Singer, music producer, and guitarist Dina Elwedidi is excited to take South Africans on an exciting musical journey through Egypt when she performs in Cape Town for the first time during Heritage Month.
The award-winning musician will perform on the Baxter stage on Friday, September 30, and Saturday, October 1 for only two shows.
Elwedidi told IOL Entertainment, “This is the first time I’m presenting my project in South Africa, so I thought it would be a good idea to do two performances so that Cape Town audiences can experience the Egyptian sound.”
“It (the performance) will also allow me and the band members to gauge the Cape Town audience. In the future, I hope to tour the country to learn more about South Africa.”
In addition to performing in South Africa for the first time, Elwedidi is excited to “discover the great nature and tourist offerings in Cape Town.”
Elwedidi, a “great fan” of South African music, revealed that she will use her time in Mzansi to connect with local artists and hopefully establish long-lasting relationships that will lead to future collaborations.
“I used to listen to a variety of incredible and inspiring musicians, including Miriam Makeba, Sipho ‘Hotstix,’ Mabuse, Abdullah Ibrahim, Letta Mbulu, and Johnny Clegg.
“This is a remarkable industry with a wide variety of genres and cultures. I’d love to collaborate with music producers or singers in South Africa and meet more local artists.
Elwedidi was among the more than 200 renowned artists and arts leaders from around the world who gathered at the Baxter Theatre Centre on February 8 and 9, 2020, for the prestigious Rolex Arts weekend.
As part of the Rolex Mentor and Protégé Arts Initiative, she was selected by the renowned Brazilian musician Gilberto Gil in 2012 to spend an extended mentoring period with him.
They performed together in Egypt, Italy, and at Back2Black as part of the London 2012 Festival.
I believe that having Gilberto Gil as a mentor in 2012 and 2013 was one of the best things that could have happened to me.
“He is an extraordinary artist and person. We also had the opportunity to share the stage together, and we had so much fun during the mentorship; I believe I learned how to be more passionate about what I do by observing his poise and talent.”
Established in 2002 to facilitate the transfer of knowledge from one generation of artists to the next, the mentoring programme is founded on the notion that art is a continuum, an accumulation of past experiences across generations, and that all artists are influenced by their predecessors.
In keeping with the Rolex tradition of fostering individual excellence, younger artists, the protégés, are given the rare opportunity to spend extended periods of time in creative exchange with world-renowned artists in their field, the mentors.
Elwedidi discovered her passion for music when she joined the El Warsha Theater Troupe, where she learned to sing a variety of traditional styles with the assistance of her instructor, Maged Soliman.
In 2011, she formed her own band with a focus on singing and composing. In 2012, she represented Egypt in The Nile Project, a musical collaboration involving 14 musicians from various African nations.
This initiative introduces and exposes riverside audiences to the cultures and music of their riverside neighbors.
Her first album, “Turning Back,” was released in 2014, and her second, “Slumber,” was released in 2018, with the sounds of train stations serving as the album’s background.
She was selected as one of Time Magazine’s Next Generation Leaders in 2019, with the publication noting that she “draws from history to inspire future change.”
Over the years, she has collaborated with such musical luminaries as the American violinist Chelsea Green and the Grammy-winning Egyptian musicians Fathy Salama and Kamilya Jubran.
Elwedidi told IOL Entertainment that she is currently working on several projects, one of which is an EP titled “Elmaged” that will be released before the holiday season.
Additionally, a handful of singles will be released by the end of the year.
The concert “Dina Elwedidi in Concert” is scheduled for Baxter. Webtickets is selling tickets for R150 each.