by Mike Telin

Nearly every culture has gone through a period of time when art, literature, and music have flourished,  periods which are often referred to as a Golden Age. Egyptian music experienced its Golden Age during the last third of the nineteenth century through the 1940s. Today this period is known as the Nahda era.

On Wednesday, April 27 at 7:30 pm in Gartner Auditorium, the Cleveland Museum of Art will present Tarek Abdallah (oud and compositions) and Adel Shams El-Din (riqq) in a concert featuring music from the duo’s recent recording titled Wasla. The performance is presented in conjunction with CMA’s centennial exhibition Pharaoh: King of Ancient Egypt.

During a telephone interview Tarek Abdallah explained that wasla is a type of Egyptian musical suite that combines different Arab traditions like North African nuba and Syrian fasl that were popular during Egypt’s Golden Age. [Read more…]