1. What is something you learned about another culture this term that surprised or intrigued you?

answer: I was surprised to find out that Latin american music is enfluenced by spanish practices.


2. What is something that you realized about your own culture through our discussions.

answer: I learned more about the instruements of Egypt through the preparation for my presentation.



3. What is something that this course has inspired you to learn more about.

answer: I want to learn more about native american music

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_-IA-buOUjM
This is a very interesting video of the native american flute. It is a performance by the Jeff Ball on Flute accompanied by a percussion instrument.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-ZmAgFyVo48
This video is a live performance by the traditional chinese pipe player Liu Fang.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eJhnQVQWY64
This is a cool video of traditional Algerian Dance. I think it is interesting to know how dance practices varies in different countries in the middle east.

Cool Stuff

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=US6WGetxqxA

This is a song from a motion picture by Ametab Batshan who is one of the most important movie stars in the history of indian cinema. He is considered a legend in India.


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4UiOaQzBccE

This is a track from an Indian movie called Slumdog Millionaire. At 2.9 in the video you can hear the Indian Sitar.



http://www.arrahman.com/v2/

This is the oficial website for A.R. Rahman who is an Indian film composer, record producer, musician and singer. He won more than 9 awards including two Grammy awards, nominations for Oscar awards.

Music and Gender

Although the art of performing and composing music should not be related to gender. There are many evodince of how music and gender are related. Personally, I notices that there is a strong relationship between performing on certain instruments and gender. For Example, playing the Harp is considered effeminate in almost all the countries all over the world. Playing the percussion is considered masculen even if there are few exceptions. Personally, I had an experience with this issue that proved to me how gender and music eventhough they might be correlated, an instrument can be played by anyone regardless of gender or sex oriantation. It is actually a story that happened to one of my friends in high school. My friend Mahmud El Sheek was enrolled in the Cairo Conservatory in 1991. He was eight years old at the time, and he has a talent for piano playing. His talent was recognized from an early age by his beloved family that enrolled Mahmud to piano classes at the age of three. Durig his study at the Cairo Conservatory, Mahmud has shown a great ability to play the piano and he seemed to have a natural deep understanding for the classical music and its stylistic features. We grew up together dreaming of becoming pianists and establishing a career as concert pianisits. however, at the age of ninteen, Mahmud had an engery in his right arm that made him unable to play the piano for a year. He had to drop out of school for a year for recovery. During that time Mahmud was depressed ,and I tried to make it easy for him by suggesting that he would listen to as much classical music as he can, and it would make him feel better. Convenced by what I said, Mahmud started listening to classical music, not only music from the repertoire that he knows well, but the music for instruments that he never care to hear before. He started listening to music from the Harp litriture in which he had never heard. I remember that he told me ' I never thought that such instrument as the Harp would express so much'. One year after Mahmud recovered from his engury, he started taking Harp lessons, being influenced by the music that he has been listening to. After spending two years of Harp practicing and studying with the Conservatory 's teachers, Mahmud made a significant decission to change his major from Piano to Harp. Although at the time it caused a lot of controvercy beucase of how the instrument is considered effeminate, and there are rarley Males that play the instrument, Mahmud continoued his study in the Cairo Consevatory as a Harp player. when I asked him about whither it is hard for him to play the instrument in a masculen was like he would when playing piano, he answered by assuring me that he never felt uncomforable or intemidated by the instrument. Today Mahmud El Sheek is one of Egypt 's best harp players.

Nawar Ahmed

Egypt is a country in which Islam is the dominant religion, and growing up in Egypt I never had any religious belief. Both of my parents are Muslims by name not by practice, and growing up I never felt that I was forced to either believe in the Islamic religion or disregard it. I believe that my parents did not want their son to be influenced blindly by their beliefs. Instead they wanted to me to develop my own ideas and belief.

They say that at some point in life every human being question his faith in a higher being, and when that happens, it always has a powerful and great impact.

I was sixteen when I first started questioning the existence of a higher being. Why m I here? What is the difference between right and wrong? Where m I going?. The impact of these questions on me was so great that I isolated myself from the people and was almost depressed for two years.

Finally, I came to the conclusion that God exist, and even though it is hard at this point of history to believe in something without having a physical proof or evidence, I could not disregard the fact that I felt the existence of God in my life.

In music I was always fascinated by how many composers through the history of classical music became spiritual and were devoted to God.
Franz Liszt is on those composers who cared so much about life and death and afterlife.

Here are some of Franz Liszt ‘s words about his belief in God and finding spirituality:


When I took Minor Orders at the Vatican in 1865, at the age of 54, I was merely following, out of simplicity and uprightness of heart, my youthful penchant for Catholicism. If my early fervor had not been tempered by my good mother and my confessor, Abb‚ Bardin, it might have well led me to the seminary in 1830 and later on to the priesthood. - Franz Liszt in 1879.

In spite of transgressions and errors I have committed, and for which I feel sincere repentance and contrition, the holy light of the Cross has never been entirely withdrawn from me. - Franz Liszt in 1860. Religion and music must form an alliance, for the survival of piety and religious life. This music is not to serve any special creed, but to be founded on human nature- at once dramatic and holy, grand and simple, fiery and restful. - Franz Liszt.

Some of the titles of Liszt’s pieces, such as Totentanz, Funérailles and La lugubre gondola, show the composer's fascination with death. When Franz Liszt was young, it was clear how the great composer was fascinated by and obsessed with death, with religion, and with heaven and hell.

Cool Stuff

There is a lot of good information here aqbout the Sub-Saharan African Music:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Music_of_Africa#Sub-Saharan_music

I found this Youtube video about Charles Littleleaf thenative american flute player. He talks about his struggle with addiction. What is very ineteresting is that he talks about his rise and fall, and how native maerican music played a role in his come back:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T7UwPm6sGOc

After watching Charles Littleleaf 's video, and knowing about the influential role of carlos nakai in his life. I looked on Youtube and found this documentary about carlos naka:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y6tkz9YjpGI

My family

My mother‘s dream was to become a professional dancer. She told me that when she was in college in 1978 she wanted so bad to be a ballerina. Unfortunately she was not able to fulfill her dream of becoming a dancer, but fortunately for me I got to know much about dance. Growing up, I remember my Mom used to take me a lot of dance shows, and as far as I can remember when I was ten my mother and I would go the Cairo opera house to watch contemporary dance shows and famous ballets.

The reason why I choose to talk about dance is because I was always amazed by that essential relationship between music and dance. Knowing that from ancient musical groups dance routines to modern dancing, music is the influence for all dance practices.

I was fortuned to grow up watching video recordings with my family of classical ballets, contemporary ballet shows, and lyrical jazz dance shows. In many ways that showed me how much music influence the choreographer. It quite extra ordinary to know how choreographers use certain body movements in their choreographies that would suite the music chosen. Some movements can be fast, hard hitting and technically brilliant if the music is fast, and sometimes the dance can be very lyrical, and one could feel the flow of movement if the music is in a slow tempo and has an expressive character.

One other aspect of dance is the difficulty that dancers face, and the experience that they get from the intensity of the movement. I have been always found of contemporary dance, and if I was not a classical musician, I would have loved to be a professional dancer. If it was not for my family, I would have not been able to explore the world of dance.