Egypte told Al-Monitor. In Egypt, as in many parts of the world where Fete de la Musique is celebrated, the event organizing is sponsored by the Embassy of France and the French Cultural Institute.