Singer, music producer and guitarist Dina Elwedidi is looking forward to taking South Africans through an exciting Egyptian musical journey as she performs for the first time in Cape Town this Heritage Month.
The award-winning musician is set to grace the Baxter stage for two performances only on Friday, September 30, and Saturday, October 1.
“It is the first time that I’m presenting my project in South Africa and thought it would be a good idea to do two performances so that Cape Town audiences will have an opportunity to experience the Egyptian sound,” Elwedidi told IOL Entertainment.
“It (the show) will also give me and the band members a chance to feel out Cape Town audiences. Hopefully, in the future, I can tour the country to experience more of South Africa.”
Elwedidi said that besides performing for the first time in South Africa, she’s looking forward to “discovering the great nature and tourist offerings in Cape Town”.
A “great fan” of South African music, Elwedidi revealed that she will use the time here in Mzansi to connect with local creatives and hopefully establish long-term relationships that would yield future collaborations.
“I used to listen to many amazing and inspiring artists such as Miriam Makeba, Sipho ‘Hotstix’, Mabuse, Abdullah Ibrahim, Letta Mbulu and Johnny Clegg.
“This is an amazing industry full of genres and cultural diversity. I would love to collaborate with music producers or singers in South Africa and meet and discover more local creatives.”
Although it’s her debut performance in South Africa, Elwedidi was one of the more than 200 renowned artists and arts leaders from around the world who gathered at the Baxter Theatre Centre on 8 and 9 February 2020, to attend the prestigious Rolex Arts weekend.
She was chosen in 2012 by renowned Brazilian music icon Gilberto Gil to spend an extended mentoring period with him as part of the Rolex Mentor and Protege Arts Initiative.
Together they performed in Egypt and Italy as well as at Back2Black as part of the London 2012 Festival.
“I think having Gilberto Gil as a mentor in 2012 and 2013 was one of the best things that happened to me in my life.
“He is an amazing artist and human being. We also had the chance to share the stage together and we had so much fun during the mentorship, from his stillness and talent I think I learnt how to be more passionate about what I do.”
Established in 2002 to assist in the transfer of knowledge from one generation of artists to the next, the mentoring programme is based on the belief that art is a continuum, an accumulation of past experiences over generations, and that all artists are inspired by those who went before them.
In keeping with the Rolex tradition of encouraging individual excellence, younger artists, the protégés, are given the rare opportunity to spend significant periods of time in a creative exchange with world-renowned artists in their particular field, the mentors on a one-to-one basis.
Elwedidi discovered her passion for music when she joined El Warsha Theater Troupe where she learnt to sing a wide variety of traditional genres with the help of her tutor Maged Soliman.
In 2011, she founded her own band, focusing on singing and composing and went on to represent Egypt in The Nile Project in 2012, a musical collaboration bringing together 14 musicians from different African countries.
It was an initiative that introduces and exposes bordering audiences to the cultures and music of their neighbours along the river.
She released her debut album “Turning Back” in 2014 and her second “Slumber” in 2018, which relied on the sounds of the train stations as the background for her album.
In 2019, she was chosen as one of Time Magazine’s Next Generation Leaders noting that she “draws from history to inspire change for the future”.
Over the years she has worked she has worked with some of the musical greats the likes of US violinist Chelsea Green, Grammy-award-winning Egyptian musicians Fathy Salama and Kamilya Jubran.
Elwedidi told IOL Entertainment that she currently has a few projects including an EP titled “Elmaged”, set to be released by the festive season.
“There are also a few singles on the way that will be released by the end of this year.”
“Dina Elwedidi in Concert” is scheduled to take place at Baxter. Tickets are available at Webtickets from R150.