 |
| The Nile song /K.Persyn |
Concerned about the disappearance of Myths & Folktales, I travelled along the Nile collecting popular Egyptian stories about supernatural powers living in the River.
 |
| Son of the Nile |
 |
| Storyteller in Qena |
 |
| Storytelling in Aswan |
 |
| Praying on the shore |
 |
| Looking for something |
I asked people on the road to 'perform' Nile-fables in front of my lens and collected photographs showing their stories and its characters. In collaboration with Shady El Dali, this research was transformed in a theatrical play; a docu-style performance which toured trough Egypt.
 |
| Swimming Saïd |
 |
| Unknown girl in boat |
 |
| Son of the fisherman |
 |
| Drowned Diver |
 |
| Nile is my mirror |
 |
| Bride in mourn on her wedding day |
 |
| He lost his brother by a Dogr |
About the Performance...
 |
Shady El Dali & Kristof Persyn
performing "The Nile song" in Al-Mania |
On stage we tell the story of Shady who enters the Nile-river at night and disappears. Since his body has not been found there's lot's of legends about his disappearance. And soon, many more young Egyptians vanish at the Nile's shores. Shady's friend Kristof decides to look after them and travels along the Nile, from Cairo till Sudan. During this travel he askes villagers what could have happened to the missing people. In all the explanations supernatural powers are involved. Paradoxically in Egypt, rich with cult of dead and pyramids, dead itself does not exist; the afterworld is a vivid place among Djinns, mermaids, kidnapped brides, kings and sacrificed virgins on the muddy bottom of a river. Drowned in the Nile, the dissapeared youth has transformed in water-spirits.
|
