Download Baladi, Classical and Folk – the Music

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Egyptian Music – Folk, Baladi, Classical,
Sha’abi and Pop
Guy Schalom, April 2011
Egyptian music – it‟s all the same, right? Not exactly. As with music from any country, there are
many different styles. Different styles of music have a different flavour and intention. Recognising
and understanding these differences will help you to fully appreciate the music (and as dancers, to
interpret it effectively).
This article will help you hear INSIDE the music. It is my own perspective of the main styles of
Egyptian music and the major elements which identify them.
When learning a piece of Egyptian music (or music from any other style), begin by asking yourself
some of these questions:
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What instruments do you hear?
In which language are the songs being sung?
What is happening in the piece? (is it a song? dance music? a complex compositions?
improvisation?)
Where would you expect to hear this music being performed?
What is the character of the piece? i.e. how does the melody make you feel?
What rhythms do you recognise?
The answers to these questions will enable you to understand Egyptian music well enough to
categorise it broadly into one of the five major genres. These are Classical, Folk, Baladi, Sha‟abi
and Pop.
FOLK
Essential Listening: Les Musiciens du Nil (the Musicians of the Nile), Metqal Qenawi, Fatme
Serhan,
Egyptian folk music (which includes Saiidi music – from Southern Egypt) is learnt by ear and is rarely
written down. In its native context, folk music is usually performed outdoors to accompany weddings
and other parties.
Whilst conducting musical field research in Luxor (Southern Egypt) I was lucky enough to witness a
(nowadays) rare stick-fighting contest on horseback between around 15 horsemen. The mizmar
(Egyptian oboe) band used to accompany this tournament was positioned on a stationary horse
wagon and could be heard throughout the village.
© Guy Schalom 2011
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Structure
The music is largely made of simple, catchy and repetitive songs sung in colloquial Egyptian dialect.
Purely instrumental versions of these songs which the audience can sing along to are also common.
All pieces may be introduced by an instrumental free-rhythm improvisation called a „taxim‟ played by
the lead melody player.
The Mawal (plural Mawawiil) is the soulful vocal genre common to Folk music. It is made up of
improvised verses beginning with the words "Ya leil, Ya aien" (meaning “oh night, oh eyes" which is
the Egyptian equivalent of “La, La, La”). Mawawiil do not normally utilise a rhythmic accompaniment.
Instruments
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Tabla (goblet drum) and duff (accompanying frame drum); mazhar (large Arabic tambourine);
sagat (finger cymbals)
Tabla baladi or tabla saiidi (literally „folk drum‟) - barrel drum played with a thin stick on one side
and a thick stick on the other.
Mizmar (reed instrument - sounds like an oboe)
Rababa (spike fiddle - upright violin)
sometimes Ney (wooden flute)
Arghul (an ancient and ethereal sounding reed instrument)
Rhythms
Common rhythms are Saiidi, Fallahi and Maqsoum all of which are played in a heavy and earthy
style. The rhythms are played heavily in the folk style because the music is often played outdoors
and therefore must be played more strongly (and loudly) for the sound to carry.
BALADI
Essential Listening: Samir Serour, Samy El Bably, Mustafa Sax, Sheiha, Hassan Abdel Seoud,
Sheik Taha, Farouk Salama, Guy Schalom & the Baladi Blues Ensemble
BALADI can mean many things, but as a musical style, it is Egypt‟s urban music of the mid-20th
Century. In the 1940‟s, Cairo and Alexandria were home to many European ex-pats and were
extremely cosmopolitan cities. Exposed to Western culture and music, Egyptian musicians soon
mastered European instruments such as the accordion, saxophone and trumpet and used them to
play the music of Egypt. This gives Baladi its distinctive sound.
Structure
Baladi music developed alongside the dance style which developed at weddings and other social
gatherings. It is made up of collections of „snippets of melody‟ from well known songs. The
repertoire is drawn from folk, classical or Sha‟abi traditions. These snippets of melody are often
interwoven into a complex improvisation known as „Ashra Baladi‟.
© Guy Schalom 2011
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Ashra Baladi was originally danced by non-professional dancers and is the dancer‟s opportunity to
demonstrate his or her attractiveness and social status. A more detailed description of Ashra Baladi
is found in Part 2 of Guy Schalom‟s article in Mosaic Magazine (Issue 53; Summer 2011) entitled
Baladi Blues.
Instruments
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Tabla, duff, riq (small Arabic tambourine), mazhar, large sagat, (no Tabla Saiidi)
Western melodic instruments such as accordion, saxophone and trumpet.
Sometimes the ney is also used
Nowadays, organs and keyboards may be used.
Rhythms
The most common rhythms in a Baladi improvisation are the typical folk rhythms (Saiidi, Fallahi and
Maqsoum), but they are played less heavily and progress more fluidly. Classical rhythms are also
common such as Wahda, Wahda Kebira, small Masmoudi and big Masmoudi – where the melody of
the „original‟ piece which is being improvised upon requires these rhythms.
