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Free music
Published in Al-Ahram Weekly on 24 - 03 - 2005


Serene Assir dances along to eclectic rhythms
For the third memorable night on Monday, an open-air stretch of the Cairo Opera House grounds was transformed. Hostage for the third time running to the annual International Francophone Music Festival, an eclectic event if ever one existed, the atmosphere of the area between the Hanager Theatre and the Music Library went from calm repose -- quaint though it is, it sometimes feels almost boring -- to impossibly effervescent excitement: joy, love, live experimentation and even the denunciation of political injustice.
This year, in fact, the festival was filled with magic -- the power of the music, the critical intelligence of those who performed and organised it, and the ideal of true worldliness to which it aspired. And the audience loved it, both its purely Cairene and Western or African immigrant constituencies. With artists (including Algerian-French world music star Rachid Taha -- see above ) flying into performances from the Ivory Coast, Canada, France and Lebanon, the variety of styles and moods ensured that there was something for everyone, and in all five concerts such a variegated audience made for both a highly cosmopolitan atmosphere and a delightfully energetic response, with Taha's Saturday night performance especially turning into a party filled with emotional as well as physical dynamism.
"The main point of attraction for me was the slogan, 'music without borders'," Mahmoud Ibrahim, an Egyptian residing in the United States, told me while we waited for the Ivory Coast's Serge Kassy & Les Roots to go on stage. "I really think that as Cairo becomes more and more cosmopolitan, this mixture of cultures can produce something positive and beautiful, especially in music, the freest of all languages."
And while the concept of razing barriers is often associated exclusively with politics, the artists performing in Cairo managed to tear down walls -- painlessly, and on many levels. The exchange of otherwise mutually incompatible instruments and styles proved smooth, skilful -- and extraordinarily beautiful.
Perhaps the most notably adventurous performance was that of the Bumcello band on Monday night. With French Vincent Segal on electric violoncello and multitalented percussionist Egyptian-French Cyril Atef, the duet became a full band late into the performance as they were joined by Nubian singer Hassan El- Sughayyar, Egyptian arghul player Amin, percussionists from Cameroon and Sudan, an accordionist and a saxophone player. Bumcello's music constitutes an intriguing blend of Eastern, traditional sounds and rhythm variations stretching from samba and house to jazz on the one hand, and a fusion of the old and the new on the other. Before they were joined by the international set of instrumentalists, Atef and Segal played out sample rhythms and melodies.
The latter also controlled a live recording system that reproduced the last phrases played, layering them one on top of the other -- until the apparent scarcity of the opening lines turned into a full sound with basic rhythms and melodies constantly shaped and reshaped into harmony upon harmony. Most exciting of all, perhaps, was the effortless perfection with which music from the four corners of the earth found its way onto a single stage, with each individual musical moment nonetheless remaining distinct.
Equally exciting was Taha's performance, which blended traditional Algerian rai with rock. By far the most successful in terms of attendance, this was a passionate, raw exhortation, with the vast majority of songs based on rock rhythms but flavoured with Eastern melodies -- in blunt, uncomplicated fashion. The music was more about mood and the creation of a free, explosive atmosphere than technique, and the band's delivery was energetic, becoming more and more so as the audience engaged with it. Many of us danced throughout -- some focussing on the tabla improvisations and Algerian melodies and so adopting an Arab style, others reflecting the rock side of things, but all together. And when Taha tried to bid us farewell, the cheers kept his band on stage for a further two songs. This, I felt, was precisely what world music should be about -- a release from constraint, seeking harmony in absolute freedom. "I want to find the kind of aeroplane that can take me to the sun," Taha exclaimed.
Similarly liberating, though in a very different way, was the music of Serge Kassy on Sunday evening. It was through chill-out reggae rhythms and mellow, warm sounds that the music was rendered -- a spelling out of the injustices borne day in day out by the people of the performer's small West African country. At once joyous and terrible, the performance made for an extremely vivid experience -- a celebration of life.
Also performing were Walid Tawfiq from Lebanon and Steff Paquette from Canada. While the Lebanese star sang popular Middle East numbers, Paquette mixed blues with jazz, long-time favourite genres among Cairene audiences. "It's so great that such a festival should be held here," Sayed Ibrahim, son of Mahmoud, divulged to me. "In the West, we've become very accustomed to hearing world music, but it's something which was definitely missing here in Egypt." French-born Fawzia from Morocco agreed: "World music is so important, it teaches tolerance." And so did Sayed's uncle: "You see, if there were more events like this, there would be so much more space for free expression in Cairo. But as things stand, though you see that the people who do come are really enjoying themselves, most people don't know about these events. There is a lack of marketing because cultural life here is controlled by the state, and all the state is interested in is in making a fast buck. But world events provide a platform for things to happen which don't usually happen."
Indeed, while the festival organisers set out to promote the alleged unity of the international conglomerate of French-speaking nations, the musicians' delivery was such that passion for life and music, not for any spoken language, was paramount.
Taha went further than the rest by ironically thanking French President Jacques Chirac "for this great opportunity", commending the exportation through years of colonialism of the French language. He also unwittingly raised, in a highly intelligent way, the way in which linguistically, the British had been more successful in their colonisation of Egypt. He tested his claim by shouting "Are you ready?" into the microphone, and when he received his reply in cheers from the crowd, he laughed, "You see? They've been colonised. These people have been colonised. But still, we were all born Arab, and that we shall never forget." Upon which his band broke into a revamped rock version of a Farid Al-Atrash classic, and all were freed by the music, yet again, as the dancing began.
"I was born in France, I have French nationality, but if anyone asks me where I'm from, I am Algerian, because that is what I am," Walid, who is in his 20s, announced in a mixture of elation and pride. "We don't forget, but I don't think now's the time to talk about how the Algerians suffered under the French, because look at what is happening now in Iraq, that is much more important now." Nor was Taha reserved in his outright denunciation of US actions across the globe -- a particularly interesting feat, in the light of the setting.
"I think this festival is important because it brings all of these very different nations together and puts them on an equal footing. For once, we break away from reality," Ulric Shannon, coordinator of the festival and third secretary at the Canadian Embassy in Cairo, declared. "And for once," he added emphatically, "we have an international conglomerate which does not include the US."


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