Our Voices, Our Music
Underwritten by the U. S. Embassy in Cairo
January 14 to 25, 2009
Egypt
Project Summary
Prepared by William Harvey
Executive Director, Cultures in Harmony
January 26, 2009; revised July 27, 2009
Précis
The U. S. Embassy in Cairo worked with the American cultural diplomacy organization Cultures in Harmony to bring flutist Jennifer Swanson, violinist William Harvey, cellist Robin Ryczek, percussionist Steve Solook, and soprano Tiffany DuMouchelle to Cairo and Alexandria for concerts, outreach performances, composition workshops, a performance of Egyptian music alongside Egyptian musicians, master classes, lessons, receptions, and informal cultural exchange events.
Here you can find the nineteen best pictures from the project.
Project Description
The Ambassador’s Reception on January 15 was a great honor and a special way to welcome our musicians to Cairo. We were delighted to perform a selection of contemporary American classical music for the invited dignitaries and Ambassador Scobey. Many of the guests seemed to enjoy our final (and only Egyptian) selection, Lounga Reyot Elsonbaty, the most, and remarked that we sounded just like Arabic musicians. Ambassador Scobey spoke about the importance of cultural exchanges, and I also gave a speech.
On Friday, January 16, we gave a three-hour workshop at El Sawy Culture Wheel from 3:00 p.m. to 6:00 p.m. Most of the attendees were students from the Valuable Girl Project, but several attendees simply stopped by and decided to join in. In just three hours, we created a simple composition about a typical day in Egypt. After the workshops and before the subsequent concert, Tiffany and I gave interviews to radio and television outlets.
At 8:00 p.m., Cultures in Harmony gave a concert. Again, the Lounga Reyot Elsonbaty proved to be a big hit. Following the concert, Robin, Jennifer, and I went to a café with three Egyptian musicians who attended the concert.
On Saturday, January 17, Cultures in Harmony proceeded to Alexandria, where we checked into the Cleopatra Hotel and headed to the residence of Gwen Cardno for a meeting with Egyptian musicians led by Ahmed Gamal. During the meeting, we concluded that we would perform several Egyptian selections together at the end of the concert on January 22.
On Sunday, January 18, we went to the Egyptian Family Planning Association (EFPA) for the first of five daily, three-hour composition creation workshops with about thirty low-income students ages 10 to 14. All the students were girls except two, and most of the girls wore the hijab. We later learned that some of them work daily in factories. Throughout our work with them, volunteers from Rotaract did a great job translating.
On that first day, we began with large group improvisation and then introduced ourselves, explaining that the purpose of these workshops would be to create compositions that express aspects of the students’ lives. We gave a mini-concert and demonstration of our instruments followed by vocal warm-ups and an introduction to the recorder. We donated 21 recorders to the Egyptian Family Planning Association for use during and after these workshops.
We played a get acquainted game in which everyone said his or her name accompanied by a memorable physical gesture. We divided into five “pods,” or small groups, in which we would create compositions together over the next five days. We brainstormed topics that are important to the students in order to determine what our compositions would be about. My pod chose the future, the environment, and their fears. For the future, they want to succeed and be known and loved. Regarding the environment, they want people to clean up the streets and plant trees. They fear car accidents and anything happening to their families.
For homework, we asked them to jot down five sounds they hear. We closed the first day’s workshop with a percussion lesson. Even though this was the first day, the students already displayed the boundless enthusiasm and energy that would make our work with them such an unalloyed pleasure. By the second day, they had also developed personal affection for each of us, and we certainly felt the same way about them.
That evening, the five of us attended a concert by tenor Sobhi Bidair and the Cairo Symphony Orchestra at the Alexandria Opera House. We also enjoyed a lovely dinner at Pastroudis.
Monday, January 19, began with our second day of workshops at the EFPA. We began with an exercise designed by Agusto Boal in which people draw a simple picture of a person. Inside the person, they write facts; outside, they write opinions. We used the exercise to ask students to draw two pictures: first, of themselves, and second, of us. The exercise offered an insight into how they see themselves and they see us.
