«وشوشة الورد»... راجح داود ينثر موسيقى الوفاء والصداقة

حفل «وشوشة الورد» (مكتبة الإسكندرية)
حفل «وشوشة الورد» (مكتبة الإسكندرية)
TT

«وشوشة الورد»... راجح داود ينثر موسيقى الوفاء والصداقة

حفل «وشوشة الورد» (مكتبة الإسكندرية)
حفل «وشوشة الورد» (مكتبة الإسكندرية)

في ليلة «وشوشة الورد» الموسيقية التي عزفت خلالها فرقة أوركسترا مكتبة الإسكندرية العديد من مقطوعات الموسيقار راجح داود، بقيادة المايسترو ناير ناجي، استعاد جمهور المسرح الكبير بمركز المؤتمرات أجواء الأفلام التي صمم ديكوراتها مهندس الديكور الراحل صلاح مرعي.
وقد جاء اختيار مقطوعات ليلة «وشوشة الورد» الموسيقية، بعناية، لكي تكون رسالة معبرة عن مزيج من الحنين للماضي والاعتراف بالجميل لكل من يمنحون المحبة والسلام ويمضون لتبقى آثارهم في نفوس من عرفوهم وعاشوا معهم.
وعزفت الفرقة بعض مؤلفات داود التي أهداها لزوجته، وكان من بينها مقطوعة «مهرج السيرك»، كما أهدى لصديق عمره الراحل الفنان صلاح مرعي، مقطوعة «وشوشة الورد»، التي اُقتبس منها عنوان الحفل.
وأعادت المقطوعة الجديدة للأذهان أجواء أعمال صلاح مرعي السينمائية، ومن أبرزها فيلم «المومياء» للمخرج الراحل شادي عبد السلام، والذي صمم مرعي مناظره.
وعن مقطوعة «وشوشة الورد»، يقول الموسيقار راجح داود لـ«الشرق الأوسط» إنه قام بتأليفها تحية لروح صديق عمره، مهندس الديكور الفنان الراحل صلاح مرعي، الذي يعتبره من أهم فناني الديكور في مصر، وصاحب تاريخ طويل في العمل السينمائي، وأحد أشهر مصممي المناظر السينمائية في تاريخ السينما المصرية، بعدما تتلمذ على يد المخرج الراحل شادي عبد السلام، وصاحبه في رحلة عمله السينمائي، وشارك في أعمال كثيرة، منها «رابعة العدوية» و«أمير الدهاء»، و«السمان والخريف»، وخصوصاً أعماله الأولى، وكان ينفذ ديكورات أفلامه وملابس أبطالها.
وأضاف داود: «حين توفي صلاح مرعي في مارس (آذار) 2011. أردت أن أهدي له مقطوعة موسيقية تعبر عن روحه، فمرعي كان هادئاً دائماً، وصاحب صوت خفيض يشبه الوشوشة، وكان حين يتحدث تشعر أن صوته كله عطر، وأن لكلامه عبيراً ورائحته جميلة، ومن هنا كان تسمية المقطوعة الموسيقية التي قمت بتأليفها بهذا الاسم، تعبيراً عن تقديري له كإنسان وصديق».
وذكر داود أن «وشوشة الورد» لها معنى ومضمون معنوي، يمكن أن تشعر به بنفسك، لكنه لا يمكن الإمساك به في تعبير معين، فلا يوجد معنى محدد لها يمكن التعبير عنه بكلمات واضحة».
وقد استمع جمهور الحفل لمؤلفات داود الموسيقية الأخرى، بعضها تعتبر أعمالاً كلاسيكية بحتة، وبعضها تم تأليفه كموسيقى تصويرية صاحبت أعمالاً سينمائية ودرامية مثل «الكبريت الأحمر»، و«في زمن العولمة».



Williams Sisters Reunite Their Iconic Doubles Team, Losing Narrowly but Thrilling the New York Crowd

Venus Williams and Serena Williams of the United States before their Women's Doubles match against Hao-Ching Chan of Taiwan and Maya Joint of Australia on Day Six of the 2026 US Open at USTA Billie Jean King National Tennis Center on September 04, 2026 in the Flushing neighborhood of the Queens borough of New York City. (Getty Images/AFP)
Venus Williams and Serena Williams of the United States before their Women's Doubles match against Hao-Ching Chan of Taiwan and Maya Joint of Australia on Day Six of the 2026 US Open at USTA Billie Jean King National Tennis Center on September 04, 2026 in the Flushing neighborhood of the Queens borough of New York City. (Getty Images/AFP)
TT

Williams Sisters Reunite Their Iconic Doubles Team, Losing Narrowly but Thrilling the New York Crowd

Venus Williams and Serena Williams of the United States before their Women's Doubles match against Hao-Ching Chan of Taiwan and Maya Joint of Australia on Day Six of the 2026 US Open at USTA Billie Jean King National Tennis Center on September 04, 2026 in the Flushing neighborhood of the Queens borough of New York City. (Getty Images/AFP)
Venus Williams and Serena Williams of the United States before their Women's Doubles match against Hao-Ching Chan of Taiwan and Maya Joint of Australia on Day Six of the 2026 US Open at USTA Billie Jean King National Tennis Center on September 04, 2026 in the Flushing neighborhood of the Queens borough of New York City. (Getty Images/AFP)

“Welcome to the Williams Show," read one fan's sign in Arthur Ashe Stadium on Friday night, as Venus and Serena Williams took the court for their doubles match, a quarter-century after first facing each other in the 2001 US Open final.

