L'Âge d'Or de la Musique Égyptienne - AAA 043
الموسيقى المصرية  في عصرها الذهبي



IMAGEN

Club du Disque Arabe / les Artistes Arabes Associés AAA 043
ed.1991
LES ARCHIVES DE LA MUSIQUE ARABE









L'Âge d'Or de la Musique Égyptienne
الموسيقى المصرية  في عصرها الذهبي


محمد العقاد Muhammad el-Aqqâd
1. مربع بياتي Murabba Bayyati [3:08]
2. شنبر حجاز Shanbar Higaz [3:08]
3. بشرف عشاق Bashraf Ushshaq [6:05]


ابراهيم سهلون Ibrahim Sahlûn
4. بلبل الاقراح Bulbul al-Afrah [3:46]


سامي الشواء Sami al-Shawwâ'
5. سماعي ثقيل بياتي Samai Thaqil Bayyati [6:05]
6. دارج بياتي Darig Bayyati [3:10]


محمد العقاد Muhammad el-Aqqâd
7. تقسيم صبا Taqsim Saba Bamb [5:46


سامي الشواء Sami al-Shawwâ'
8. تقسيم حجازكار Taqsim Higazkar Bamb [3:04


مصطفى باي رضا Mustafa Bey Ridâ
9. تقسيم سيكا Taqsim Sikah Bamb [3:28]


ابراهيم سهلون Ibrahim Sahlûn
10. تقسيم نهاوند Taqsim Nahawand [2:52]


امين البزاري Amin al-Buzari
11. تقسيم حجاز Taqsim Higaz [3:02]


اركسترا اوديون Orchestre Odeon
12. تقسيم صبا Taqsim Saba [3:24


محي الدين الباعيون Muhy al-Dîn Ba'yûn
13. رش ابراهيمي Rashsh Ibrahimi [6:55]


سامي الشواء Sami al-Shawwâ'
14. رقص عربي Raqs Arabi


اجواق محتلفة Orchestres Divers
15. دوالب Selection de Dûlabs




IMAGEN

Samy al-Shawwâ' · Muhammad al-Aqqâd · Ali Salih · Ibrâhîm Sahlûn




THE GOLDEN AGE OF EGYPTIAN MUSIC
INSTRUMENTAL MUSIC AND INSTRUMENTALISTS


This anthology of the golden age of Egyptian music begins with a series of 78 r.p.m. recordings released between 1905 and 1930. They illustrate the main aspects of instrumental art music in Cairo at the beginning of this century, when the intellectual revival of the Arab World (Nahda) was at its height.

Then the Takht — or instrumental ensemble — usually consisted of a Qānūn (i.e. a Zither), a Kamānjā or fiddle introduced into Egypt during the 19th century, a nāy or oblique flute, a ūd or short-necked unfretted lute and a frame drum called Riqq. The main function of the Takht was to accompany the singers and establish a musical dialogue with them within the musical framework of the Wasla (a suite of songs alternating with instrumental interludes modulating within connected modal structures, or Maqām).

The Wasla would begin with an instrumental composition, a Samā'ī or a Bashraf. Then the members of the ensemble played solo a number of Taqsīm, either metrical or non-metric improvisations, exposing the scale of the Maqām of the Wasla. During the whole performance the players went on improvising in their dialogue with the singer, summarizing or translating the musical contour of the vocal phrase instrumentally or answering it. Thanks to the advent of the phonographic industry, the purely instrumental sections of the Wasla gained their autonomy, thus becoming an independent form of music. By 1910 recorded instrumental music had already achieved very great success.


WORKS PRESENTED

1/2/3: Murabba Bayyātī and Shanbar Higāz recorded in about 1920. Then Bashraf Ushshāq by Uthmān Bey, recorded in 1911.

These three Bashraf "overtures" are interpreted by Muhammad Al-Aqqād's ensemble (1849-1929). His skilful performance on the Qānūn is remarkable both in his extremely fast tempo and his ability to "fill up" the melodic pattern with ornamental embellishments. The rhythmic pattern of the first Bashraf is Murabba 13/4; the four sections of this Bashraf all modulate within the modes related to the Maqām Bayyātī. The second Bashraf, performed on an intoxicating tempo, is most likely a Turkish work whose original rhythmic pattern (Shanbar 24/4) has been simplified by the Egyptians to that of Wahda 4/4. The third Bashraf was composed by Uthmān Bey, a Turkish Tunbūr player (1816-1885). The style of this composition is typically Ottoman; the mode is that of the Turkish Maqām Ushshāq, akin to Bayyātī.


4: Bulbul Al Afrāh (the festive nightingale), recorded in about 1910.

This Turkish Bashraf is interpreted by the violinist Ibrāhīm Sahalūn's Takht (1858-1920). The son of a Jewish Qānūn player from Cairo, he is a good example of the different Egyptian communities' cultural symbiosis at the time of the Nahda. The Qānūn player who accompanies him is most likely Abd Al-Hamīd Al-Quddābī (deceased in 1940). The rhythmic pattern of this Bashraf is called Aqsāq 9/8 and the mode is that of the Maqām Bayyātī.