We had intended to begin on the first day with this exercise, and in retrospect, we should have done so, because by the second day, our students already loved us. Today they started what became a tradition of crowding around me and insisting on shaking hands. We could never begin a day’s work without first calming down a crowd of grinning young girls who insisted on pumping our hands up and down vigorously in their little hands.
After the Agusto Boal exercise, Jennifer led a couple games designed to hone their listening skills. We then asked them about the sounds from their homework. Many sounds involved traffic. We tried imitating the sounds on our instruments to show how we can make connections between music and non-musical sources of sound. We did a similar exercise with emotions to show how it is possible to render emotion in sound.
After a break, Steve introduced the landmark avant-garde composition 4’33” by the American composer John Cage (1912-1991). The composition consists of doing nothing for four minutes and thirty-three seconds. We “performed” the composition and then discussed what we heard during that time. Then, Steve introduced the students to the work of the great American contemporary composer Steve Reich, who uses recordings of everyday sounds in his compositions.
In our pods, we began creating the text around which we would base our compositions. At the end of the workshops, the students tried to teach us a song they love, “Shokbat Shokabit.”
I visited Shady Abdel Salam at the Bibliotheca Alexandrina in order to pick up some music by Attia Sharara, the octogenarian Egyptian composer of Western classical music. I may program one of Mr. Sharara’s works on a June 30, 2009 recital at Indiana University. After a brief tour of the Bibliotheca, I gave a two-hour master class for Nevine Mahmoudy’s Arabic violin class. Previous trips to Turkey, Qatar, and Tunisia have given me some familiarity with the lounga they were studying, so I was able to help them.
That evening, we had our first of two rehearsals with the Egyptian musicians with whom we performed on Thursday. Unfortunately, Ahmed Gamal was unable to attend. We enjoyed the rehearsal thoroughly and got excited about the coming performance.
On Tuesday, January 20, we began our EFPA workshops by showing how rhythms lead to motives, which can be expanded into themes, which can be layered in counterpoint, and finally, assembled into various musical forms. In our pods, we started planning the layout of our composition. In my pod, there were many false starts. The kids wanted nine separate sections, which we had to abandon, and efforts to include recorders never struck me as an organic part of the composition. Plus, the same children who were so exuberant and eager to answer our questions in the large group proved suddenly shy when asked to begin creating musical material in the pods. They were also reluctant to sing.
That afternoon, we headed to the Village of Hope. We received a tour of their facilities for helping youth with special needs. We were particularly impressed by the bakery, in which youth with severe mental disabilities have each mastered a small portion of the baking process, which they perform to perfection to produce a large quantity of delicious baked goods.
Our two-hour concert included numerous interactive elements, such as dancing and clapping games. We were astonished by the strong sense of rhythm exhibited by the students, and deeply moved by what Nada Thabet, founder of the Village of Hope, and her team have accomplished.
On Wednesday, January 21, Steve and I gave a brief interactive concert at Kaumeya Language School. In addition to serving as director of Cultures in Harmony, I was a Fellow of The Academy from September 2008 to May 2009. As a Fellow, I taught music appreciation at P. S. 108 in Brooklyn, New York, U. S. A. Before my departure for Egypt, I gave a lesson about Egyptian music to a second grade class at the school. That class then wrote letters to children in Egypt, addressed “Dear Egyptian Friend.” I delivered those letters to a fourth-grade class at Kaumeya Language School in Alexandria. The children wrote responses to those letters, which I delivered to P. S. 108 on Tuesday, January 27. The letters, which often focus on shared and differing musical tastes, initiated a potentially rewarding pen-pal exchange for these children.
During the fourth session of the EFPA workshops, we spent the whole time in pods working on our composition. Though I had been concerned about the relatively small amount of music my pod had generated up to this point, three of the girls quickly came up with a poem about how important Egypt is to them. One girl, Asmaa Said, proved particularly adept at setting the poem to music, so I asked her to sing one line at a time so I could write the song down.
