Music of Egypt

Musicians depicted on Pharaonic paintings

    Music has been an integral part of Egyptian culture since antiquity. Music and dance were highly valued in ancient Egyptian culture, but they were more important than is generally thought: they were integral to creation and communion with the gods. The Bible documents the instruments played by the ancient Egyptians, all of which are correlated in Egyptian archaeology. Music was everywhere in Ancient Egypt  at civil or funerary banquets, religious processions, military parades and even at work in the field. The Egyptians loved music and included scenes of musical performances in tomb paintings and on temple walls, but valued the dance equally and represented its importance as well.

Musicians in temple

Egyptian music probably had a significant impact on the development of ancient Greek music, that in turn  influenced the early European music well into the middle Ages. 

    Egyptian modern music is considered as a main core of Middle Eastern and Oriental music as it has a very big influence on the region due to the popularity and huge influence of Egyptian Cinema and Music industries. The tonal structure of Oriental Middle Eastern music is defined by the maqamat مقامات, loosely similar to the Western modes, while the rhythm of Middle Eastern music is governed by the iqa'at اقاعات, standard rhythmic modes formed by combinations of accented and unaccented beats and rests.    

Evidence shows the earliest instruments in Ancient Egypt were rattles, dating to the 5th millennium BCE, followed by clappers and flutes in the 4th millennium. Harps and drums are only attested in the middle of the 3rd millennium.

    Some of the oldest and most important Egyptian musical instruments were stringed instruments. These included three sizes of lyres, an asymmetrical instrument with two arms and a crossbar attached to a sound box. The strings, connected to the
crossbar and the sound box, were plucked to make a sound.

Egyptian Sistrums in the louvre

  

    There are many depictions of harp players in early Egyptian art, and it seems harps were favored instruments. They were sometimes complex and beautiful; some were decorated with inlays of ivory, silver, and gold that signaled their importance and status as object.

Some History

    The ancient Egyptians credited the goddess Bat with the invention of music. The cult of Bat was eventually syncretized into that of Hathor because both were depicted as cows. Hathor's music believed to have been used by Osiris as part of his effort to civilize the world. Furthermore the deity Merit is depicted present with Ra or Atum along with Heka (god of magic) at the beginning of creation and helps establish order through music. The lion-goddess Bastet was  considered a goddess of music.

Sistrum a Pharaonic Musical
Instrument

Neolithic period

     In prehistoric Egypt, music and chanting were commonly used in magic and rituals. Rhythms during this time were unvaried and music served to create rhythm. Small shells were used as whistles.

Menit-necklace

The menit-necklace was a heavily beaded neck piece which could be shaken in dance or taken off and rattled by hand during temple performances and the sistrum (plural sistra), was a hand-held rattle/percussion device closely associated with Hathor but used in the worship ceremonies of many gods by temple musicians and dancers.

Man playing Harp

Predynastic period

    During the predynastic period of Egyptian history, funerary chants continued to play an important role in Egyptian religion and were accompanied by clappers or a flute. Despite the lack of physical evidence in some cases, Egyptologists theorize that the development of certain instruments known of the Old Kingdom period, such as the end-blown flute, took place during this time.

    Dancing was associated equally with the elevation of religious devotion and human sexuality and earthly pleasures. In Egyptian theology, sex was simply another aspect of life and had no taint of 'sin' attached to it.     

Lyre

Old Kingdom

    The evidence for instruments played is more securely attested in the Old Kingdom when harps, flutes and double clarinets were played. Percussion instruments and lutes were added to orchestras only around the Middle Kingdom. Cymbals frequently accompanied music and dance, much as they still do in Egypt today.

     The ancient Egyptians had no concept of musical notation. The tunes were passed down from one generation of musicians to the next. Exactly how Egyptian musical compositions sounded is, therefore, unknown, but it has been suggested that the modern-day Coptic liturgy may be a direct descendent. Coptic emerged as the dominant language of ancient Egypt in the 4th century CE, and the music the Copts used in their religious services is thought to have evolved from that of earlier Egyptian services just as their language evolved from ancient Egyptian and Greek.

HARP

Medieval music

     Early Middle Eastern music was influenced by Byzantine and Persian forms, which were themselves heavily influenced by earlier Greek, Semitic, and Ancient Egyptian music.

