the tanoura show: sufi dancing in old cairo

we took bib's family to see the wonderful tanoura show at the wekalet el ghouri, in islamic cairo.  this was our third time seeing the show, and i still loved it just the same.  we're so familiar with it, that we now have our favorite members of the troupe whom we watch and follow throughout the show.  

the venue itself is a beautifully restored ancient marketplace built in the early 1500s, now used as a cultural center.

 the music and the dancing is so captivating!  for 20+ minute spans, men continuously whirl, spinning themselves into a trance.  it's amazing to watch them tirelessly spinning, with their colorful skirts floating in the air.  the whole show is about 90 minutes long, and by the time it ends, you are also in somewhat of a trance and totally drawn into the experience.

having worked up an appetite watching these men getting a great exercise up on stage, we decided to make a fun night of it with the family, and go to dinner.  we went over to a not-so-great neighborhood called sayyida zeinab, to dine in the street-alley restaurant al rifai, that is infamous all over cairo for its grilled kebabs and kofta.  it took us a while to find 2 taxis to take us to sayyida zeinab from khan al khalili, but finally, we found one of those old school station wagon peugeot taxis that could ::squeeze:: accommodate all of us.  that in itself was an adventure!

it just so happened to be days before the moulid, a celebration of the birth of sayyida zeinab herself, the granddaughter of the prophet muhammed.  apparently, bib was telling me that people travel all over egypt to attend the moulid celebrations there in sayyida zeinab.  when we were there, the whole town was covered in lights, and playgrounds and carnival rides had taken over the square.  so i could only imagine what it must be like on the moulid itself, for it to attract visitors from afar.

happily, the dinner at al rifai did not fail to live up to its reputation.  it was really outstanding.  everything from the salads, to the bread, and of course, the grilled meats, to even the "whisky" is delicious!  and by whisky, i mean the egyptian kind--- the spicy salad juice/dressing that is served in small tea glasses and sipped on throughout the meal.  we toasted with our whisky below, but don't mind that our selfie is out of focus! it would've been a great picture (bib)!