A quarter-century of playing pro tennis at a top level — at any level — is not a very common thing. And even more incredibly, the Williams sisters, now ages 46 and 44, showed they can still come agonizingly close to beating a top team that is cumulatively around half their age. In a three-set thriller that delighted a packed and vocal evening crowd, the sisters fell short only at the end, blowing a 5-0 lead in the final 10-point tiebreak to lose to Hao-Ching Chan of Taiwan and Maya Joint of Australia, 6-3, 6-7 (6), 7-6 (10-7).

So it was indeed quite a thrilling show — even the sisters themselves, narrowly defeated, walked off with smiles on their faces, though they declined to speak to the media afterward.

“It was an amazing match,” Joint said. “They played really well, and I think just the atmosphere on the court ... I don’t think either of us has experienced quite like that before. And playing two legends of the game is just a super special moment that we might not get again.”

The hugely entertaining evening came four years after the sisters last played doubles together at Flushing Meadows. That match came just a few weeks after Serena Williams announced, in a poignant Vogue essay, that she was “evolving away from tennis.” The headline used the dramatic word “farewell,” though Williams presciently noted she disliked the word “retirement.”

Whatever the wording, though, the message was clear: Daughter Olympia really wanted to be a big sister. And Williams knew she couldn’t accomplish that and still play tennis the way she wanted. She could not, in other words, have it all.

“Something’s got to give,” Williams wrote, in words that resonated with many women, in sports and beyond.

Well, Olympia got her little sister. And this year, her mom was fulfilling another of Olympia’s requests: that she play doubles again at the US Open with Aunt Venus.

“You need to play with Auntie VeVe,” 9-year-old Olympia told her, Serena Williams said this week on ABC's “Good Morning America.”

“She said it so clear and so calm,” Williams said. “She's like my mom, she doesn't really talk a lot, but when she does talk, you listen. And I was like, ‘OK.’”

And so the sisters returned as a team to the tournament where Serena won six singles titles, and Venus two — one of them against Serena, who returned the favor the following year. That 2001 victory for the elder sister came a full quarter-century ago — which was enough to give fans goose bumps that this partnership is alive.

“I’m happy for them,” said longtime tennis fan Nonie Green, of Arlington, Virginia, as she waited out a rain shower between matches earlier this week. “Father Time is undefeated. But I'm happy for them, even if they don’t win.”

They indeed didn't win Friday's match, but they made it a close fight — thrilling the crowd with some vintage volleys as they took the second set tiebreak to force a decider, then came close to winning that set.

The unique nature of the evening was clear before a ball was struck, during player introductions. After a fairly routine introduction for Chan and Joint, the announcer moved on to the Williamses: “They’ve transformed and elevated the sport as we know it,” he said. “They’re two of the greatest athletes of all time.”

As a doubles team, the sisters won two of their 14 Grand Slam titles at the US Open — in 1999 and 2009. They last played together at Flushing Meadows in 2022, also losing in the first round. This year, they had to scrap their appearance at Wimbledon because of Serena’s knee injury, but they played in Cincinnati last month.

But victory or defeat does not seem, for many fans, the point. The point is that they're back in the spotlight.

Green, the fan from Virginia, recalled something a former pastor had told her: “Even the sky is not the limit. You can go beyond it.”

Which sounds just like the lesson Serena Williams now wants to teach her daughters — and why, four years after stepping away from tennis, she is back, at least in doubles and probably, she said on “Good Morning America,” in singles again soon.

“I just really want my children to see me play at a different age,” she said.

“I hope to show them that anything is possible. You can do anything at any age as long as you work hard and put some effort and dedication behind it.”


Trump Sends Envoys to Moscow, Kyiv with New Plan to ‘End War’

Russian presidential envoy Kirill Dmitriev, US President Donald Trump's special envoy Steve Witkoff and son-in-law Jared Kushner attend a meeting with Russian President Vladimir Putin at the Kremlin in Moscow, Russia, December 2, 2025. (Sputnik/Alexander Kazakov/Pool via Reuters)
Russian presidential envoy Kirill Dmitriev, US President Donald Trump's special envoy Steve Witkoff and son-in-law Jared Kushner attend a meeting with Russian President Vladimir Putin at the Kremlin in Moscow, Russia, December 2, 2025. (Sputnik/Alexander Kazakov/Pool via Reuters)
TT

Trump Sends Envoys to Moscow, Kyiv with New Plan to ‘End War’

