This blog post title was just one of many comments I heard about a private performance I was part of for a Lebanese engagement party last week. One of many such interesting comments from that evening. In a period of time many many musicians are talking about declining work and number of venues for performance [...]
I’m still processing some of my experience from yesterday at the Panegyri Greek Festival in Cincinnati. I had the pleasure of sitting in on dumbek with both George Haralamos’ and Lazaros Nourtsis’ bands. Not only was it just wonderful to play all this great Greek music and for wonderful folk dancers–it was also wonderful to [...]
So as Ahel El Nagam is developing a recital length program I’m left with a decision about whether or not I want to focus on developing riq lines for the music rather than defaulting to the Egyptian tabla. Certainly for the classical Egyptian tunes it would be a far more appropriate choice but the issue [...]
As I’m sorting through some heady ethnomusicological material, I came across in a note, some remarks by Jaap Kunst: Jaap Kunst, after recommending ethnomusicologists transcribing exotic meodies to use bar-lines ‘for the sake of legibility…where the rhythm seems to call for’ them, observes ‘No doubt one will frequently feel, when tackling the same phonogram some [...]
Going back to my roots, in a manner of speaking. So many university trained music students detest introductory music history courses. And especially not well liked are the sections regarding early music–no, not Baroque or Renaissance or even Medieval music. I’m talking about the music of the Ancient Greeks. I remember how much fun some [...]