Like phantoms from my childhood, I vividly remember the members of the Hassaballah Troupe, all dressed in khaki, marching in a wedding procession and playing their brass instruments that have very distinctive sounds, only to disappear at the end of the street where the wedding was being held. The shadows of the Hassaballah Troupe are engraved in my memory, and I became more than ever aware of this when I watched the film Sharei Al-Hobb (Love Street, 1958), which tells the story of the troupe. The scene in which the moloukheya pot flies up into the air to land on the head of the great comedian Abdel-Salam Al-Nabulsi, playing Hassaballah XVI, remains iconic. Broke and unemployed, the troupe's members cheer at the sight of the moloukheya that has landed all over Hassaballah's khaki suit and start eating it with pieces of bread. The film continues by saying that this was the same troupe that believed in the talent of singer Abdel-Halim Hafez and donated every piastre it earned to pay the fees of the music institute that he wanted to join and from where he skyrocketed to fame. For a long time I thought the Hassaballah Troupe was just history. But then creative artist Intessar Abdel-Fattah, who has come up with many successful projects to revive Egyptian folkloric arts and music, started the Cairo Arts of a Thousand Years project at the Al-Ghouri Caravansary in Islamic Cairo, where to the surprise of many the Hassaballah Troupe rose from the ashes and brass music once again filled the air. The head of the troupe today is Ezzat Al-Fayoumi, who agreed to meet with Al-Ahram Weekly at the Al-Mosheer café on Mohamed Ali Street in the Cairo district of Attaba. The choice of venue could not have been more appropriate. Mohamed Ali Street is the most famous arts street in Egypt. It is where many artists came to prominence in the old days, and even today it hosts many shops that sell oriental musical instruments despite the fact that other shops have begun springing up in other areas. Mohamed Ali Street was also where iconic belly dancers and singers rose to fame and where many important films have been shot. For example, the scene in Love Street in which the great musician Gadolio hides from the police only to reappear later to save his godson, played by Hafez (or as he is better known, Halim), was filmed in Mohamed Ali Street. The classic film Khali Balak min Zouzou (Take Care of Zouzou), based on the true story of a famous journalist who I worked with for a long period, was also filmed there. The journalist was raised in Mohamed Ali Street by her mother, who was a belly dancing star. Al-Fayoumi told the Weekly that he comes from Fayoum. “In 1965 alone, I worked with Ahmed Al-Bakri, Ahmed Abdel-Halim and Ahmed Al-Geddawi,” he said. Although these names may not be famous, they were key to the rise of the Hassaballah Troupe. “You can hear the best Hassaballah music here in Mohamed Ali Street and in Fayoum, Mansoura and the countryside,” Al-Fayoumi said. “Back in 1965 when there was no television, artists who didn't work at moulids [religious festivals] had no experience of music. The government troupes only knew the pieces they had to perform, but we knew them all,” he boasted. “For example, the legendary singer Um Kulthoum was taught and worked at moulids. Artists Naima Akef and Sabreen were brought up in a circus before becoming famous in cinema. It was the latter who later played the role of Um Kulthoum in a soap opera. The same thing goes for Ibrahim Kadri, famous for the role of ‘Ashour the Lion Heart' in the movie of the same name.” And the list doesn't end there for Al-Fayoumi. “We taught Hassan Al-Imam, the well-known film director, and Hussein Kamal, who directed Nahnu la Nazraa al-Shoak [We Don't Plant Thorns], and his team were frequent visitors on the Hassaballah stage. They wanted to learn how we worked in order to produce their films in the same way.” Journalist Ibrahim Eissa recounted how the troupe was formed: “Mohamed Ali Pasha, who established modern Egypt at the beginning of the 19th century, sought the aid of Suleiman Bek Al-Faransawi to build an Egyptian national army. With the army came military music, and Al-Faransawi formed a brass troupe, one of whose members was a conscript named Mohamed Hassaballah. On his retirement from the army, Hassaballah moved to Mohamed Ali Street and established the troupe that until today has retained a military uniform and bears his name.” In an article entitled “The Hassaballah Troupe in Egyptian Music: A Historical Report and Analysis of Performance Techniques,” researcher Ahmed Al-Henawi writes: “Mohamed Hassaballah was a skilled clarinet player taught by Italian professors. After his retirement, together with fellow conscripts who played brass and wooden musical instruments in the army troupe, later named the Symphonic Group of the Egyptian Army, he formed a musical band.” He continues, “Hassaballah was loved by several princesses at the time. He made a huge fortune and was always very well dressed. The soles of his shoes were made of gold.” After the “legendary wedding of Princess Zahia early in the last century, the then khedive Abbas Helmi called him ‘Hassaballah Pasha' in a decree that gave him the status of pasha. But Hassaballah didn't maintain his wealth or his glory. He wasted all his money and he died a poor man in his shop on Mohamed Ali Street.” Along with Al-Fayoumi, the late Abdallah Shalabi co-created the currently existing Hassaballah Troupe. In an early recording available online, Shalabi recounts the story of the establishment of the troupe, which in his version is similar to Al-Henawi's but has a few significant differences. According to Shalabi, Mohamed Hassaballah was a clarinet player in the police, not the army, and it was “the buttons of his jacket that were made of gold,” not the soles of his shoes. Gold blazer buttons are in fact a trademark of the Hassaballah Troupe. However, there is no doubt that the troupe appeared at parties held by the khedive Abbas, King Fouad, King Farouk and senior figures and members of high society. During the interview, recorded shortly before Shalabi died, he called for “supporting the legacy of the troupe financially and supplying its members with new musical instruments and making films about its history.” He added that troupe members should be “taken care of financially and there should be pensions allocated to them.” In Love Street, the founding member of the troupe introduces himself, saying, “I am Hassaballah XVI, the last of the Hassaballah Dynasty that conquered all the squares in Egypt, from Al-Husseineya Square to Al-Madbah Square and from Cairo to Alexandria. I am Hassaballah the spring of art, the Napoleon of the brass band, though I have been accompanied by poverty and misfortune.” Al-Fayoumi invited the present writer to the district of Al-Moneib, where I was able to witness a bride's furniture procession. This is an old Egyptian tradition where the parents of the bride celebrate moving her new furniture to her new home. Usually the procession is held for the parents to boast about their wealth and as a message to the neighbourhood that their daughter has been married off with the best of everything. The celebration commenced with the Hassaballah Troupe, led by Al-Fayoumi, singing and playing at the groom's house. The procession then moved to the building where the bride resides. For more than an hour the family of the bride shifted the new furniture from their balconies and onto trucks as women danced to the tunes of the Hassaballah Troupe. It just so happened that another wedding was taking place in the same street, and this decided to join the first wedding to dance to the Hassaballah music. A week after our meeting, Al-Fayoumi took me to a wedding at one of New Cairo's upscale mosques. He pointed out that wealthy families also like folkloric traditions such as Hassaballah wedding processions. We waited outside the door of the mosque because the musicians were not allowed in. On the exit of the bride and groom, the troupe's music filled the air, proving that even though times may change, Egyptians' love for Hassaballah music does not.
