El Tarab El Aseel by Riad Abdel Gawad (review)

Riad Abdel Gawad, a Western-trained composer and violinist with a 2005 PhD in composition from Harvard, was born in Cairo and has extensive experience in the artistic school of Abdu Dagher (b. 1936), a well-known violinist from the orchestra of the great Egyptian singer Umm Kulthum (1904–75). Thus, Abdel Gawad, with his American/European education and Arab background, is naturally a proponent of transnational composition and performance, or as he notes on his website, the fusion of a “variety of Western and Eastern genres and canons” ( http://www.riadabdelgawad.com ). Yet El Tarab El Aseel is not exactly such an east-west fusion, as it is primarily an Arab musical offering. Nevertheless, it is flavored with some interesting unconventional tinges that no doubt reflect Riad Abdel Gawad’s non-Egyptian educational influences.

The title El Tarab El Aseel stresses the Arab roots of the CD. Tarab is a term in Arabic that means a sense of “delight” or “ecstasy” evoked from an effective musical performance that normally features embellishment or improvisation. Aseel translates to “native” or “pure;” thus, the CD presents a search for “pure ecstasy,” that is, “pure tarab.” The Arab element is further emphasized by the fact that the works are performed by a traditional takht ensemble, a small chamber group (one instrument on a part) comprised of standard Arab instruments. Takht, which is a Persian word for platform (the place on which the musicians would be seated), is a musical grouping that dates back to the late 19th century; takht ensembles tend to perform art music as opposed to pop or folk. Two to five instrumentalists form the core that might accompany a vocal soloist and a chorus. The five instruments featured on this CD, with no vocalists, form a standard takht: ūd (Arab pear-shaped lute), riqq (Arab tambourine), qānūn (plucked zither), nāy (Arab verticle flute), and kamānjah (violin). Takht music, like other traditional music of the region, is basically non-chordal and comprised of elements of improvisation and heterophony—individual instruments may have extensive improvisatory solos and/or all instruments may play the same melodic line together but with individual embellishments.

The title of the initial piece “Longa Nahawand,” indicates the form and the mode: longa, which has Turkish roots, is a type of rondo featuring a repeated phrase; and nahāwand is the primary melodic mode (maqām) in this work, similar to a western minor scale. The composition opens with an extensive improvisatory section, a taqsīm, over drones. The first solo is offered by the qānūn, then interrupted by a slight refrain, and subsequently taken over by the violin, which has been tuned down, as Abdel Gawad mentions in the liner notes, to aid in producing tarab (the g string tuned down to f; d to c; a to f; e to bb). The violin solo introduces some creative use of glissandi and tonal shifts that manifest Abdel Gawad’s non-Egyptian influences. Lengthy and unusual passages provide intriguing material, although they are somewhat diluted by the unclimactic return to the refrain as the closing metric section creeps in without much notice. During these minutes of the composition proper, the ensemble proceeds with a tempo slower than that which one can hear on recordings of the same work by Abdel Gawad’s mentor Abdu Dagher. It is obvious that the musicians are technically capable, and had they chosen a quicker tempo here, these passages might have been even more stirring. Also, there is normally an increase in speed at the end of a longa, and although the ending acceleration of the skillful ensemble builds excitement, an approach of more inspired passion rather than hurriedness may have enhanced the conclusion.

The second work, “Qiblah,” following a solo of free nāy (flute), launches into a spirited metered 5/4. Here the ensemble feeds off of one another quite well and clearly finds a groove, as they tastefully support various soloists who improvise...