Iv N.
Google
This is a deeply funny place.
The musicians are playing… well, they are playing, but musically it’s hard to evaluate, because no one seems to need it — neither the musicians nor the audience. On a more global level, it is interesting: in a hall designed for several hundred people, there are only a few dozen at best. Vast numbers of empty seats. People clap between movements, talk during the performance, arrive late, stomp around.
At the same time, even foreigners — if you’ve flown to Cairo and don’t happen to have a jacket and a suit — you won’t be let in. Technically, men without a tie can get one at the entrance by leaving their ID. Yes, this applies specifically to men. You leave your ID, get a cheap tie. If you’re willing to take the risk that your ID might get lost, handed to someone else, or simply disappear while you’re inside — potentially making it impossible for you to leave the country — then that’s an option. Passport for a tie. Very elegant.
The funniest part is that nothing matches this absurd dress-code requirement: neither the sound level, nor the lighting, nor even the building’s own exterior illumination. The musical level doesn’t match it either. Absolutely nothing corresponds to this pretentious rule except sheer stupidity.
It’s wildly comical, and in its own way an interesting experience — because this place is clearly not about music at all. It’s about cheap ties in exchange for IDs and about pompous empty seats with almost no people. A very dead place.
Overall: strangely amusing.
