The Arab Music Institute in Cairo witnessed the celebration of Arab Music Day, which was organized by the Music, Opera and Ballet Committee of the Supreme Council of Culture headed by Dr. Rasha Tammoum in cooperation with the Arab Academy for Arabic Music in Jordan, which falls on March 28 of each year.
The ceremony witnessed celebratory words about the importance of the day from Tunisia, Jordan and Egypt, and a concert in which Arab poetic verses and Muwashahat were presented that reflect the originality and authenticity of Arab music.
In an exclusive interview with Al-Majalla, Dr. Rasha Tammoum stated that the choice of March 28 came because it was the day of the first conference of Arab music in 1932, which was an important scientific forum; Where music scholars and artists from the Arab world gathered to discuss our musical heritage, its characteristics, and the musical scale.
She added: "Specifying a day for it confirms our commitment to preserving the music and introducing it to new generations when different music colors have invaded the world of Arab music."
Tammom expressed her happiness at holding the celebration at the Institute of Arab Music, which includes a museum for the great musician Mohamed Abdel Wahab, saying: "This place is the same place that witnessed the first conference of Arab music in the presence of pioneers of Arab art."
"The celebration is an opportunity to revere its great creators, delight its young creators, and drink from its fresh fountains, and we stress every year the consolidation of Arab music in the conscience of our Arab youth.
This music was formed from an ancient Arab civilization in which multiple cultures interacted to produce rich music that is not closed in on itself. Opinions differed about its rhythmic characteristics, its methods of performance, and the transformations that occurred in it from one era to another, and it was a mirror reflecting the social, political and cultural changes in the Arab world", she added.
Given the ties that music and its history represent between peoples and civilizations, Dr. Mohamed El-Asaad Qurai'a, head of the scientific committee and representative of the Tunisian Republic in the Arab Music Academy, said: "This celebration comes to praise one of the solid links between Egypt and Tunisia for many centuries.
The circumstances of the convening of the 1932 conference began with Baron de Longues, who was fond of Arab culture. Baron de Longues is a French orientalist who has taken upon himself the task of searching for the rules of Arabic music and tracing its history through ancient manuscripts. This task became his favourite project, in which he hired a group of translators and musicians from Tunisia, then Al-Manobi Senussi, his private secretary, completed his work."
Baron de Longues firstly asked an Egyptian musical character of Levantine origins for assistance, Iskandar Shalfoun, to get familiar with the rules of music in the Arab world, and he began working with them in 1923.
Shalfoun used to provide them with information about the Maqamat and rhythms in the Arab world and Egypt in particular. It was said that it was not possible to verify the authenticity of this information. Therefore, Baron de Longue and Al-Manobi Senussi suggested holding the conference in 1930. Then, it was postponed for the following year to actually be held in 1932. Baron secured the audio recordings of the meeting, and he researched the melodic tracks of the Maqamat, which is the current method for analyzing the Maqamat and musical scales and analyzing them for genres to this day, whether in scientific research or in musical composition.
Qureiah points out that "the name of the conference was 'Oriental Music', but Baron de Longues also played a role in modifying the name."
In his speech, which was broadcast at the Cairo ceremony, Dr. Kifah Fakhoury, Secretary-General of the Arab Academy of Music, based in Jordan, praised the role of Dr. Mahmoud Ahmed El Hefny, who participated in the first conference of Arabic music in 1932, in which its diverse heritage was discussed. The argument took place about its history, theories, terminology and rhythms.
He also stressed that the importance of celebrating Arab Music Day lies in keeping this genre alive in the memory of new generations and the need to pay attention to its types academically, socially and culturally.
Fakhoury said: "The idea of the Arab Music Academy was born from the womb of this conference when it was discussed in one of its sessions. It includes highly qualified people in Arab music, and the credit comes to Mr. Ahmed Aboul Gheit for approving to specify of March 28 of every year as a day for Arabic music 3 years ago.
Fakhoury called on the ministries of culture, information, tourism, and youth to encourage activities that promote Arab music and make young people proud of their music and the culture to which they belong.
In addition, he asked the embassies of Arab countries and their cultural offices spreading around the world to revive this day to promote it and hold its activities, as well as to publish articles in newspapers and media outlets and allocate paragraphs, evenings and seminars promoting this day and its importance.
And to invite great musical thinkers to give lectures on the significance of music and its role in ancient and contemporary heritage. In addition to organizing competitions, organizing exhibitions, displaying posters and manuscripts, honouring musicians at the regional and international levels, and holding free concerts of Arab music in all parts of the Arab world in squares, hospitals and schools.
He expressed his refusal of the term beautiful time to describe authentic Arab music, as it is considered from a past, but it is characterized by continuity and renewal, calling for the importance of restoring Arab music to the momentum that befits it.
While Dr. Mohamed Shabana, Professor of Folk Music at the Academy of Arts, told Majalla: "The Arab Music Day is an excellent opportunity to celebrate our authentic Arabic music and enrich its value. We affirm our dream of having high-end music that we can be proud of globally.
Shabana calls for a serious, enlightened and constructive critical movement that sheds light on the distinguished musical creations and forms a bridge that elevates the aesthetic taste of the audience to reject the frivolous and celebrate the serious and the unique.
This creates an enlightened public opinion that elevates creativity and links between the original and the contemporary without guardianship or westernization to preserve the identity.
"We dream of a national archive for our Arabic music that includes our music production. The celebration is an opportunity to demand a huge Arabic archive for everything produced by our artists from the ocean to the Gulf, especially in light of the availability of technology that allows preserving this creativity that is more than a hundred years old".
"We wish for a sophisticated and elegant museum for our musical instruments, with their diversity and their folk and traditional richness, and to collect and verify the books, references and serious messages that deal with the Arab theoretical contribution in music research," he added.
Shabana also calls for the importance of a serious movement to gather our folk music creativity, adding: "It may be a starting point for a new musical renaissance that we miss in light of a turbulent reality and harsh globalization that casts its dark shadows on our music creations."
Celebrating Arab Music Day, in turn, raises many questions about the conditions and fate of the eastern musical heritage in light of globalization and the mixing of Arabic and Western melodies. Regarding these questions, the music critic Dr. Enas Galal told Al-Majalla:
"The Arab Music Day comes as an opportunity to highlight the forms of music, performance methods and the music development, and all the elements of the musical work in which the composer, singer, instrumentalist and maestro participate. We have a rich and documented archive of Arab music and its development and how it flourished through the ages, but the problem of teaching music in schools as the main subject and not neglecting it remains a big dilemma."
Galal calls for access to Arabic music for the new generations, saying: "We had city lights concerts that presented Arab and folk music through the Egyptian media to all parts of the Arab world. Today, in light of technological development, Arabic music can be broadcast everywhere. It is a symbol of our identity. Why isn't broadcast in airports, hotels, work centres and public transportation as a form of music education?
Concerning the attraction of Arab youth to rap music in its western nature, which is far from Arab music, Galal said: "The artistic taste allows the existence of all musical forms, but the important thing is that we also present our original music in an advanced and contemporary way, and support it with classy words to reach the new generations."
