The photo shows the official logo of ANE, and the announcement poster of the concert (Photos from the official account of ANE)

ANE is a Korean band consisting of Korean artists from different fields who live in Egypt, as recently there have been significant numbers of Korean residents in Egypt, whether to spread their culture, learn about Egyptian culture, for business, etc. Among them, many have a talent but it is hard for them to express it because of the language barrier so this band was formed to to gather them together officially. Their main goal is to build a bridge between the two cultures through art, and they collaborate with many Egyptian artists to achieve this.

On Jan 11, they held a concert to celebrate the new year at the small theater in Cairo Opera House, its title was “Spring, Again” and the theme was the changing of seasons and its effect on humans. The entry was free with the invitations we got after we registered online. The Korean embassy in Egypt supported this concert as it puts a lot of effort into supporting all Korean cultural events and they sent representatives to the concert to support the artists. Also, the Ministry of Culture in Egypt strongly supports all international events that can connect us with the world and all the events at Cairo Opera House gain its support.

 In this article, I will share with you my experience there and the details of this unique concert.

 The concert was divided into 5 parts and each part contained 4 different pieces of art including singing, playing music, visual arts, and dancing performances. The concert program started with spring and ended with it because of its significance in delivering hope to people. They played pieces from many international works from different cultures and merged them to form a new and original show. 

Before entering the theater, the organizers distributed the concert booklet to us which contained the program in detail, the artists who will participate, and the translation of the Korean songs that will be performed. The program contained many pieces of art so this booklet helped the audience to follow up.

The participant artists in the concert (Photos from Eman Ahmed)

The theater from outside (Photo from Eman Ahmed)

The concert started at 8 pm. At first, they displayed a quote related to spring on the screen, the quote spoke directly to the audience and praised the people for enduring the hardships of the other seasons to reach the peaceful spring.

A Distant Star in the Stillness by David A. T Onac was the first performed piece in the show, it was performed by the clarinet musician Mostafa Said Attia and the piano musician Grace Yoo, they were accompanied by pieces of visual art on the screen by Hyeyeon Lee, and Lee’s visual art will continue with us till the end of the concert with different shapes and ideas that suit the performed pieces.

This was followed by a narration of an excerpt from Walden by David Thoreau, the narrator Eunok Son was accompanied by the guitar musician Jinri Song, and their narrations, music, and clothes will differ by the changing of seasons to deliver the feeling of each season.

After that, the piano musician Eunyoung Song played Nocturne Op.9 by Chopin, and then the soprano Hanna Lee performed the song First Love by Hogun Kim.

All these different types of art merged smoothly and this harmony will continue till the end.

The quote they showed at the beginning (Photos from Eman Ahmed)

Photos from the Spring part (Photos from Eman Ahmed)

The second part was about Summer. It started with an operatic performance by Dalia Farouk for Summertime by George Gershwin, the Scottish piano musician Greg Martin accompanied her, he is an important musician who performed plenty of times at the Cairo Opera House.

After that, Eunok Son narrated an excerpt from Anne of Green Gables by Lucy Maud Montgomery. Then, Eunyoung Song played All of Me by Jon Schmidt on the piano, this was followed by a piano performance by both Naghamaya Safwat and Grace Yoo for Hungarian Dance by Johannes Brahms.

Photos from the Summer part (Photos from Eman Ahmed)

The third part was about Autumn. An excerpt from the movie About Time was narrated then Grace Yoo played Variations on Arirang by Seung Ki Hong. After that, the violin musician Youjin Huh, the piano musician Eunyoung Song, and the clarinet musician Mostafa Said Attia performed One Fine Day in October by Ilsang Yoon, followed by a singing performance by Hanna Lee, she sang Leaning on Time by Jin Choi. The dancing performances began at this part as the dancer Robear entered to perform beside the musicians.

With every changing of the season, the audience became more attached to the show, it was hard to not relate to no piece from what was performed and the beauty was in the way they were gathered together so you can’t imagine any of them alone, the artists formed a large detailed piece of art and included all the audience in it with their feelings.

Photos from the Autumn part (Photos from Eman Ahmed)

The fourth part was about Winter. It started with a narration for an Excerpt from the movie Chronicles of Narnia, and the tone was a bit sadder than the other seasons. The dancers Karma, Sandra, and Robear performed a modern dance choreographed by Karma to express the terrors humans face due to wars and unfairness. Their dancing continued during the music performance of Youjin Huh and Eunyoung Song for Concerto Winter by Vivaldi. Then, Eunyoung Song played alone The Howl’s Moving Castle by Joe Hisaishi.

Photos from the Winter part (Photos from Eman Ahmed)

The fifth and final part was about the return of spring. It started with a narration of an excerpt from the Korean series “The Light in Your Eyes”, it was a hopeful speech that encouraged us all to accept our daily lives with the struggles and the blessings, and to always try to find happiness in the small details.

Then the musicians Mostafa Said Attia and Grace Yoo played Salut d’Aamour by Edward Elgar, followed by a duet performance by Dalia Farouk and Hanna Lee, they performed the Flower Duet from Opera Lakme by Leo Delibes and they were accompanied by the musician Greg Martin. Frontiers by Yang Bang Ean was the final piece of art that was performed in the concert, it was played on piano by Naghamaya Safwat and Grace Yoo.

Photos from Spring, Again part (Photos from Eman Ahmed)

After that, we cheered all the artists together. Then finally, the concert host Eunok Son came onto the stage to conclude the event, she thanked the audience, the Korean embassy, and everyone who helped in the concert. In the end, I was mostly impressed and overwhelmed by all the small details they had to take care of to give us this incredible show, this is one of the concerts that will stick forever in the audience's memory and it is a big and important step in the cultural exchange process between the two countries.

Photo during the concert closing (Photo from Eman Ahmed)

Keywords:

ANE, Cairo Opera House, Korean Culture, Korean Music, “Spring, Again”