Khaled Ahmed

Review of Sawy Culturewheel

El Sawy Culture Wheel, is considered the first pri...

El Sawy Culture Wheel, is considered the first private cultural center in Egypt and the most widespread today and is a model for cultural entities in the post-governmental era. The center is located on Zamalek Island, Cairo
The Sakia Mohamed El Sawy, son of the Egyptian writer Abdel Moneim El Sawy, was established in 2005 and took the name from the Quintet of the Waterwheel, which is the most famous work of his father. He began thinking of creating a creative cultural center that would include all kinds of arts and literature, attracting different classes of the public. The place was chosen under the 15th of May Bridge on 26th of July Street in front of the Central Zamalek - and it can be accessed from in front of Al Baloun Theater by crossing the bridge and going down the stairs directly on the waterwheel

Muhammad Al-Sawy designed the project, started building it, and conceptualized the methods of access he had developed for the center with the help of other colleagues. The center started conducting concerts to attract the audience, considering that music and singing were the most widespread arts among the people, and it had a variety and difference from the prevailing music at the time, and among the most prominent stars of these concerts were jazz, gypsy music, rap groups and others displaying different cultures from around the world.

After that, many other activities were introduced to the center, so work of plastic exhibitions and sculptural works began. Then began presenting poetry evenings through concerts, and then presented them individually in special evenings. El Sakia recently organized a festival inspired by the idea of Okaz Poetry Market under the name "Okaz Poetry", in which poets from different governorates of Egypt participated, and it lasted for three days.