The opening ceremony of the 7th Cairo International Song Festival was held on Monday with the participation of 76 singers from 20 Arab and Western countries presenting 86 songs, according to the Egyptian daily Al Ahram.
The festival is scheduled to continue its activities on Tuesday with a ceremony in which Iraqi singer Kathem Al Saher will be honored for singing classical Arabic lyrics, as well as having started his artistic career at the very same festival.
The Arab song competition will be among 10 countries, including Egypt, Morocco, Jordan, the UAE, Saudi Arabia, Palestine, Tunis, Libya and Qatar. Meanwhile, the Western song contest will be among 12 countries, including Egypt, Morocco, France, Romania, Bulgaria, Moldavia, Ireland, Czech, Sweden, Malta, Argentine and Australia.
In the Arab song competition, first prize is 20,000 Egyptian pounds, 5,000 pounds for best lyrics, performance and music, and 1,000 pounds each for the five runner-ups.
The prizes in the Western song competition are $10,000 for the grand prize, $4,000 for first place, $3,000 for second place, $2,000 for third place and $1,000 for the best musical arrangement – Albawaba.com
