Beatson Report - Selwyn Manning Interviews Opera Singer Ashraf Sewailam
Channel: LiveNewsNZ
Date: 2012-06-06

Beatson Report - Selwyn Manning interviews Opera Singer, Arab Spring protester, academic, and the first person in the world to vote in Egypt's fully democratic 2012 elections -  Ashraf Sewailam.

Ashraf Sewailam is a world acclaimed bass baratone opera singer who is in New Zealand to perform in NBR New Zealand Opera's Rigoletto.

He talks of how while taking his Arab Spring activism to the streets of New York's Manhattan, singing the Egyptian national anthem in Times Square, he found the American public sympathetic to his country's plight. He discusses what we can expect to emerge from Egypt and other north African countries as populations rise up and aspire to remove despots and totalitarian governments from power.

Ashraf Sewailam also talks about Rigoletto and also sings a rendition of Show Boat's Ole Man River.