5/6: Taqsīm performed above Bamb rhythmic ostinato followed by the Samā'ī Thaqīl Bayyātī, recorded in about 1919. Then the Samā'ī Darīg Bayyātī, probably recorded during the same recording session.

The Taqsīm and the two Samā'ī are interpreted by the violinist Sāmī Al-Shawwā (1889-1965). The instrumentalists who accompany him are probably the lutenist Mansūr Awād and the qānūnist Abd Al-Hamīd Al-Quddābī. A christian, born in Aleppo, belonging to a family whose members had devoted their lives to music for several generations, he was soon to achieve tremendous success in Egypt as "The Prince of the Arab violin" thanks to whom the violin could escape being but an instrument of accompaniment. People went into raptures listening to his sprightly and vivid interpretation of Maqām music. Appearing with every single singer, he all but monopolized the commercial recordings of violin accompaniment between 1920 and 1935. His Taqsīm, based on the Bayyātī mode, and ending with a short ritornello called Istihlāl Bayyātī serves as an introduction to one of the most famous compositions of Arab instrumental music, the Samā'ī Thaqīl Bayyātī, whose melody is fitted to match the 10/8 rhythmic pattern entirely. The Samā'ī Darīg, another of the classical works belonging to the repertoire of learned urban ensembles, is based on the Darīg rhythmic pattern 3/4.


7/8/9: The three following pieces are performed above Bamb rhythmic ostinato: Taqsīm Sabā, played by the qānūnist Muhammad Al-Aqqād, recorded in about 1927; Taqsīm Higāzkār played by the violinist Sāmī Al-Shawwā, recorded in about 1919; Taqsīm Huzām played by the qānūnist Mustafa Bey Ridā (1884-1950), recorded in about 1930.

Originally a setting for a Dawr or a Qasīdah (both being vocal sections of the Wasla), the metric Taqsīm compells the solo-player to abide by the ostinato, whereas a second instrument reminds him of the fundamental of the Maqām and feeds him with the hypnotic pulsation of the cycle.


10: Taqsīm Nahāwand - Rāst played by the violinist Ibrāhīm Sahalūn; recorded in about 1907.

This non-metric improvisation is a fine example of Sahalūn's style, close to the elaborate virtuoso ornaments of vocal music. Carried away by that moving fantasia discarding any kind of affectation, he explores the underlying contents of the Maqām, unfolding it into unexpected extensions.


11: Taqsīm Higāz interpreted on the Nāy by Amīn Al-Būzarī (about 1855-1935); recorded in about 1910.

This flutist, who had become blind when he was twenty years old, was a member of the Mawlawiyah Sūfi brotherhood, and learned to play the flute in those mystical circles. His strict way of exploring the possibilities of the Maqām, without unjustified modulations, submits his technical skill to a coherent musical language.


12: Taqsīm Sabā by the "Odeon orchestra"; recorded in about 1905.

The "Odeon orchestra" is a Takht ensemble including the lutenist Al-Gumrukshī, the flutist ºAlī Sālih and the qānūnist Hasan Al-Suwaysī. This very old record introduces a different kind of Taqsīm playing: each soloist improvises a short variation which becomes the starting point of a new improvised development by the next soloist, who can eventually lead it into a new direction. Particularly remarkable here is ºAlī Sālih's performance.


13: Rashsh Ibrāhīmī played by Muhy Al-Dīn Baºyūn (1868-1934) on the Tunbūr, a long-necked lute; recorded in about 1925.

Baºyūn was both an outstanding singer and a most skilful Tunbūr player. The Rashsh Ibrāhīmī is in the Bayyātī mode, the two double strings being plucked conjointly, creating an impression of music being "sprinkled" around.


14: Raqs ºArabī, played by Sāmī Al-Shawwā; recorded in about 1919.

In the Raqs (dance), learned and folk music combine: the soloist develops a lively measured virtuoso improvisation on a theme belonging to the tradition of folk music. The mode used here is Higāz.


15: Various Dūlāb pieces.

The Dūlāb is a short instrumental "ritornello" used to announce the mode of a piece of music either instrumental or vocal. The performers made efforts to introduce as much variety and originality as possible into endlessly repeated formulas, taking advantage of heterophony to let every instrument play a subtly different version.

Dūlāb in the modes: Gahārkāh, Bayyātī, Nawā Athar, Sābā, Sīkāh, Higāzkār, Bayyāti Tāhir, Huzām, ºAgam, Rāst Suznāk, Nahāwand.

Acknowledgments to Mr. Moussali, Mr. Anani, and to the Director of the CEMUDAMM, Mr. Abu Mrad.

Frédéric Lagrange
July 1991
Translated by M. Stoffel