Amina Edris

return to In SongDec 8, 2021

In this episode of In Song, we follow soprano Amina Edris back to her native Cairo. There she revisits a childhood infused with Arabic music, the great temples of ancient Egypt, and a boisterous family – notably her beloved uncle Mamdouh Edris. He introduced his niece not only to Oum Kalthoum but also to Rachmaninoff and Maria Callas.

Amina carried this music with her when she was uprooted as a young girl by a move to New Zealand. Far away from family and friends, and caught between Arabic and Western worlds, she would eventually find her sense of belonging and home through song.

Filmed on location at the Dahab Island Palace, In Song features Amina performing Oum Kalthoum’s classic “Ghannili Shway Shway” (“Sing for me, a little”) with her uncle on oud, as well as Bizet’s “Adieux de l’hotesse arabe” (“A Farewell from the Arabian Hostess”) with pianist Amir Awad – a song that blends three aspects of her life: French, Arabic, and Western classical music.