Sheet Music Craziness!

I read sheet music. I was trained as a musician to read sheet music. Learning pieces by ear has been a challenge to say the least, learning Middle Eastern songs by ear? HA! I need some guidelines before I can dive off that cliff. Over the last couple of weeks I've bought some Arabic sheet music compilation books and CD's with sheet music files. I found these on all corners of the inter-webs and beyond. I'll share my initial thoughts with each as I become mroe familiar with each through practice and usage. Some initial thoughts include:

Mimi Spencer's song book (pink book pictured) is great for developing belly dance sets, very clear and to the point with clear notation. Can't wait to accumulate that entire collection of music.

Maqam.com's sheet music book (blue book on left) has a lot of pieces from the Levant which is nice as most of these song books carry a lot of Egyptian pieces. The lyrics are inlcuded in Arabic, which is useful if you can read Arabic. Transliteration only goes so far in my opinion, and if you're going to play and especially sing Arabic music, start learning the Arabic language. You'll be surprised at how much you miss out when you don't. I'm not fluent but I see this as an excellent way to practice and learn.

I've leafed through most of the others, but haven't had a chance to really dive into them. I'll be figuring out a better format of posting reviews and will start those soon.

Next post: Important terms for Arabic music: do you know what iqaat, muwashah, qasida, takht or wasala mean? My next post will include a glossary of terms for Arabic music.

Play in the Park

This weekend was just delightful. I sat in Piedmont Park for about 4 hours playing tabla with some other drummers at the Atlanta Burners Play in the Park event. I met some very cool people and worked on my slap for a while. I almost have it...We played around with a couple f rhythms I'd never tried before which was nice. We kept the rhythms going for a good length of time feeding off one another's variations of the rhythm. I guess you could say my "ess" was on! This is one of the pics I found from Facebook, one of the only times I switched my tabla for this other drum.



Then to top off a great day, my family and I went and had dinner at a new Arabic restaurant in Woodstock called Mediterranean Buffet. The name is horribly cheesy but the food was fantastic and not only because they had malfouf! After dinner we hung out with the owner and smoked sheesha. Victoria came over for a while and I took out the tabla again and did my first attempt at a drum solo for a belly dancer, all relaxed and non-showy. It was really fun, and gave me inspiration to work harder on tabla. The restaurant was fairly large and I hope it works out as the owner is very nice and wants to create a community...we'll see if that can happen with a Middle Eastern restaurant in Woodstock, GA.

Video Clips from trip

AUC Folkloric Troupe August 2008



Randa Kamel - Nile Maxim December 2008



Sufi Troupe at Al Azhar Park November 2008

Maybe, just maybe

Plans are in the works to go back to Misr with my friend Dave for the month of November...!!

Some last photos

Its been some weeks since I've been back in the country. School has started back, and time has ran away from me. Egypt was the adventure of a lifetime...a culturally shocking experience that this southern girl will always keep close to her heart. I do plan on coming back to Egypt, and when I do, I'll revisit this blog. But for now, I will leave with some of the last remaining photos and videos that I haven't posted yet.

Ma'a Salam ya Misr.

Sharm el Sheikh



Nile Cruise and Arabic Music Ensemble Concert Photos



Zaar Concert

Updates and coming home

The last couple of days in Cairo have been full of amazing adventures...and then the internet cut out of the entire Middle East. Really. A ship off the coast of Alexandria weighed anchor and cut the main DSL line giving Egypt, the Sudan, and some other countries internet. The entire country of Egypt was without internet for 48 hours.

I have lots of pictures and stories to post, but in my last few days here in Cairo, I am trying to save my moments. I should have the following posted before the New Year when I am back in the States with a fast internet connection:

- Pictures from Sharm El Sheikh
- Pictures from Luxor, Aswan, and everthing in between
- Pictures and video! from the traditional Zaar I saw in Cairo
- Write up of the Sufi Dance troupe of Egypt (no video at the performance hall)
- Write up of my experiences from my sufi dance lesson with Said Tanoura


Youtube videos of the following:
- Sufi dance show with both Sufi and Istaradi styles at al Azhar park in Islamic Cairo
- Folkloric troupe I saw in Giza - Saiidi/ beledi style
- AUC folkloric troupe - Saidi + tahtib + fellahi styles at AUC campus
- Zaar performance from Makaan cultural center off Saad Zaghlul in Cairo
- 3 separate performances of Randa Kamel on the Nile Maxim, pretty good lighting!
- Video my myself being taught sufi dance, you wouldn't beleive how heavy those skirts are!

Musical Salons/ Jam Sessions in the ATL

Salam aleikum min el Qahira!

This past semester I’ve learned so much about Arabic music. I really don’t want to loose what I’ve learned, so I’d like to see if anyone in the Atlanta area is interested in coming to weekly music rehearsals/ jam sessions/ learning sessions about Arabic music. I would like to be able to share what I’ve learned so I can practice and not forget it! Any instrument would be welcome, just keep in mind that quartertones are harder to play on some instruments than others.

I have some sheet music from this semester in Cairo, but I’m open to learning things by ear as well, which is how it really is done. The sheet music is all in C as I play the violin, so any of you b flat player be prepared to transpose the music if you want to play it.

We could hold it at different locations in the Atlanta area or agree to have it at a central place. I don’t profess in any shape, form, or fashion to be an expert in Middle Eastern music, just a student who wants to grow her skills with en ensemble! I would like this to be very low key and fun and hopefully a way to grow a handful of students and musicians that appreciate and want to perform Middle Eastern music, especially so that when the big names come in town, we can really benefit from their instruction.

So, who is interested?