During and after the workshops, I met with parents of the children. There had been a concern that these parents would not allow their children to attend the concert scheduled for Thursday, January 22. Apparently, children performing in or attending a concert was outside of their previous experience, plus many parents were very concerned about the children’s safety. Since I considered the participation of the children in this concert to be the primary activity of this project, I really wanted the children to perform their compositions.
We need not have worried. I began each meeting by telling each mother how talented, intelligent, and creative her child is. They beamed from ear to ear and immediately agreed to allow the children’s participation; like parents everywhere, they want their child to be happy and are very proud of them. Laila Abbassy did a superb job translating. The only parents who withdrew their children were the ones who never met with Laila and me.
For the second time, I gave a master class for Nevine Mahmoudy’s violin class at the Alexandria Opera House. This time, they focused on repertoire from the Suzuki Violin Books as well as Bach’s Concerto for Two Violins. I was able to be more helpful since this is more my area of expertise. The ideas I communicated came primarily from Mimi Zweig, the internationally recognized pedagogue at Indiana University. I invited the violin students to apply for her Indiana University String Academy, a four-week music program in the summer. They seemed interested. On a previous project in Tunisia, I invited Nidhal Jebali to participate in this program, which he has now done for three summers. In fall 2009, he will attend Indiana University as a freshman. So, this master class could yield another exciting opportunity for cultural exchange.
After the master class, we conducted our second and final rehearsal with Egyptian musicians for the following evening’s concert. We enjoyed working with them as always.
At the beginning of our final EFPA workshops, Tiffany and Jennifer led a workshop on stage presence. We divided into our pods to finish polishing our compositions and then performed them for one another. We held a cultural diplomacy forum. Here are some of the questions we asked and a summary of the children’s answers as translated by Rotaract.
1. What did you know about Americans before you met us?
They thought that Americans have “not good personalities,” but that “when they saw us, they changed their idea.” This was the most interesting answer from the whole session; indeed, it neatly summarizes the reason both the Embassy and Cultures in Harmony engage in cultural diplomacy.
2. What would you like us to tell other Americans about people in Egypt?
They wanted us to tell Americans “that we have a good people.” They asked us to “tell them what you see” here in Egypt.
3. What have you learned from this experience?
They say that their English improved and that they learned how to make music and to work together. One student, Marwa Talaat, said she “loves us.” Sadly, we learned that Marwa works in a factory several hours a day. She is ten years old.
4. How do you think you will use the information you learned?
“When they have a concert at school, they will know how to make music.” They will be able to “make a song for some person.”
5. What religion do you think we are?
First, they thought we were all Muslims and were surprised to learn we are not. Then, they thought we were all Christians and were surprised when only Steve said he was. It does not bother them that Steve is Christian. In a private conversation, one Rotaract volunteer initially seemed slightly bothered that Jennifer’s background is Jewish. He asked her if she liked Israel, and when she replied, “Not right now,” in reference to the recent invasion of Gaza, he appeared mollified.
The workshop concluded with a mixture of sentimentality and excitement about tonight’s concert. After lunch, I proceeded to the American Center, where I worked on learning the Arabic version of the speech I would give at the concert that evening.
People of all ages packed the American Center for the concert that evening. Though a few NGO workers attended, most attendees were Egyptians, and most of the women wore the hijab. The first segment of the program was well received, particularly the virtuosic Yankee Doodle variations which closed it. Tiffany mentioned that Lori Laitman and Rhonda Larson are women; Amira Zaalouk of Rotaract translated her remarks.
The second segment of the program consisted of the five compositions created by the EFPA children. Though Jennifer had to start her group’s composition a second time because one girl was overcome by a fit of nervous giggles, overall it went very well. It is stunning how the children created five unique and beautiful compositions in just five days. Each composition reflected something important to them, whether it was Arab unity or the environment.
The final segment of the concert consisted of five Egyptian pieces, performed alongside ten Egyptian musicians led by Ahmed Gamal. The highlight was undoubtedly the closing performance of El Helwah Di. During the introduction, we were surprised to hear the sounds of people singing along. Looking out at the audience, I saw that most of the singers were our students from the workshops.
