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…]
50-foot-long string instruments; traditional music from the Republic of Kyrgyz, Ireland’s “Wild West,” and the Balkans; dialogues between deep flamenco song and Iranian classical music; Egyptian classical music of the golden age; an a cappella sound track to a silent film about Joan of Arc; two prominent string quartets, an organ recital, and a multifaceted violinist — that list gives just a quick rundown on the variety of concerts the Cleveland Museum of Art has planned for its 2015-2016 Performing Arts Series, both in Gartner Auditorium at the museum and at its near-West Side gallery, Transformer Station.