This is our culture corner. Your weekly Egyptian cultural compass.
Hey there,
Did you know that the Ney (the hollow reed flute central to Turkish Sufi music) symbolizes the human soul?
Its symbolism in Sufi ceremonies comes from the Rumi quote, “The world is like a reed pipe, and He blows into every hole of it. See how He blows into every clay and into every heart.” At its core, it speaks to the spirit that lives beneath all material creation, and listening to the Ney becomes a way of connecting with that spirit itself; the breath of the universe moving through all things.
There are many misconceptions about what Sufi music really represents, but it is far more than meditation or listening to chants. It is not only a religious experience, but also a human one. Its power to uplift and move people became so universal that, in the 1960s and 70s, artists like Jimi Hendrix and Led Zeppelin traveled to Morocco to play with Gnawa Sufi musicians, bringing those deep, repetitive rhythms into psychedelic rock and jazz.
No one fully understands why these melodies create such feelings of peace or transcendence, yet they continue to travel across cultures and continents, making Sufi music something that belongs to all of humanity.
Best,
Mirna Abdulaal
The time and effort behind this newsletter come from the Egyptian Streets team of independent, grassroots journalists. By subscribing for just USD 1.66 per month (EGP 80), or as little as USD 0.84 per month (EGP 40) for students (paid annually), you’re directly supporting the creation of content like this and helping sustain independent media in Egypt.
Support our work and subscribe by clicking here.
Spotlight
Meet Nadia Shoukry
Moving through the artwork of Nadia Shoukry feels like drifting through a landscape of shifting emotions and ever-changing visual languages. No two paintings mirror one another, each piece carrying its own tension and emotional pulse, a reflection of the unpredictable and layered nature of human feeling. Her work exists in a space between structure and spontaneity, deeply informed by her foundation in fine arts and interior architecture.
As an accomplished Egyptian contemporary artist, interior architect, and product designer with a practice spanning more than twenty-five years, Shoukry gravitates toward expressive techniques and modernist influences, particularly impressionism. Rather than confining herself to meticulous preliminary sketches, she approaches the canvas instinctively, allowing emotion, movement, and the natural energy of the brushstroke to shape the composition as it unfolds.
Do you start a painting with a specific emotion in mind, or does the feeling come out naturally as you paint?
I believe art should be completely expressive, emerging from the genuine moment in which the artist is painting. I usually don’t begin with a specific idea or emotion in mind; instead, I try to set aside my academic background and allow the process to unfold naturally. For me, art should feel honest and instinctive so that the audience can form a real emotional connection with it.
You often use textures and a beautiful palette of blues and whites. What is it about these specific materials and colors that speaks to you?
I believe textures and colors are powerful tools in my work because they offer endless possibilities for expressing emotion. Texture gives the painting a sense of strength and movement, while color plays an essential role in conveying the emotions I experience. The blues and whites, in particular, create a balance between calmness, depth, and intensity that I’m deeply drawn to.
With your background in architecture and design, how do you balance structure with the total freedom of your painting style?
I have been practicing and teaching expressive art for more than 25 years, and over time I have fully embraced and mastered this approach. I always allow myself complete freedom to work entirely intuitively, something that has developed through years of practice and experience. I believe this is the only way I can create truly authentic art.
What do you want people to feel when they look at your paintings?
I like to leave the emotional experience open to each person viewing my work. I believe every artwork carries its own feeling and language, one that becomes personal to each viewer. Deep down, however, I always hope they experience the same intense sense of positivity that I feel while creating the work, and that the paintings bring love, warmth, and positive energy into both the space and the viewer.
Feature
Music in Islam
The debate over music in Islam has never really been about music alone; it is a struggle over authority, emotion, and the boundaries of public morality. Across much of the Muslim world, music occupies a paradoxical space. What emerges from this tension is not a simple clash between “religion” and “art,” but two competing visions of spirituality itself.
One vision treats piety as discipline, restraint, and distance from worldly pleasures, seeing music as potentially intoxicating, capable of dissolving moral control and encouraging vanity, desire, or heedlessness. The other understands spiritual experience as emotional and embodied, arguing that rhythm, poetry, and song can move people toward transcendence in ways that doctrine alone cannot.
The persistence of the debate reveals how Islamic culture has never been monolithic; it has always contained an unresolved argument over whether faith should silence the senses or sanctify them.
What to Read
Mysticism of Sound
We listen to music through our earbuds all day long, but we rarely stop to think about the actual science behind it or how it affects our bodies. The truth is, sound impacts us physically in the exact same way our own emotions do. It isn't just background noise; certain frequencies have the power to trigger real, biological shifts in us, creating feelings of deep love, compassion, or a total state of calm. In The Mysticism of Sound and Music, Hazrat Inayat Khan beautifully breaks down this connection, reminding us that music is a powerful tool for healing and peace, if we only learn to truly listen.
What to Listen to
Rumi’s Sacred Flute
In "The Journey," master Ney player Robin Stuart captures the spiritual essence of Sufism through the hollow, haunting voice of the Shah Ney flute. Produced alongside multi-instrumentalist Zayn Mohammed, Stuart’s playing channels the poetry of Rumi, where the breathy, weeping tone of the Ney symbolizes a human soul crying out in longing for its divine source.
It bypasses the busy mind and speaks directly to the body, steering the listener away from everyday stress and gently pulling them into a state of deep, universal calm.
What to Watch
Humaithara Valley
The short film Humaithara, created by Egyptian filmmaker Seif Abdalla and photojournalist Mohamed Mahdy, provides a glimpse into the remote Humaithara Valley in Egypt’s Eastern Desert. The valley carries immense spiritual weight as the burial site of the revered 13th-century Sufi saint Abul Hassan al-Shadhili, drawing nearly half a million pilgrims every year for his Mawlid (birth anniversary). The film blends surreal, poetic undertones with raw footage of daily life and religious devotion. It beautifully captures the scale and emotional depth of the pilgrims who journey across the desert to climb the Humaithara Mountain.
What to Drink
Banana Bread Latte
Coffee shops usually stick to the classics…lattes, Spanish lattes, Americanos. But it’s always exciting to find a place that adds a little creativity to the coffee experience, reinventing flavors with every season. Dark Solutions does exactly that, offering a wide variety of unique drinks, and the Hot Banana Bread Latte feels like the ultimate comfort pick-me-up. It’s sweet, cozy, and just energizing enough to get you through a long, exhausting day.
What to Visit
Gaza Kitchen
This weekend, El Ashry Studios joins forces with Haneen Gaza Kitchen for an immersive cooking workshop centered around one of Palestine’s most cherished comfort dishes: maklouba. Guests will be guided through every stage of the process, from layering the ingredients to mastering the dramatic final flip that gives the dish its name and signature presentation.
Saudi Spotlight
The Lost City
Two thousand years ago, in the deserts of what is now northwestern Saudi Arabia, a civilisation called the Nabataeans built a city carved into the sandstone. They cut more than 110 monumental tombs into rock faces scattered across an area of more than thirteen kilometres. They commissioned master sculptors to decorate the tomb facades with elaborate columns, friezes, eagles, winged lions, and inscriptions that named the deceased, the owner, and sometimes the artist himself. They engineered an oasis in a place that should not have sustained one, drawing water from deep wells and channelling it through cisterns and channels carved into the same rock that held their dead. And then, sometime around the second century AD, they left, and the desert kept their work almost perfectly intact for the next two thousand years.