For five days, we worked to get them to sing. Shy about singing, many of them would simply speak words loudly or sing softly at the wrong pitch. Yet now, the children swayed back and forth in their seats, singing the chorus they all seemed to know. On subsequent repetitions of the chorus, the entire audience joined in, clapping along. We had to choke back tears, overcome by the way music had inspired all of us to unite, overcoming our inhibitions about ourselves and about each other. In my whole career as a musician, I have had few experiences this deeply affecting. After the concert, the students clustered around us, hanging on Steve and Robin in particular. They loved having their pictures taken with us, and their parents seemed very proud.
On Friday, the Cultures in Harmony musicians went to the fish market. We had a limited conversation with both our cab driver and some fishmongers. When asked “Where from?” we would respond, “America.” After a silence, I would say, “Obama!” Then, the response would inevitably be a grin and thumbs-up. Several interactions we had during this day confirmed that the new President has enormous potential to improve the image of America in the Arab world. With the fishmongers, we also broke into singing the song “Enta Omry,” made famous by Um Kulthum. Soon, a crowd collected, dancing, singing, and banging on pots and pans. Once again, music had shown its ability to unite people across cultural barriers.
In the afternoon, we met with some members of the Friends of Voice of America club. At a café near the corniche, we soon began a serious conversation about cultural differences. The opportunity to exchange views about Islam, the hijab, society, the United States, freedom of speech, and democracy felt significant to all of us, and we hope to include more such informal gatherings in future projects.
At the instigation of Haytham Mohamed, the members of Rotaract organized our evening activities for us. At dinner at a large restaurant near the corniche, they presented us each with certificates of appreciation and mementoes of Egypt. Throughout the rest of the evening, which included shisha by the seashore and sugarcane juice at a shop called “Juice Mecca,” we enjoyed relaxing with, talking with, and listening to the young members of Rotaract. They are far more privileged than the children with whom we interacted; however, the Rotaract youth clearly appreciated the opportunity as much as we did. We were glad to develop stronger friendships with youth who will guide the direction of Egyptian civil society in the future.
On Saturday, January 24, we returned to Cairo to give a three-hour workshop at Alwan wa Awtar, a non-governmental organization that works with children of families displaced by the 1992 earthquake. Since the children have received arts training in the past, they proved very responsive. The focus of our workshop was counterpoint, defined as the interaction of two or more complementary voices. As musicians such as Daniel Barenboim have noted, counterpoint demands equal treatment of and contributions from all voices, thereby making it an excellent model of democracy functioning within society.
The structure of our workshop made this connection explicit. Once the children determined that their composition would be about the zoo, we divided them into three groups. One group had to come up with the sounds for small animals, another for medium animals, and the third for big animals. Then, the groups presented their sounds to each other, after which each group came up with sounds to support each of the other two groups. We tried the composition with all three voices once, and then gave each group the opportunity to offer suggestions to the two groups charged with providing the featured group with musical support. Then we incorporated the suggestions and performed our three-part, three-voice contrapuntal composition one last time.
Acknowledgments
Thank you to Helen Lovejoy for believing in this project from the very beginning and committing the Embassy to it when all the other partners backed out. Her faith in the value we could contribute made this project possible.
Thank you to Laila Abbassy for spending so much time with us in Alexandria. We all loved Laila, who became a mother to us all. She is not only supremely competent, but kind, positive, and welcoming.
Thank you to Gwen Cardno for overseeing all our activities in Alexandria. Gwen’s open, friendly personality helped us feel welcome in Alexandria from the beginning. Her willingness to seek out extra opportunities magnified the impact of the project.
Thank you to Samia Khalil for coordinating the involvement of the Egyptian Family Planning Association. Her organizational skills ensured that the Alexandria workshops succeeded.
Thank you to Christine Meyer for organizing our work in Cairo. Christine frequently had to organize mundane details, particularly regarding the bags misplaced by Delta. Her professionalism in such trying circumstances was astonishing, and we are so grateful that she was always friendly and helpful in spite of the upsetting baggage contretemps. She went far beyond the requirements of her job in helping us feel welcome and in ensuring that our work was as free from unnecessary distractions as possible.
Thank you to Leidya Boutros for her calmness and competence in Cairo. We were sorry we did not get a chance to spend more time with her.