Russian presidential envoy Kirill Dmitriev, US President Donald Trump's special envoy Steve Witkoff and son-in-law Jared Kushner attend a meeting with Russian President Vladimir Putin at the Kremlin in Moscow, Russia, December 2, 2025. (Sputnik/Alexander Kazakov/Pool via Reuters)
Russian presidential envoy Kirill Dmitriev, US President Donald Trump's special envoy Steve Witkoff and son-in-law Jared Kushner attend a meeting with Russian President Vladimir Putin at the Kremlin in Moscow, Russia, December 2, 2025. (Sputnik/Alexander Kazakov/Pool via Reuters)

US President Donald Trump said Friday he is sending envoys Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner to Moscow and Kyiv with a plan to end more than four years of war in Ukraine.

The move marks Washington's latest bid to break a diplomatic stalemate in Europe's deadliest conflict since World War II, which began with Russia's full-scale invasion of Ukraine in 2022.

A senior Ukrainian official told AFP the envoys were due in Kyiv on Sunday.

US outlet Axios reported they would meet Russian President Vladimir Putin in Moscow on Saturday, and then President Volodymyr Zelensky in Kyiv on Sunday. The Kremlin declined to comment.

Trump told reporters that the two negotiators would seek to gauge whether progress towards peace was possible.

Peace efforts have stalled due to Washington's war with Iran, while Moscow and Kyiv have intensified long-range attacks, driving up civilian casualties to levels not seen since the start of fighting.

"I sent Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner, two great negotiators. They've done a great job, and we sent them over to see whether or not we can get something done. And there may be a good chance that we'll do it," Trump said.

"They're bringing with them a proposal to end the war," he said.

The US president would not say whether the plan involved Ukraine ceding territory as he has previously suggested, but added: "We have an idea for peace."

It will be the first time that Trump's businessman friend Witkoff and son-in-law Kushner have visited war-torn Kyiv since Trump returned to office last year with a pledge to resolve the conflict.

Witkoff and Kushner, who have been involved in negotiations for ceasefires in Gaza and Iran, have travelled repeatedly to Moscow in previous attempts at diplomacy.

- Grinding war -

The renewed push for diplomacy comes as Russia and Ukraine pummel each other with long-range missile and drone attacks.

Just hours before Trump's announcement, a Russian drone struck the headquarters of Ukraine's SBU security service in central Kyiv, according to Zelensky.

The strike, which Zelensky said was aimed at the office of the agency's acting chief, was the first on its headquarters since the start of the invasion.

Despite the unprecedented nature of the strike, the Ukrainian president proposed observing a ceasefire with Russia for the duration of the US envoys' trip.

"There will be no airstrikes on our part, and Russia must reciprocally ensure a ceasefire -- without its own airstrikes -- for the duration needed to conduct these talks," he said in his evening address.

Russia did not immediately comment on the proposal.

Hours later, Oleksandr Ganzha, head of the Dnipropetrovsk regional military administration, said a Russian strike killed four people and wounded five in the southeastern city of Kamianske.

Zelensky had said on Wednesday that Russian airspace would be "completely unsafe" and filled with Ukrainian drones as long as Moscow continued its war.

Witkoff and Kusher's trip comes more than week after a rare visit to Moscow by CIA director John Ratcliffe, who warned Russia against any attack on NATO member states, according to US media.

Earlier this week, the United States welcomed the Russian finance minister at a G20 gathering in North Carolina.


One Dead, 11 People Missing After Mudslide in China’s Jiangxi Province

A drone view shows rescue workers evacuating flood-affected residents by boat after heavy rainfall from Typhoon Saudel, in Putian, Fujian province, China September 4, 2026. (China Daily via Reuters)
A drone view shows rescue workers evacuating flood-affected residents by boat after heavy rainfall from Typhoon Saudel, in Putian, Fujian province, China September 4, 2026. (China Daily via Reuters)
TT

One Dead, 11 People Missing After Mudslide in China’s Jiangxi Province

A drone view shows rescue workers evacuating flood-affected residents by boat after heavy rainfall from Typhoon Saudel, in Putian, Fujian province, China September 4, 2026. (China Daily via Reuters)
A drone view shows rescue workers evacuating flood-affected residents by boat after heavy rainfall from Typhoon Saudel, in Putian, Fujian province, China September 4, 2026. (China Daily via Reuters)

One person has been confirmed dead and 11 others remain missing after torrential rains triggered a mudslide ‌early Saturday ‌morning in ‌a ⁠town in China's Jiangxi ⁠Province, local authorities said.

Due to heavy rainfall brought by Typhoon Saudel, ⁠the mudslide struck around ‌4 ‌a.m. (2000 GMT ‌Friday) Saturday in Gaoping ‌Town of Jiangxi's Suichuan County, damaging 12 houses, the county ‌said in a statement.

State broadcaster ⁠CCTV ⁠also reported more than 10 people were trapped after the landslide hit the same town, state broadcasters CCTV reported.