CAIRO - I've had many discussions with people who don't know much about the history of our music. It makes me wonder why they don't read one or two of the books, articles or research papers written about this. They are everywhere and many of them are free online, so there is no excuse. To some people, Egyptian music is either pop songs that have been dominating the market for a while, or classical Arab numbers, which are not of purely local origin. I've had enough of that and I'm willing to share what I know, in brief, with everyone. I think we should start from the beginning. Ancient Egyptians were pioneers in almost every field, if not all fields. Thousands of years ago, we had a civilisation when most of the world was still living in the dark ages. This civilisation still amazes everyone and it seems it will always be an enigma – the world still can't figure out some of the things they built and invented. Music was essential even back in those days and my ancestors invented many instruments. Probably the most famous is the harp, but they also had wind, percussion and stringed instruments, which were of course different from the way they are today. As it was always the case in different cultures, music in ancient Egypt was used in temples rituals. Nowadays Coptic churches use music which is supposed to be quite similar to that kind of music in its hymns. When cultures mix, nations develop an interest in the music and arts of other nations, so our music and instruments became popular in other empires and made an impact on them. Time went by and it was our turn to be influenced by others. Mainly it was by two Arab countries – Syria and Iraq. However, Arab music back then was a mixture of a few genres coming from different nations and again the roots go back to ancient Egypt. Later, Turkish music left its mark on our local artists, in the days of the Ottoman Empire. What is referred to as ‘classical Arab music' now is a result of that. To coincide with the inauguration of Suez Canal, the old Cairo Opera House was built in 1869; it was the only one in the region for many decades. This helped in introducing classical music to some of our artists, who mixed it with local genres to come up with new styles. Others did the same with Spanish music and even waltzes. To be honest, I have to admit that some ripped off foreign music as well. A main asset in our heritage is folk music, which is purely Egyptian. People in some rural areas are still sticking to their roots and keeping folk music alive, but of course it evolved somehow. Nevertheless, they use purely Egyptian instruments like the rababa (a small string instrument played with a bow), the semsemeya (another string instrument which is plucked) and the mezmar (a wind instrument). Others who take pride in their folklore are Bedouin scattered all over Egypt. Tribes have their own music played on primitive instruments and a couple of years ago I attended a festival held in Marsa Alam, where Bedouin tribes performed their peculiar music. Frankly, it was hard for me to understand some of the vocabulary and also the dialect. It gets even harder to comprehend what Nubians sing about, but they surely kept their heritage well preserved and it has even been popularised by artists who have become really successful all over Egypt. Naturally they have reached that status by focusing more on the common Egyptian dialect, which is understood by all Arabs and not just Egyptians. Nowadays, folk songs have two main branches – ethnic music, that still clearly and proudly expresses the culture of the region of its origins, and, secondly a cross between modern folk and pop music. The latter genre is in slang and used to be quite funny in the old days, which helped it get across to the entire nation, especially when it was featured in old movies, played on the radio and later television. Just like many things in life, even songs like these have become much worse over time. What used to be funny is now rather rude and, instead of having catchy melodies, they sound mediocre at best. Of course there are some rare exceptions. Most of these numbers revolve around day-to-day life, love, friends and even politics from a shallow point of view. Life is usually mentioned as a burden and love is somehow interpreted in a more sensual way. Even songs about friendship often talk about backstabbers! These are very cynical and pessimistic approaches. In the old days such songs used to give advice or criticise issues and people in a funny, lighthearted way. They mocked people everyone enjoys making fun of, like a mother-in-law, a sugar daddy and so on. On the other hand, ethnic music is still decent and discusses real values. Although they talk about love, there are real patriotic numbers as well. One of the main assets of this genre is the mawal, which is a space given to the singer to perform freely and improvise until he or she gives a cue to return to the main melody. While singing a mawal, the vocalist can go on for a couple of minutes up and down music scales, improvising on the main melody while singing about love, homesickness or whatever the topic of the song is. Mawals are still performed a lot on classical Arabic songs as well. However, only good singers can pull it off – it takes someone with a powerful, wide-ranged voice and, naturally, a good background, to improvise within the proper scales. We have to admit that what most artists release today is a cross between Arab and international pop played on Western instruments like lead and bass guitars, keyboards and drums, with the addition of local percussions. Some recent mega hits have been a total rip-off of international hits and even jingles originally composed for TV commercials. To make things worse, some claim that these are their own compositions! How can anyone compose the exact tune of a Cat Stevens number or a Santa one after the original has been a hit all over the world? Why should someone use a cola jingle and claim that it is folklore? It's a litany of things that have messed up our industry but the real Egyptian genres still exist and I hope they always will. It is our heritage. Sing me your mawal to: [email protected]