    Egyptians in Medieval Cairo believed that music exercised "too powerful an effect upon the passions, and leading men into gaiety, dissipation and vice." However, Egyptians generally were very fond of music. Schools taught the Quran by chanting. 

Kanoun music instrument

  The music of Medieval Egypt was derived from Greek and Persian traditions. "The most remarkable peculiarity of the Arab system of music is the division of tones into thirds," although today Western musicologists prefer to say that Arabic music's tones are divided into quarters. The songs of this period were similar in sound and simple, within a small range of tones. The singer was the only person to embellishes the simplicity of Egyptian music. Distinct enunciation and a quavering voice are also characteristics of Egyptian singing. (Example Oum Kalthoum)    

Oud music instrument

    Male professional musicians during this period were called Alateeyeh (plural), or Alatee الاتي (singular), which means "a player upon an instrument". However, this name applies to both vocalists as well as instrumentalists. This position was considered disreputable and lowly. However, musicians found work singing or playing at parties to entertain the company. They generally made very little money a night, but earned more by the guests' giving’s.

Alemah

    Female professional musicians were called Awalim عوالم (pl) or Alemah عالمه  which means a educated female. These singers were often hired on the occasion of a celebration in the harem of a wealthy person. They were not with the harem, but in an elevated room that was concealed by a screen so as not to be seen by either the harem or the master of the house. The female Awalim were more highly paid than male performers and more highly regarded than the Alateeyeh الاتيه as well. Female performer who so enraptured her audience earned up to fifty pounds for one night's performance from the guests and host, themselves not considered wealthy.

     Egyptian music began to be recorded in the 1910s when Egypt was still part of the Ottoman Empire. The cosmopolitan Ottomans encouraged the development of the arts, encouraging women and minorities to develop their musical abilities. By the fall of the Empire, Egypt's classical musical tradition was already thriving, centered in the city of Cairo. In general, modern Egyptian music blends its indigenous traditions with Turkish and western elements.

Hasaballa Band

    In the second half of the 19th century, the Hasaballah genre of popular improvisational brass band folk music emerged, initiated by clarinetist Mohammad Hasaballah and his band, also called Hasaballah, playing in Cairo's music and entertainment quarter on Mohammed Ali Street. The typical line-up of trumpet, trombone, bass and snare drums, was popular, such as at family events, for well over a century, and is still played.

Oum Kalthoum

    Since the end of World War I, some of the Middle East's biggest musical stars have been Egyptian. Contemporary Egyptian music traces its beginnings to the creative work of luminaries such as Abdu-El Hamuli, Almaz and Mahmud Osman, who were all patronized by the Ottoman Khedive Ismail, and who influenced the later work of the 20th century's most important Egyptian composers: Sayed Darwish, Umm Kulthum, Mohammed Abdel Wahab, Abdel Halim Hafez, and Zakariya Ahmed. Most of these stars, including Umm Kulthum and Nagat El-Saghira, were part of the traditional Egyptian music. Some, like Abd el-Halim Hafez, were associated with the Egyptian nationalist movement from 1952 onward.

Western classical music imprint on Egypt

    Cairo Opera House, a landmark in the cultural landscape of Egypt and the Middle East Western classical music was introduced to Egypt, and, in the middle of the 18th century, instruments such as the piano and violin were gradually adopted by Egyptian composers. Opera also became increasingly popular during the 18th century, Giuseppe Verdi's Egyptian-themed "Aida" was premiered in Cairo on December 24, 1871 in the Cairo Opera, build in the capital Cairo for the inauguration of the Suez Canal by Princess Eugenie of France.

Cairo opera house

    By the early 20th century, the first generation of Egyptian composers, including * Yusef Greiss, * Abu BakrKhairat, and Hassan Rashid as they began writing music for Western instruments.

*click on name to for more information...

The second generation of Egyptian composers included notable artists such as Gamal Abdelrahim. Representative composers of the third generation are Ahmed El-Saedi and Rageh Daoud. In the early 21st century, even fourth generation composers such as Mohamed Abdel-Wahab Abdelfattah (of the Cairo Conservatory) have gained international attention.

Percussion instrument "Tabla"

To be noted: Cairo-born "click on name" for video... * Fatma Said (start singing at 8:00 minutes into video) is the first Egyptian soprano to sing at the Teatro alla Scala, Milan, and from 2016 she took part in BBC Radio 3 New Generation Artists scheme.

 Article constructed from different internet informations and pictures.