The Farha Tour 2008
Sydney, Australia

What an event!

Twelve months of hard work came together for an event that was just three days and nights – a phenomenal task, and we did it!

The story begins like this:

I was sitting having coffee and croissants in Yasmina’s apartment in Cairo back in 2007. Yasmina had just come back from staging the Farha Tour in London.

“Wow, wouldn’t Australia love to see something like this?”, I said. My brain ticked over the distance, the cost, the sheer magnitude of bringing all these artists to the shore of Australia… “But wouldn’t it be great?! Wouldn’t the Australian belly dancers love it?”, I said to Yasmina as the call to prayer called out to us from a nearby mosque.

On return to Australia, I emailed Kay in London who had passionately staged the Farha Tour, not once but twice already! “It’s a huge task, a lot of work, and don’t even think of the financial return!”, she said.

Well, I’m an Aries and therefore very determined, so that didn’t sway me! And hey, I’ve been in the belly dance scene for 25 years. I may not have a waterfront mansion in Sydney, but I’m rich in memories!

I started pulling the team together – Sophia and Georgie, my main women – who were either injected by the passion or as mad as I was!

When I went to visit the Riverside Theatre in Parramatta, I saw how we could bring the belly dance community together… I pictured a pseudo Khan El Khalili market place in the centre of the complex as well as workshops and concerts for dancers to mingle and touch base with old friends. Not to mention sharing in some fun, shopping, shisha and laughter – just like in Egypt!

I went back to Egypt and talked to Yasmina, Caroline, the musicians, the artists, Mahmoud Abdel Ghaffar, Eman and Hoda Zaki. They all loved the idea but SOME couldn’t fathom how we could look 12 months into the future. The classic line from one of the Egyptian artists was "What! November 2008! I don’t know what I’m doing then! Ask me a few months before".

Yasmina had the phenomenal task of being the go-between with all the Egyptian artists. I’m always so surprised at how she keeps her cool. It took us six months just to arrange all the visas and paperwork to get through immigration – mountains of paperwork, faxes back and forth. And of course, you wouldn’t believe that one of the musicians loses his passport two weeks before he had to leave Egypt!

Caroline, bless her heart, had the great job in getting some of the Egyptians down to the Australian embassy early morning. That meant no sleep for about a week! Can you believe that the Aussie embassy in Cairo works 2 hours in the morning only?

Trying to get sponsors and describe a dream to people was like pulling teeth. Luckily for us, we had some great people that offered support. El Phoenician Restaurant, RM Gregory and Travel 2000 took some of the pressure off and rode the waves with us. We are eternally grateful as without them this wouldn’t have launched off the ground.

It could never have happened without Georgette who organised the mammoth task of workshops and Sophia with her organisational and PR skills – I couldn’t have prayed for a better team.

Yes, can you believe it was only three mad belly dancers who put together three days and three nights of the most amazing belly dance spectacle of the decade!

And last, but definitely not least, I have to thank the belly dance communities, volunteers, friends and families that attended this event and put it on the map. You helped support THE FARHA TOUR and delivered it to Australia in 2008!

Everyone asks me, “will there be another Farha Tour in Australia?”. Well, let’s get over this one first! …………2010 sounds like a good year though doesn’t it?

P.S. If you cant get The FARHA Tour 2008 - out of your mind , and want to relive the experience – we now have ON SALE the "Live" recording of the Music to tantalize your ears – and the DVD so you can revisit and remind yourself how much you loved it!

For those of you that couldn’t make it –we released the visual and sensory FARHA 2008 with you in mind - now its your turn to see what you missed out on!