Top Mideast, Arab musicians set for Cairo musical dialogue
By Marwa al-A'sar Jun 26, 2007, 4:47 GMT
Cairo - Surrounded by a panoramic view of the ancient monuments of Cairo and Salah Eddin citadel, seven top oriental musicians are due to engage in a three-day musical dialogue on July 6.
At least a thousand Egyptians from the country's cultural community and music fans interested in non-commercial music, are expected to attend the performances featuring oriental compositions and improvisations, all held under the umbrella of Dozan Modern Oriental Music Festival.
'It is a good opportunity for music fans to listen to a collection of different compositions during a condensed period,' novelist and columnist Dr Sahar al-Mougy says.
'We can't easily get hold of such music in an era when low-quality Arabic pop music overwhelms the market,' she adds.
Organized by the Egyptian Culture Resource organisation, the festival will be held at Geneena open air theatre in Cairo's Azhar Park.
The festival programme includes three major concerts by the musicians: Raed Khoshaba (Iraq), Khaled Jubran (Palestine), Barbaros Erkose (Turkey), Youssra al-Dahaby (Tunis), Andre Hajj (Lebanon), Abdu Dagher and Hazem Jahine (Egypt).
They are scheduled to perform solo performances as well as joint recitals and improvisations.
One of the most-recognized participants is Palestinian Jubran, a composer and master of the oriental instruments of buzuq, a long- necked, fretted lute, and oud, a pear-shaped, stringed instrument, similar to a lute used in traditional Arabic and Middle Eastern music).
He is also the founder of al-Urmawi Centre for Mashreq (Eastern) Music, a Palestinian institution promoting innovation in Arab music and developing the skills of young Arab musicians.
Khaled Jubran has released two albums: Em El Khelkhal in 2000 and Mazamir in 2005.
Jubran is dissatisfied with the status of music in the Arab world, believing that festivals and public performances at cultural centres are a way for non-commercial musicians to reach people.
Arabic and oriental music, he says, currently reflect the deteriorating state of the Arab nations. 'If a society is prosperous, music will echo this prosperity and vice versa. 80 per cent of Arab listeners listen to commercial pop songs through video clip channels.'
Jubran's compositions are purely oriental, yet untraditional, with Iranian and Turkish touches based on instruments like buzuq and nai, an oriental wooden flute.
'My music represents the Arab people of the 21st century, not any other era,' Jubran says.
The festival is set to conclude with compositions and joint improvisations by renowned violinist and composer, Abdo Dagher, accompanied by the young, talented, composer and oud player, Hazem Jahine.
Dagher, whose training and methodology is accredited internationally, has given Egyptian music a unique flavour through using highly-sophisticated musical phrases and symphonic patterns, where traditions are combined with the contemporary.
Master of the traditional art of monodic (non-harmonized) Arabic music, he categorizes his music as 'classical Egyptian' and plays in Europe regularly.
Jahine, Dagher's festival companion, is an exceptional Egyptian oud player, composer and instructor. He is the founder of of the Egyptian band, Eskenderella, a group reviving Egyptian musical heritage.
He is a founding member of another musical band called Massar: Mazzika bas (Track: Only pure music), which released its first album in 2006. Jahine is reluctant to categorise music, he says. For him, 'music is a language with different dialects.'
Oriental music is characterized by a simple line of rhythm, melody and percussion. Yet some contemporary music composers have come up with new trends which include adding western instruments. Some have even orchestrated their music, adding to it a sense of harmony, while retaining its exotic nature.
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