CLASSICAL
Essential Listening: Oum Koulsoum, Abdel Halim Hafez, Mohammed Abdel Wahab, Laure
Daccache
Classical music from any culture is high art music, written down and composed by individuals who
may never perform the music. In Egypt, it is performed in concert halls by large orchestras made up
of highly trained musicians. Most of the music found in the Egyptian movies of the 1940s and 1950s
comes under the classical heading.
Structure
Egyptian classical music is made up of highly structured compositions that were influenced by
Ottoman (Turkish) music. Songs are sung in classical Arabic - that is the language of the Koran not Egyptian dialect. This strengthens its status as high art music.
The songs can be up to 1 hour in length and are made up of complex poetic verses set to music.
Singers of classical music are the most respected throughout Arabic society for their virtuosity,
expressiveness and interpretation of the complex lyrical and melodic material. Vocal sections are
punctuated by oud, violin or kanoun solos and (from the 1950s) saxophone and accordion solos as
well as long orchestral passages.
Instruments
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Tabla, duff,
Riq (often the lead percussion instrument)
String orchestra (violins, celli, double basses)
Ney and kawala (deep sounding wooden flute)
Oud (Arabic lute),
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Kanoun (dulcimer – a „table of strings‟ plucked with metal thimbles)
Western instruments such as organ, maracas, banjo (as composers searched for new sounds to
include in their compositions)
Rhythms
The most common ground rhythm is Wahda as it creates lots of space between each bass beat
(„dum‟) for the solo singer to fully and freely express the lyrics. Other common rhythms are
Masmoudi (all types), Wahda Kebira, Vox (this is like a jazz two step "oom-pah", influenced by
Western music) and Maqsoum.
Other more complex and intricate rhythms are also found in classical music because the musicians
were highly trained and the music was composed and written down (so needn‟t be memorised).
These include the Andalusian influenced Samaii Sakhil (in 10) and the Dor Hindi (7) as well as other
longer rhythms.
SHA’ABI
Essential Listening: Ahmed Adaweya, Anwar el Askari, Shabaan Abdul Raheem, Hakim (crossover with pop)
Sha‟abi can sound like a cross between Egyptian folk and Baladi music. It has the energy, drive and
simplicity of folk but uses European instruments associated with Baladi. You will often hear the
virtuoso playing of Egypt‟s greatest Baladi musicians on the older Sha‟abi recordings of Ahmed
Adaweya for instance.
Sha‟abi was the popular music of 1970s and 1980s Egypt. Sung in colloquial Arabic and often
including anti-governmental themes, Sha‟abi appealed greatly to the huge numbers of working class
people in Egypt.
Structure:
Popular Sha‟abi songs are simple and repetitive, often using a verse-chorus structure. They are
often derived from old folk melodies with the instrumental sections and vocal melodies borrowing
many themes from Baladi music.
The Mawal became increasingly popular in the cities as it created feelings of national pride and
nostalgia for one‟s home town or village and many Sha‟abi singers are also gifted Mawal singers.
Sha‟abi includes many musical features associated with Baladi such as call and response and
interchanging folk rhythms. Listen closely and you‟ll find these Baladi influences can even be heard
in the music of the today‟s Sha‟abi singers such as Hakim as well as that of Ahmed Adaweya from
the 1970‟s.
Instruments:
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Tabla, duff, riq, mazhar, large sagat, (no Tabla Saiidi)
Western melodic instruments such as accordion, saxophone and trumpet.
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Ney and violins
Nowadays, organs and keyboards and drum machines have been introduced.
Rhythms:
Today the Saiidi is the rhythm of choice in Sha‟abi music. It is the quintessential Egyptian rhythm
and reminds every Egyptian of where they came from (many classical composers also used Saiidi in
their music to create feelings of national pride).
The older Sha‟abi style included small masmoudi, fallahi and maqsoum and other popular and easily
recognisable Egyptian folk rhythms.
POP
Essential Listening: Amr Diab, Mohammed Mounir, Nancy Ajram, Hakim (cross-over with Sha‟abi)
A discussion of Egyptian music would not be complete without touching on Egypt‟s pop music.
All Arabic pop music owes much to Western pop and is usually based on the typical verse-chorus
structure. The music is usually produced electronically and the lyrics are often based on simple
themes such as love. Arabic rhythms such as Saiidi are often used to underpin Egyptian pop music
and of course the songs are sung in Egyptian dialect.
CONCLUSION
To summarise, listen first to the instrumentation (these are guidelines - not rules): can you hear
classical ney, oud, violins and riq? Or do you hear Baladi-style accordion, trumpet and sax? Or is it
the folk-sounding rababa, tabla Baladi and mizmar? Then listen to the type of piece. Is it
improvised? Clearly composed? Is it instrumental or a song? Is it a simple repetitive song or a
complex 50 min epic composition? Is it intended for dancing or listening? What rhythms do you
hear?
Once you open your ears to these details, then the music will begin to draw a picture in your mind.
The music will then affect you more deeply and as a dancer your performance will be even more
persuasive and powerful.
© Guy Schalom 2011