Arabic scales and - ContempArabic

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WEDNESDAY r9 APR|L 200011. Arabic scales and t l '. JA7,Zy mprousauOns. By IGrHnr",^* Konounes. A JOURNEY to a foreign coun- try often opens doors to ...
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WEDNESDAY r9 APR|L 2000

Arabicscales and t

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to reachpeopletiuoughemotions. Tunisianvocalist Samiha BenSaid A JOURNEYto a foreign coun- sirgsandherentirefae is transtry oftenopensdoorsto newPer- formed.The voice comesfrom deepinsideher,as if spectives and ideas.Sometrmes somewhere her anceston singthrough her. thesediscoveries inspireone to But Saidseesherselfasprimarily walk down an unexpected path. Indeed,for StephanAthanas- a qanunplayer,The qanuns a boardzither whoisappearing withhisContem- pluckedtrapezoidal pArabicJazzEnsemble attheHalf closely related to the Greek is madefroma holLiotelazz C/ubthrsweek- a tripto kanonakithat of Egyptin 1996wasenoughfor him lowedoutboardwitha number to tap into the greattraditionof stringsstretchedacros the top. Arabicmusic,whichhe theninte- Theqanunisplayedwithtwoplectrumsandisoneof theonlyinstrugratedintohisjazz. with theAthersNews, mentsthatwomenareallowedto Chatting Athanas,who writesandananges play(intheArabculture). musicfor histeamof sevenmusr- Saidtakescentrestageuith a qaasif she cians. said."l wasneverintoArabic nun on herlap,plucking Nextto her is anmusicmuch,I'd heardit andliked wereweaving. it, butI'd neverstudied it andhad other Tunisian,Samir Feqany, no idea."lnstead,Athanasstudied whoplaystheArabicno1a typeof flute.Theseexoticinstruments atjazz,classical andfilrnmusic. When he receiveda pranl to tract attentionpreciselybecause spendsixmonttrsin Cairolhe wel- theyareso foreign,but thanksto cbmedit asa greatopportunity for Athanas'keenabilityto bringthe theinstrua musician anddiscovered therich EastandWesttogether, ments work well with a saxophone, melodic traditionof Arabicmusic.

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guitananda the mixed tonal elements,the eleclricandacoustic 0uarternotesandscales. Athanas' drumset.Athanashaspickedup thatallow fascination led him to attemptto on two keysimilarities "intesrate asa him to wnte and arrangepieces theseArabicscales jazzimprovisation", thatblendtheArabicand1uz trabasisTor "They both have two Of course, he'snotthefirstto in- ditions. corporateArabicsounds,others thingsin common,"as he ex"a tradition of improvrsalike Lcbanese Rabi Abu Khalil. plained, that all musiTunisian Anouar Brahem and tion and standards Swis GeorgeGruntzhavedone cianshaveto know." enters The transitionsare so smooth similarthings.But Athanas thistenitorywith hisownunique that one hardlynoticesthe leap compositions. from one musicaltraditionto anat timesit'sasif the On the other side of the spec- other,although arestruggJing for sutrum,thepop musicscenehasof- twotraditions ten employedboth Indian and premacy. TheArabicnayoccasionAthanas allydrifu aloneor abovetherestof Arabicmusicto sellsongs. is concerned aboutwhatseemsto thebandasthejazzrhythmbegins be a superficial andabusivetrend to formits ownvoicein the backasit were,on in flavouring musicwithelements ground,encroaching, of theserich and long traditions. thetraditional nayandthentaking "We are musi- overin turn.T\e nayis oftenremore intellectual placedby the saxophone, which cians, andwegomuchdeeper." And so when he decidedto stepsout of is juz reprtoire and It'sa truly anangeandinterpretmusicof the attempts Arabicscales. Tunisianlvtalouftraditionthathas fascinating andexcellently executbeenpassed downfromgeneration edmusical experiment. to generation sincethe14thcentu- r StephanAthanasand the Jaz Ensemble, he listened to 195ftrecordings ContempArabic ry, verycarefullyandthentranscrib€d whichalsofeatures saxoohonist are re- Christoph Grab, drummer them.His arrangements markably accurate, andtheresultis PatrickBurli,percussionist Benji a recording(only on saleat the Fellous andguitarist Bernard Vidal, appearsat the Half Note Half Note)entitledNuboilsjn Jazzsttite enneufmouvemens. lazz CIub (17 Trivonianou St, But as intelligent andacademic Mets,tel 921-3310) nightlyat l1 asthe process is.the resultis not throughto Saturday. Ticketsat emotion. 6,000drs (students4,000drs) devoid of astounding Athanasbelieves thata pnontyrs include vourfirstdrink.'