Watch this: Shafika , Egypt’s underground folk music Queen

First time I knew that there was a very famous Egyptian folk singer that most people in Cairo never heard before was through social media.

Yes, you may be surprised but social media opened a door for us the people of Great Cairo province who got no roots in the Nile Delta or Upper Egypt to know and listen to different styles or genres of Egyptian folk music.

The social media presented Shafika to me after 2011 when some tweeps began to speak about her and their memories with her cassette albums in Nile Delta while they were teens. When I searched online for her name, I found a photo of a heavily make-upped woman with 1980s style-blonde dyed hair.

Shafika in the 1980s 

To be honest, I do not remember if I listened to her, but all I knew about her was that she was a famous underground folk music singer whose luck and talent did not lead her to be recognized in the mainstream in Cairo.

Time passes and this week, I was properly introduced to Shafika as Egyptian underground folk music Queen and I was reminded again that Egypt is too big and diverse to be constrained by the borders of Great Cairo.

The introduction was through that simple and short documentary about her: Shafika.

Qatar 2022 World Cup: When Israeli reporters faced the naked truth

One week passed after the start of the Qatar 2022 World Cup.

For the first couple of days, we had this rainbow controversy that faded away, the Iranian national team saga and the Serbian national football that made it clear it won’t surrender Kosovo.

We also had a bunch of Israeli reporters covering the Mondial who are shocked to see that they are being met coldly by Arab fans attending the great world event that is being hosted by an Arab country for the first time.

Palestinian flags stalked Israeli reporters at the World Cup in Qatar

Arab fans made sure that Palestine reach Israeli households as it seems in the first week of the World Cup.

Here was the correspondent of Israeli public correspondent Corp “Kan” attempting to have an interview with a Qatari vender in a Qatari bazaar in some local market and the young man refuses.

Post COP27: Minimum levels of wins for everybody

The 27^th United Nations Conference on Climate Change “COP27” concluded on Sunday after two dramatic weeks with a statement that included a minimum level of wins for everybody and a huge concern for future COPs as fossil fuels companies are gaining more power and power.

The COP27 logo inside the conference in Sharm El-Sheikh "Bloomberg"

The biggest achievement we have is the victory of the island nations and developing countries in establishing a loss and damage fund.

Yes, it will take years to have this fund operating for real but we all saw the battle those nations had to fight in Sharm El-Sheikh.

Another interesting achievement was recognizing the food problem aka “safeguarding food security and ending hunger”. 

keeping the limit of global warming to 1.5 C as it was another achievement.

Qatar World Cup 2022: A small step towards a greater achievement towards human rights

Qatar managed to do the impossible for real in hosting this World Cup tournament.

The impossible is not building huge stadiums and luxurious hotels thanks to the efforts and sweat of thousands of workers from around the globe, especially from Asia.

Germany's national team wearing "human rights" on their kit last year 
Photo: AFP

The impossible is not about insisting to hold the most important sports event after the Olympics despite the turbulent decade in the Middle East where Qatar played a role larger amazingly than its size and population wisely.

Kodak Agfa Presents: The Blood Moon of Cairo

It is another belated, truly belated post. But once again it is not late to celebrate 2022’s last blood moon lunar eclipse.

Earlier this month, exactly on 8 November Earth had a lunar eclipse that many countries witnessed.

We were among the countries that witnessed

It was the first time I witnessed a blood moon in the mid of the buzzing Downtown Cairo.

I could not take more photos because I did not have my tripod where I was standing.

Siri, show me orientalism in Qatar World Cup !! Tukoh Taka as an example

Two days ago, FIFA has launched its official fan festival anthem for the Qatar World Cup. It is the first “fan festival anthem” for the world cup.

It is called “Tukoh Taka”. It features Nicki Minaj, Maluma and Lebanese singer Myriam Fares. It is in English, Arabic and Spanish.

Myriam and her backup dancers 

Myriam appears while wearing some exotic dancer's suit, it is not even a traditional belly dancer's suit and you got the backup dancers wearing golden veils and I do not understand what the hell that was " I am sorry dear Ruby for slamming you decades ago when you sang while wearing a belly dancer suit in Holland" 

I do not know what “Tukoh Taka” means but I know the song is an insult to the Arab culture and is a blatant example of orientalism.

COP27 at Sharm : 1.5C fight , loss and damage at Santiago Network and some interesting numbers to share

The 27th session of the United Nations Conference on Climate Change “COP27” is going to conclude after hours following many other hours full of drama, political, and economic talks about the future of Planet Earth's environment in Egypt’s Sharm El-Sheikh.

At the loss and damage meeting in the COP27 on Wednesday in Sharm 

In the past 48 hours, news reports came that we as people from the developing countries in the global South should not have our hope high because it seems the conclusions and recommendations as well as pledges of the globe North will be less impressive of the COP27 than the conclusions, recommendations and pledges announced in COP26.

According to official and unofficial sources openly and off the records there are divisions about issues including whether rich nations should set up a fund to cover irreparable damage being wrought by climate change, language addressing fossil fuels use and whether 1.5C should remain the explicitly targeted limit for planetary warming.