CAIRO - Life in general has become quite boring and even most music performances are dull and predictable – I know what to expect exactly... they will be a few minutes late, that particular vocalist will sing out of key, they've hired a horrible sound engineer, etc. Finally, I was invited to something that broke the monotony and I know the idea is crazy, but sometimes ‘crazy' is exactly what we need to make a change. It was a street performance! Let me tell you the story. I was invited to a Facebook event by a young musician called Youssef Shamekh. This event of course took place in a real street and was appropriately called ‘The First Street Music Performance in Cairo'. The announcement said that it would happen in the Korba neighbourhood of Heliopolis, northeastern Cairo, on Saturday, September 22. In addition to viola player Youssef, the band included violinist Ahmed Ashraf and Mahmoud Abdel-Azim, as well as cousins Amr and Ahmed Artist, who both play the tabla (an Arab percussion instrument). I use the word ‘band' because they still don't have a name. On Friday, I contacted Youssef for more information and, with a smile on his face, he answered all my questions. Although the conversation was over the phone, I still felt this young man was smiling and he also sounded very enthusiastic about their performance. How did it all start? We've always wanted to perform in the street, because we know it is nice in this busy world to offer people who go from home to work then back home again the chance to see a live performance... even if it is only for a few minutes. It's very refreshing. What motivated us more was our last year's visit to Jordan where we participated in a music festival called ‘Ethno Jordan', in which musicians from different countries played their music for the people and street performances were very popular. This encouraged us to take the initiative in Egypt. So did you get a permit from the authorities to play in the street? Those who beg or even harass others don't have a permit. We are not doing something negative... on the contrary, we're presenting art for free. But what if people offered you money like they do abroad? We wouldn't want to offend anyone so I guess we'd have to accept it. Do you have a set list of numbers? No, but we want to play a variety of genres and we will improvise and play solos too. We still don't know where exactly we are going to perform but, wherever is suitable, we'll do it. We'll play as long as people are happy and this could be for up to two hours.I later saw the words Youssef has posted on Facebook on his profile and on the event's page. His enthusiastic words can be summed up as follows. “We will play music for the tired man who is going back home from work, the girl who had a fight with her fiancé and for the taxi driver suffering from the hot weather. We will even stop the street quarrel between two people with music. We will start with el-Korba, then hopefully all of Egypt. We have a voice and we will speak our language – music." That's the spirit buddy. So on the following day the guys went to Baghdad Street in el-Korba. Youssef started playing and, because someone was filming him people thought they were shooting a video or a commercial and kept walking past the musicians! When the rest of the guys joined in and together played an Upper Egyptian theme, they got the attention of the crowd and people started gathering. What happened next was applause and some requests... people asked for special songs like a number by the late legendary Egyptian songstress Um Kalthoum. As the artists were playing that track – ‘Alf Leila We Leila' (One Thousand and One Nights) – a woman in her twenties hummed along and a man next to her said that she had a good voice. The woman ended up singing to the tune! Her voice turned out to be really good. This sounds just like things we see in the movies! She also sang a number by Algeria's finest, Warda – ‘Akdeb Alake' (I Lie to You). Youssef lent his vocal chords to part of that number. As a solo singer, he performed a verse from ‘Bent el-Shalabeya' (El-Shalabeya Girl) by Lebanon's amazing diva Fairouz and the epic ‘Aho da illi Sar' (This Is What Happened) by the late, great Egyptian composer and singer Sayyed Darweesh. The wide variety performed that evening ranged from a number by popular singer Mohamed Mounir to an Andalusian track. Halfway through the show, Youssef spoke to the crowd and said that four of the artists are students at the Cairo Conservatoire and the remaining one is studying at the Arab Music Institute. “We are doing this to break the routine and entertain you for a while. With all due respect to folk music that the majority listen to, we wanted to introduce you to different music that you might like more." One of the nice things was when the guys were approached by a man who told them that he'd only got married the previous night and wanted them to choose a special number for him. So they played him Fairouz's hit ‘Sahar el-Layali' (Sleepless Nights). All in all the artists played 15 tracks and they were not necessarily performed as the original ones – solos and improvising were added to the main melodies. It was a successful show and a good experience. People of various ages stood there enjoying the music. Some even parked their cars and stepped out to listen and no-one walked away till the end. The good thing was that, permits or not, no-one gave them a hard time! Finally, the plan is to perform somewhere different every weekend and to have a new, different member every time for just one show, but the five members will always be there. Maybe they will include rock and classical music in the near future. Guys, I take my hat off for to... while it's there, I wouldn't mind any coins that might be thrown in it. Send me your hats to: [email protected]
