In the presence of the French Ambassador and the President of Ain Shams University... The launch of the UNESCO Audio Week in Egypt

The activities of the first UNESCO Audio Week in Egypt were launched under the title (The Audio Legacy of Cities), which was hosted by the Faculty of Engineering - Ain Shams University, headed by Prof. Dr. Omar Al-Husseini - Dean of the Faculty of Engineering, from 14-17 May, in the presence of Prof. Dr. Mahmoud El-Metini, President of Ain Shams University, Mr. Marc Baretti, His Excellency the French Ambassador in Cairo, Prof. Dr. Hesham Tamraz, Vice President for Community Service and Environmental Development, Prof. Dr. Shahira Samir, Executive Director of the Department of International Relations and Academic Cooperation at the University and Vice Dean of the Faculty of Medicine for Community Service and Environmental Development, Mr. Christian Hugounieh - Founder of the Week of Sound - UNESCO in Paris, Dr. Cecile Renaud Professor at the Ecole Nationale Supérieure of Architecture in Lyon, Gilles Bate - Professor of Ecole Nationale Supreme Architecture at Versailles.

Dr. Paul Hector, Communications and Information Consultant, representing UNESCO, and Ms. Nadine Daultre, Director of the French Cultural Center, also participated in the attendance. As well as all of Prof. Dr. Amr Shaath, Vice Dean for Graduate Studies and Research, Prof. Dr. Ahmed Munib, Vice Dean for Community Service and Environmental Development.

The Audio Week Committee at the Faculty of Engineering, Ain Shams University, organized this week under the leadership of Prof. Dr. Omar Al-Husseini, Dean of the Faculty and its members, Prof. Dr. Mustafa Refaat, Director of the International Cooperation Office and Vice Dean of the Faculty of Engineering for Education and Student Affairs, Prof. Dr. Tamer El-Nadi, Professor of Design and Production Engineering at the Faculty, Dr. Noha Gamal, coordinator of the audio week and coordinator of arrivals and scientific exchange in the Department of International Cooperation, Faculty of Engineering, in cooperation with the French Embassy, ​​under the supervision of Dr. Reem Abdel Rahmani, the advisor for university scientific cooperation at the French Embassy, ​​and Enas Ghazali, an assistant in the same sector.

Mr. Marc Baretti, the French Ambassador in Cairo, expressed his happiness with the existing cooperation between the French Embassy in Cairo and Ain Shams University, headed by Prof. Dr. Mahmoud El-Metini, as well as the preparation for this important event that highlights the cooperation and partnership between Egypt and France through UNESCO, noting that the voice is a great heritage that transmits life through the ages and helps in shaping relationships between individuals, citing what the philosopher Aristotle indicated that the first job of man is to search for knowledge, so he was interested in sound and air because it transmits sound, pointing out that many philosophers and scientists were keen to come to Egypt; Egypt has been a country of science since ancient times, and this is evident when we hear, at the beginning of the opening, an audio excerpt from the Isis hymn - the procession of mummies and the positive media uproar it caused in the whole world.

He added that sound and music have an effect on human psyche and behavior, as it is an element that must be controlled so that we do not live in noise.

Dr. Paul Hector, UNESCO Communications and Information Advisor, stressed that voice has a very important role in the economy, in the quality of social life and in various areas of life, adding that UNESCO had a voice in all fields, and UNESCO also gives priority to supporting voice education in the educational fields, in support of peace, non-violence and marginalization besides Strengthening the role of music in acquiring all educational skills, and UNESCO also maintains a complete legacy for all countries of the world, and the organization seeks to preserve musical instruments, because of its understanding of the importance of sound and its multiple relationships and its impact on life, praising the organization of this event by UNESCO with Egypt represented in the Faculty of Engineering, Ain Shams University We hope that these partnerships and cooperation will continue.

The events witnessed a group of artistic paragraphs for the choir of Ain Shams University led by Maestro Mahmoud Waheed for Umm Kulthum songs, some folkloric and Nubian songs, and religious chants and chants; In addition to pieces from the Ninth Symphony by Beethoven and a piece of music by Mozart, the concert concluded with the Isis hymn from the procession of the royal mummies.

This was followed by the opening of the "Sound as a container of history" exhibition, which was prepared by the Cities Audio Coordination Lab in cooperation with the Virtual Reality Lab - Acoustics Lab at the Faculty of Engineering - Ain Shams University and with the support of the Smart Cities Lab for Sustainable Solutions.

The audio exhibition included three types of student projects taught at the Faculty of Engineering - Department of Architecture and Urban Design under the supervision of Prof. Dr. Mostafa Refaat, professor of architecture in the department, Dr. Noha Gamal Saeed, assistant professor in the department, and engineer Raneem Alaa. Bahaa and Engineer Al-Mustafa Lalouh. The projects include the audio identity of the buildings and the work of sound simulation using virtual reality, in addition to the sound coordination projects for urban spaces.

The exhibition also included audio recordings from the research project Raneen Al-Wahat, in which Professor Marc Berfglieri, Dr. David Gouri and Dr. Noha Jamal Saeed, assistant professor in the Department of Urban Design and Planning, participated.

Students of the Faculty of Arts at the Sorbonne University - in Paris participated in the exhibition for the sake of scientific and cultural exchange between the two countries.

Among the activities of the week are seminars and workshops, in addition to an audio episode on the radio on sound, architecture and urbanism: the intangible heritage.