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Power and music in Cairo: Azbakiyya
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 24 May 2013
Abstract
In this article, the origins of the modern metropolis are reconsidered, using the example of Cairo within its Ottoman and global context. I argue that Cairo's Azbakiyya Garden served as a central ground for fashioning a dynastic capital throughout the nineteenth century. This argument sheds new light on the politics of Khedive Ismail, who introduced a new state representation through urban planning and music theatre. The social history of music in Azbakiyya proves that, instead of functioning as an example of colonial division, Cairo encompassed competing conceptions of class, taste and power.
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References
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89 According to Fahmy, ʿAli Mubarak and Khedive Ismail agreed to start the transformation of Cairo at Azbakiyya. Fahmy, ‘Modernizing Cairo’, 177. However, in Dec. 1867, Ismail had already demanded to see the plans of the gardens in Paris. Volait, ‘Making Cairo modern’, 25.
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91 Cf. the story of a new sāqiya 1865/66–1870s for Sarāy al-Azbakiyya, instead of the one which was destroyed by the French, in DWQ/al-Majlis al-Khususi, 0019–000313 and 0019–000316; and DWQ/MM 2002–000253, two letters dated 15 Rajab 1285, and more; cf. Arnaud, Le Caire, 51 (and n. 80), for the plan of Cordier (12 Mar. 1868).
92 Sadgrove, The Egyptian Theatre, 52. Karkegi, ‘Commentaires topographiques’, referring to Le Progrès Egyptien, 17 Oct. 1868, 3, states that the theatre burned down. The khedive paid compensation to the owners of the burned houses, like Shaykh ʿAli al-Qabbani, DWQ/MM daftar 2002–000255.
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100 For instance, MM repeats that muṣarrifāt al-Tiyātrū wa-l-Janbāz al-Khuyūl laysat min al-tabaʿiyyat li-Muḥāfaẓat (the expenses of the Theatre and the Circus do not belong to the Governorate). DWQ/MM daftar 2002–000256 (p. 95), MM to Umur-i Khassa, 12 Dhū al-Ḥijja 1285 (26 Mar. 1869). Later, it had to be clarified that not even the gardens of the theatres were in the care of the MM. DWQ/MM daftar 2002–000262 (p. 25), 20 Shaʿbān 1286 (25 Nov. 1869).
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105 Carl von Diebitsch (1819–69) had drawn a plan of a theatre for the khedive that resembles the final Comédie (Architekturmuseum der Technischen Universität Berlin, Universitätsbibliothek, inv. n. 41638). Hector Horeau (1801–72) also had drawn a never-realized plan of an Egyptian theatre in Apr. 1870 (Victoria and Albert Museum, published in Dufournet, P., Hector Horeau précurseur: idées, techniques, architecture (Paris, 1980], 124–5)Google Scholar. I am grateful to R. Bodenstein and M. Volait for calling my attention to these images.
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117 ‘M. Frantz-Bey, architecte du khédive, a réduit de 150.000 Francs le mémoire de l'entrepreneur Avoscani, constructeur du Théâtre-Italien du Caire, rien que pour la peinture décorative’. Le Ménestrel, 15 May 1870, 191. Perhaps an ʿAli Rida Bey was also responsible. Ismaʿil, Taʾrikh al-Masrah, 53 (without reference).
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122 Contrary to popular belief, neither Aida was ordered (or performed) for this occasion, nor did any visiting celebrity monarchs (Emperor Franz Joseph of the Austro-Hungarian monarchy or Empress Eugènie of France) attend the first evening; cf. Ribeyre, F., Voyage de Sa Majesté Imperatrice en Corse et en Orient (Paris, 1870), 124–59Google Scholar. Emperor Franz Joseph only visited the Opera on his way back to Europe.
123 Letter of Avoscani, quoted in an essay of Abdoun (ʿAbdun) which is annexed to Abdoun, Genesi dell' ‘Aida’, under the title ‘Il Teatro d'Opera del Cairo’ nota di Saleh Abdoun, here: 148.
124 Volait, Architectes, 106.
125 Ismaʿil, Taʾrikh al-Masrah, 31 n. 2.
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135 Unsi allied with Louis Farrugia. DWQ/AI Carton 80, from Draneht to Khairi, 20 Apr. 1872. To his letter he attached the (French) project of the Arab theatre, dated 15 Mar. 1872, which was published first by Sadgrove, The Egyptian Theatre, Appendix 3, 186–96; cf. his analysis at 105–6.
136 Six Egyptian guards (farrāsh) guarded the Opera and the Comédie in 1878. DWQ/Diwan al-Ashghal al-ʿUmumiyya 4003–037847, from Léopold Larose to unknown, 30 Dec. 1878.
137 Information in this paragraph is based on my dissertation: A. Mestyan, ‘“A garden with mellow fruits of refinement”: music theatres and politics in Cairo and Istanbul, 1867–1892’, CEU Ph.D. thesis, 2011.
138 Fahmy, Ordinary Egyptians, 115–17, 128.
139 Zádori, J., Éjszakafrikai útivázlatok: I. Egyiptom (Budapest, 1874), 95Google Scholar.
140 Cachia, P., Popular Narrative Ballads of Modern Egypt (Oxford, 1989), 103–19Google Scholar.
141 Al-Khulaʿi, Al-Musiqa al-Sharqi, 172 n. 1.
142 Shawqi, A., ‘Fi dar al-Ubira’, in his Al-Aʿmal al-Shiʿriyya al-Kamila, 2 vols. (Beirut, 1988), vol. II, pt 4, 52–4Google Scholar.
143 Anon., ‘Dawr al-ghinaʾ wa-l-raqs’, al-Fath, 8 Dhu'l-Qaʿda 1355 (20 Jan. 1937), 15.
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