Storytelling project Tales’ Nights tours Egypt during Ramadan

CAIRO – 15 June 2017: Contemporary art group

Mahatat

is touring Egypt during Ramadan with a unique storytelling project:

Tales’ Nights

.

Tales’ Nights tour is a storytelling performance that takes the audience to the enchanting and wild world of the “Kalila & Dimna” stories, accompanied by a music and light design in the form of a contemporary performance, according to the event’s Facebook page.



The tour was launched on June 10 from Ezbet Khairallah in Old Cairo, and then moved to Ismailia, Port Said, Damietta and Mansoura and ends Wednesday in Behaira. All performances are free and open for anyone to attend.

The team members and performers are the storytellers Ahmed Shokry and Naglaa Younes, who also plays violin, writer Hossam Hilaly and light designer Omar Madkour.



“The tour is part of our Art of Transit project which features tours by performing artists and musicians through different decentralized cities in Egypt,” Mahatat said on Facebook.

“Kalila & Dimna” as a cultural heritage is one of the most ancient and important books in Arabic literature. It is called Kalila and Dimna after the two jackals that are the main characters. The book was written mainly for the instruction of civil citizens through simple and meaningful fairytale situations.



Mahatat is a Cairo-based social and cultural enterprise founded in 2011. Through contemporary art practices, Mahatat seeks to transform public spaces, create opportunities for exposure to the arts and offer needs-based learning experiences to artists, practitioners and entrepreneurs, the group says of themselves.