DHAHRAN: Egyptian harpist Manal Mohei Eldin captivated audiences at the King Abdulaziz Center for World Culture, or Ithra, with three nights of performances blending classical harp techniques with traditional Arabic rhythms and melodies. The final show will be on Friday.
Known as one of the most prominent musicians in the Arab world, she is celebrated for calibrating the harp strings to speak “fluent Arabic” by incorporating traditional Oriental rhythms and melodies with classic techniques.
Arab News spoke exclusively to Mohei Eldin on Thursday night.
“As an Egyptian harpist, it is such an honor to receive this important invitation to showcase my work and my art in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia,” she said.
“It is not my first time here (at Ithra) — I’ve had the pleasure of working with the great Omar Khairat two years ago, but it is my absolute honor to say that this is my debut as a soloist playing my Arabic, oriental rhythms with my ensemble in the Kingdom.”
Indeed, while she was on stage previously at Ithra in 2024 as a key orchestra member supporting the legendary Egyptian composer and pianist, Khairat, this is her first show as a soloist, with her ensemble.
The Oriental Strokes Ensemble, who joined her on stage, consists of Shady Abdel Salam on violin I, Hossam Ezzat on violin II, Emad Morsy on the viola, Alaa Abdallah on cello. Also, Karim Wassef on bass guitar, Beshoy Rezkalla on accordion, Mahmoud Kamal on nay, Hesham Kamal on percussion, and Doha El-Guerzawi on percussion.
“It pleases me greatly that our first presence in the Kingdom is at Ithra specifically, where we are performing three nights,” Mohei Eldin added.
“The audience at Ithra is very involved and passionate. To be honest, I expected the majority of the seats to be occupied by Egyptians, but to my surprise, most turned out to be Saudis.”
On Thursday night, in between songs, someone from the audience shouted out a request for the musicians to play “Nassam Alayna El Hawa” by Lebanese songstress Nouhad Wadie Haddad, better known by her stage name, Fairouz.
“I don’t know him (the person who shouted out the request), but I played it even though it was not in the original program. It is clear to me that he knew my work and knew I had played that before. It makes me very happy that the Saudi audience loves music and they really know music,” she added.
The program consisted of such crowd favorites as “Zourouni Kol Sana Marra,” composed by Sayed Darwish; “Asmahan Medley,” composed by Farid Al-Atrash, Mohammed El-Qasabgi and Medhat Assem; and “Aziza Dance,” composed by Mohamed Abdul Wahab.
Images of the classic Egyptian stars who inspired the sounds were shown on the large screen as a backdrop.
A professor at the Cairo Conservatoire, Mohei Eldin began her musical journey in her native Egypt and has since performed on some of the world’s greatest stages.
She became a pioneer when she enrolled at 10 years old to pursue learning the harp at the Cairo Conservatoire, where she graduated with honors in 1987.
Upon receiving the coveted German Academic Exchange Service scholarship, she continued her journey with the instrument in Germany with Prof. Buss Lorberth at the Hochschule fur Musik und Darstellende Kunst in Frankfurt and training with Giselle Herbert at the Hoch Conservatory Musik Hochschule in Wurzburg.
Since then, she became the first Egyptian solo harpist at the Cairo Symphony Orchestra, and she famously performed at the opening of the Egyptian Pavilion at the Louvre Museum in Paris and the Ancient Treasures Exhibition at the National Museum of Women in the Arts in Washington, D.C.
“The vast majority of Arabs love to sing along to words, and the fact that they came to listen to only musical instruments, and on an instrument (the harp) that isn’t very familiar to many in the region, honestly made me very, very happy,” she concluded.
