Raquy Danziger's Blog

So it looks like we will have at least five shows in Egypt!
Here’s the schedule so far:

March 1 – March 6th rehearsals with Said
March 7th Concert with Saiid
March 8th 12th Go to Sinai Desert to practice for remainder shows
March 12th show at the Cairo Jazz Club
March 14th show in Alexandria
March 16th show in Minia
March 20th student recital at the university
End of March – possible show at festival near Aswan

Rehearsals with Saiid

Saiid’s troupe is bigger than ever! He has like 20 guys this time! You should hear it when they all come in for Nubian!

There’s one piece that Saiid and Osama and I are playing the solo part. I must admit, playing that piece with the two of them and the whole troupe is one of the funnest things I’ve ever done!

I was nervous about having the Messengers play for Saiid, because he is very picky! The messengers that are here so far are Marjorie, Veronique, Ava (from LA), Pete List and Dominic (from Canada). They worked so hard learning Yimkis Asess! We rented a falouka on the Nile for 2 hours and practiced a lot. Anyway, we played the piece for Said and he LOVED it! And get this – in the solo part, I’m having his whole troupe come in and hold Maksum for the Messengers!

He’s making all the guys wear suits with pink ties. I’m glad about the ties because they match my outfit!

Television Appearances

So far I had an interview and played on Nile Satellite TV, and Rami and I made an appearance on Good Morning Egypt. Later that day, everywhere I went people recognized me! The interview was ALL in Arabic. I did ok with the first several questions, but when they got a little more philosophical, like, “what’s the difference between pop music and your music” and stuff like that, I started sounding like an idiot. When it got to the point that I started speaking Hebrew by mistake, they said, “you know what, why don’t you just play another song” so thank god we just played another piece and that was the end of it.

Tomorrow some people from Dubai television are coming to the dress rehearsal to pick us up for another thing, and they also want to do an article about me in Egypt Today.

My Mother in Egypt!

My mother was cold in New York so she came to Egypt to visit me for the first time!














My mother’s first rababa lesson

She was only here for a week, but we managed to do lots of stuff.