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Celebrating 155th birth anniversary: Five day Tagore Festival in Egypt

By
AC Team 1
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Date and Venue :  May 8-12, Egypt

Purpose : The festival will be held to mark the 155th birth anniversary of poet laureate Rabindranath Tagore.

Function Organiser:rabindra

  • The Indian embassy in Cairo
  • The Maulana Azad Centre for Indian Culture

Tagore visited Egypt:            

  • Tagore, who received the Nobel Prize for Literature in 1913, is known to Egypt.
  • He visited Egypt as an adolescent in 1878 and later as a famous poet-philosopher in 1926 when he met King Fouad.
  • He interacted with scholars in Alexandria and Cairo.
  • His friendship with Egyptian poet Ahmed Shawqy is eminent and he wrote a moving testimonial on his friend’s death in 1932.

Tagore fondness on Egypt:

  • Tagore was impressed by the strong literary trends and found great resonance in the intellectual movement in Egypt.
  • He also wrote about the relationship between the Nile river and the Egyptian civilization.

The Egyptian Caricature Society:

  • The Egyptian Caricature Society has curated an excellent collection of portraits from across the globe on Tagore.
  • These will be exhibited during a painting exhibition, which will be inaugurated on May 8.

 About Egyptian Scholars:

  • Egyptian scholars have translated many of Tagore’s works into Arabic and have also written several books on Tagore.
  • These books are available at an exhibition of all such books to be inaugurated on May 9.

 Festival Celebration:

  • The Festival will feature the Tagore dance drama “Shapmochan” (Breaking the Spell) on May 9 by well-known Indian classical dancer Dona Ganguly.
  • The movie “Ghare Baire” by legendary Indian filmmaker Satyajit Ray will be screened on May 10.
  • Shreya Guhathakurta, acclaimed Rabindra Sangeet exponent, will present songs written and composed by Tagore to the Egyptian audience on May 11.
  • The festival will conclude on May 12 with a seminar on contemporary literature “Tagore, Shawky & Mahfouz”

Competitions:

  • The Indian embassy organised a month-long online Quiz Completion, which started on April 10.
  • An essay competition on ‘Tagore’ for students.