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Power failure can't stop World Music Day in Egypt

The French-sponsored Fete de la Musique fuses traditional, electronic and other genres of music, drawing large audiences in the Middle East.
Egyptian_Musicians.jpg

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.

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