Nubian musician 's concert at the Saqiyat El-Sawy in Cairo this week should help bring this traditional music to wider audiences, writes Rania Khallaf While I first heard the music of , a composer and performer of traditional Nubian music who is now receiving more of the recognition he deserves, in one of Cairo's downtown cafés some years ago, it was only this week that I attended one of his concerts. However, my reluctance to attend a concert may not be all that uncommon, since Murad says, "unlike foreigners, most [northern] Egyptians prefer to listen to lyrics they can understand." Born in 1966, Murad was raised in Toushka and then moved with his family to the Cairo district of Abdine, home to many people of Nubian origin in the 1960s. Following his graduation from the Faculty of Commerce, he spent some years studying the oud at the Arabic Music Institute in the city. However, his real training and inspiration came from his uncle, the internationally famous Nubian musician Hamza Alaaeddin who died two years ago. Alaaeddin had little success with Cairene audiences in the 1950s who were not accustomed to Nubian music, and as a result, Murad says, "my uncle emigrated to the United States, and I only saw him every four years or so on one of his visits to Cairo. However, to compensate for his absence I used to listen to his music on cassette, and now I have become his successor." Like many singers of his generation, Murad used to rehearse at Cairo University and then perform at smaller venues in Cairo, including the Zahret Al-Bostan, Al-Horriya and After Eight cafés, where, he says, he was able to establish good relations with many of the city's writers and musicians. Performing at the Al-Hanager Theatre in Cairo in the early 1990s drew wider attention to his talents and had a dual effect on his career. While the fact that Murad's name was associated with the restricted audience of Cairo's cultural elite may have slowed the development of his career, it also facilitated access to influential cultural figures and allowed him to participate in the Opera House's summer activities and represent southern Egypt at international music festivals. Murad has travelled to Italy several times to participate in festivals organised by the Egyptian Academy in Rome, the most notable of which was in 2003 when he met the Italian singer Benou Danial and performed a mix of Nubian and Italian songs. Danial had previously performed with popular North African singers Lutfi Bushnaq and Shab Mamy, but Murad explains, "these performances, recorded as Concerto, are not available in Egypt or the Arab countries because nobody seems interested in listening to new melodic styles." While Murad is not the sole representative of Nubian music today, since there are many others, including Mohamed Fawzi, who mostly performs at weddings and other festivals, and, perhaps most famous of all, Mohamed Mounir, Murad's use of only traditional instruments such as the drum, the oud, and tambourine marks him out from other performers who have increasingly incorporated electronic beats into their music. "Other Nubian singers have increasingly used electronic instruments in their performances, especially for weddings, but this is not my interest," Murad says. "The effect of the new media on all the arts has been very clear, and traditional music from the Sinai has also been affected by electronic music." One of Murad's best-known recent songs is El-Maria, written by Luxor poet Osama El-Khayat. This song, which always provokes lengthy applause, refers to Egypt as the homeland of both Muslims and Christians. Together with traditional Nubian songs like Ne'na' Al-Geneina (Mint of the Garden), it encourages audiences to dance and children to join in imitation of their elders. While Murad's audiences are still largely limited to Nubians and foreigners in Cairo and Alexandria, his wider Cairene audience is on the rise. Murad released his first album at his own expense in the early 1990s, but it was "a big failure", he says, "largely because I did not have a sponsor or producer. Even today, I do not have the resources to develop my career. Perhaps if I had used electronic instruments things would have been different, but I have never felt that I wanted to do that." On stage at the Saqiyat El-Sawy this week, Murad held his oud in his hands and constantly adjusted his microphone, a beautiful smile never disappearing from his face. In addition to the Nubian songs, he performed traditional Sudanese songs, one of which was the famous Al-Qamar Boba, an audience favourite that caused many people to get up and dance.
