Sharkiat remains at the forefront of the emerging alternative music scene. Aly El-Guindy speaks with Fathy Salama, the band's founder, and driving force "I started playing the piano at the age of six, the accordion even younger. I was a very big fan of the radio. I would tune the radio to find out about different kinds of sounds, channels, music. I started liking traditional music from different countries in addition to jazz, even though back then I did not know what to call it or what category to class it under. My parents also played lots of different kinds of music in our house and like practically everyone else in the Middle East would wait for the Umm Kulthoum broadcast on the radio every Thursday. I started playing music professionally at the age of 13 in Sharie al-Haram (Pyramid Street), in the smallest, kinkiest places. I knew from that early that my life was going to be connected to music and to this kind of scene. I was brought up with different kinds of musicians and nightclubs and that very particular scene is part of my history really. I continued my schooling while pursuing my musical career. Everybody told me that I had a very good ear, which meant I could figure out how to play a tune just by listening to it. But I also learned how to read musical notes so I could play classical music. I went to college and graduated as a civil engineer but throughout my student years I was playing popular oriental and western music. Later I traveled to Abu Dhabi to play in a hotel band, where I stayed for a year. It was a very important experience for me because I came across many musicians from different parts of the world -- Indians, British, Egyptians -- and learned more diverse musical genres. After that I went to Europe for the first time, to London, Italy and France. I stayed in London for one year in the 70's, when punk was emerging. I played with different punk groups. When I came back to Egypt I got to know Yehia Khalil and became part of his band. We also started composing and arranging music for Mohamed Mounir. In the 80's I went to New York. I was lucky enough to interact and play with musicians such as Berry Harris, Hal Gualibber and Sun Raa. They were big names in the history of jazz and I learned a lot from them. I eventually came back to Cairo and resumed working with Mohamed Mounir, arranging loads of music for him. I worked throughout the 80's with pop singers. I arranged Amr Diab's first big hit, Mayal. The same with Anoushka and her first big hit, Bahebbak. With Medhat Saleh, Aly El-Haggar and many other famous Egyptian singers it was the same story. I was for a time part and parcel of the commercial scene that continues till now. In 1988 I decided to form my own band and make my own music. That was the start of Sharkiat. Sharkiat was like finding our own roots but in an innovative way. We wanted music that would have a contemporary spirit, that was not the equivalent of mummies in the museum. We didn't want music picked from the dust-laden shelf of tradition. We wanted to draw on musical roots, on the past, but to feed something new. I had connections with the big companies and labels in Egypt from my commercial days but they did not want to support me in making my own music. They thought, simply, that it wasn't sufficiently commercial. Fortunately since I had traveled a lot during the 80's I knew many musicians. Through my friends and contacts I was able to arrange Sharkiat's first concert in Germany in 1989. Since then we have released eight CDs worldwide and have performed more than 2,000 concerts, covering most of Europe, Japan and many African countries. Maybe I should speak about my idea of what is oriental and western in music because this has been a subject of many debates and conflicts. I do not believe that music can be measured by some sort of a compass that points to whether it is western or eastern! Let's look at the most traditional Arabic music. The names of the scales, which are called maqamat, or the original rhythms of Arabic music called droub, half of them have non-Arabic names. There was a lot of mixing, of intercultural interaction. It is an open field. Isolation in music is stupid. For example the guitar, considered a western instrument, can be used to play Spanish, Arabic or even Chinese tunes. The flute and the nay and the kawla are all different names but the idea behind the instrument is the same. You find the pentatonic scale, which consists of five notes, has been in existence since the times of the Pharaohs. The flutes they used consisted of five notes, as do Nubian and Sudanese flutes as well those of many other African countries. The scales of rock, jazz and blues also consist of five notes. Chinese, Japanese, as well as the Ragas, which are the traditional notes of Indian music, also consist of five notes. If you look at traditional eastern-Arabian Gulf music you find clear influence of Persian and Indian traditions, which is only to be expected given geographical proximity. If one goes north to Morocco you will find African tribal flavours in the music. In African countries you will find oriental and Swahili influence. Go west you will find a lot of oriental music incorporated. So this taxonomy of music as western or eastern is a lie. There are no ethnic or geographical borders in music. I am against putting tags on music. Tags and categorisations are put on music so that it can be organised on shelves in music stores. We tried with Sharkiat to incorporate international roots. Sharkiat is more of a workshop than a conventional band. It has included more than 2,000 musicians from all over the world. I am always keen on bringing new members to the band because it brings new blood. For example the band now has a French saxophone player, an Algerian singer, a Senegalese shagat player. We use a variety of instruments such as mezmar, rababa , accordion, arghoul, qanun. We try not to isolate our music. One of the projects Sharkiat recorded, for example, was with a Punk band from Geneva called Maniacs. We released a CD, Don't Climb up the Pyramids. The album was recorded in Shubra and mixed by Abba's sound engineer. We also worked with an English corporation called The Big Chill that incorporated electronic visual effects in the performance. My latest project is with the Senegalese singer Youssendour who had a big hit with "Seven Seconds". One of our CDs will be released this coming May by Warner Brothers. Senti Allah, "Thank you God", deals with Sufi music from Senegal and Egypt and the connection between them. Locally, I worked with The National Theatre. I also won a prize with my film score for Gannet al- Shayateen (The Heaven of Devils) directed by Osama Fawzi and a short movie called Alamat Abril (The Signs of April) with Ahmed Maher. I am like my music. I don't have a specific residency in one country but I move around. I used to live in Germany for example. Now I am living between France and Egypt. France is home to many national communities, a hangover from its imperial history. To me this qualifies it as being the centre of world music. There I was influenced by North African music. The development of my style is linked to the fact that I am very open to new knowledge and to the places I visit and the people I meet. I am always ready to learn something new. Music for me is not a profession but a way of life. I take inspiration from every sound I hear and everything I see. I don't play music for the people, I play music for myself. I do not play so I will sell. If people like it then that is fine and if they don't that is also fine. Some people describe our style as "free playing", but there is no such thing. Freedom rises from knowledge. Freedom that rises from ignorance is simply chaos. We strive for a freedom that rises from knowledge. We offer an alternative scent on the Egyptian musical scene. I don't see a problem in the existence of commercial music. It exists all over the world. Unfortunately, in Egypt, even within the category of commercial music there is no diversity. In the west commercial music is very diverse -- rap, reggae, pop, rock -- but here it is all the same. The limited number of choices makes the mind less accepting. Musical taste tends to be narrow because of the lack of available alternatives. Now lyrics are silly. There is a redundancy creeping in. All the songs and video clips sound the same. Everybody is selling themselves cheaply. If you ask a listener to whom they are listening they often tell you they don't know. Of course don't, it all sounds the same. Sharkiat opened up an alternative music movement. Few bands in Egypt can compete with us live because we practice so much and have such a broad musical base. Now there are a lot of groups that perform alternative music, playing in such places as the Opera House and the Al-Sawy Cultural Centre. They have a lot of followers. I think this will be the next happening scene. Alternative music will emerge."
