India will organise the fourth edition of the mega cultural festival 'India by the Nile' later this month in Egypt to showcase diversity of the country's culture, arts, music, films and cuisine for building enduring partnerships between the two ancient civilisations.
"The tradition that began four years ago needs to be continued in this beautiful country of Egypt and India by the Nile 2016 will be bigger and wider than before,"India's Ambassador to Egypt Sanjay Bhattacharyya said yesterday.
The festival will be held in several cities in Egypt like Cairo, Alexandria, Ismaila, Port Saeed, Bani Suef and Sharm el-Sheikh.
The 14-day festival will start from April 23 with an event entitled "Women of Substance" during which a number of distinguished Egyptian women will be honoured.
"We wish to recognise and record an appreciation for the women of Egypt for the tremendous roll that they have played in taking this great country forward," Bhattacharyya said.
The festival, which is organised by the Embassy of India in Egypt in collaboration with entertainment company Teamwork Arts, is a celebration of contemporary and classical music, dance, theatre, visual arts, film, food and literature, the Indian embassy said in a statement.
It will brings food fiesta by Indian celebrity chef and entrepreneur Vikram S Udaygiri. A Bollywood workshop by trainer Gilles Ghuyen will be held and a performance entitled Love Story - Bollywood Musical will be performed during the festival days, the statement said.
Last year, iconic actor Amitabh Bachchan opened the festival in front of the Pyramids which represent Egypt's history, the ambassador said.
"I think culture, business and economic must go hand in hand and we need to connect these dots of that culture to the market. So we have 'Make in India' seminar which is going to continue the dialogue that we have started on the business side," the Ambassador said.
"Our focus this time is on few key aspects. One of the aspects is that culture brings people together Bollywood is a beautiful part of that culture which has connected us but we would like to share with our Egyptian friends what is beyond Bollywood. And so we will see a lot more of those things in the festival this year," he added.
A yoga session will be held under the festival's Wellbeing Experience. Acclaimed Odissi dancer Dona Ganguly will also perform during the festival in different cities.
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An Odissi Dance Recital was performed in the al-Gomhuria Theatre in downtown Cairo as a part of the "India by the Nile 2016" festival.
Dona Ganguly, a widely known Odissi exponent, and her troupe enthralled the audience with a moving tale of love in the language of Odissi, one of the eight classical dance forms in India.
Ganguly has performed at many international and national events and has been the recipient of many awards.