Thank you to Moustafa Shalaby for driving us everywhere in Alexandria. During times we did not drive with him, we experienced extraordinarily unsafe and risky driving, so we appreciate his concern for our safety.
Thank you to Amira Zaalouk, Seif El Din Mohamed, Tawfik Diab, Haytham Mohamed, and Khaled Mohamed Eid of Rotaract in Alexandria. They showed up every day of our workshops in Alexandria and did a great job translating. Their patience helped keep the task of working with thirty astonishingly enthusiastic children less stressful than it could have been.
Thank you to Ahmed Gamal for agreeing to perform with us in Alexandria. He did so at risk to his own career, in light of the anti-American sentiment in Alexandria at the present, and we deeply appreciate his courage. Thank you also to the other musicians who performed with us: Amira Sala, Nevine Mahmoudy, Mohamed Barakat, Mermine Khalil, Abdel Raouf Ahmed, Ahmed Nasser, Martha Pressler, Amir Awad, and Mohammed Trmraz.
Thank you to the Embassy employees who hosted us in Cairo and to those who lent clothing to Tiffany and myself when we were without luggage. I am personally grateful to the Deputy Chief of Mission, not only for his hospitality but also for the loan of two fine shirts.
Speeches
Madam Ambassador, distinguished guests, thank you for welcoming Cultures in Harmony to Egypt. Your hospitality demonstrates your commitment to international friendship and your faith in music’s ability to bridge cultural barriers. However, some of you may be wondering why five American musicians have come to Cairo while crisis consumes Gaza.
As members of loving families, we weep for families torn apart by this conflict. We thank Egypt for her courageous efforts to negotiate peace. We appreciate the strength of the feelings coursing through the region at this time. Yet we would not be here if we felt music were irrelevant.
As a society, we are at a failure of empathy. Few grasp that the feelings of those they disagree with belong to another human being who merits respect. Music cannot make the road to agreement easier to travel. But it can provide the empathy without which travel on that road is impossible.
Liberated from the prison of words, music soars into the hearts of those who share no language with its creator. Inspired by experiences we share, music reminds us that we all laugh, grieve, worship, and love.
Tonight, we perform American music. On this trip, we will also learn Egyptian music. We are excited to help youth from the slums in Alexandria create compositions about their experiences, and we look forward to learning about their lives.
Whatever we play and whoever may listen, may both performers and audience never fail to fight for the understanding to which music can guide us.
Delivered in English on January 15, 2009
Residence of the U.S. Ambassador, Cairo, Egypt
Thank you so much for coming to our concert. Though I do not speak Arabic, I have learned this speech to tell you why five American musicians came to Egypt.
We are here because of the past. Egypt has a great musical tradition. It was an honor to learn music from Egyptian musicians. We are excited to perform alongside them.
We are here because of the present. We admire Egypt for her courageous efforts to negotiate peace in Gaza. We are sympathetic for the victims of the suffering there.
We are here because of the future. This past week, we enjoyed working with many youth here in Alexandria. We are proud to stand with some of them tonight as they present compositions they created together with us.
The language of music connects those who share no other language. The language of music calls on us to reach out to one another. The language of music points the way to understanding, peace, and friendship.
Thank you for listening to that language tonight.
Delivered in Arabic on January 22, 2009
American Center, Alexandria, Egypt
American Repertoire performed in Egypt
William Bolcom Suite for Violin and Cello ;
Chris Burton Suite for Flute, Violin, and Cello
Songs of a Grimm Nature
world premiere of piece written for this project
Duke Ellington Take the A Train, arr. Lucio Amanti
William Harvey …and the lilies revived (for Soprano and Violin)
Lori Laitman Love Poems of Marichiko for Soprano and Cello
Rhonda Larson Movin’ On for Solo Flute
Mark Summer Lo How a Rose for Solo Cello
Glen Velez Duo for Percussion and Melody Instrument (Violin)
Henri Vieuxtemps Yankee Doodle, arr. William Harvey
Virgil Thomson Serenade for Flute and Violin
Five Phrases for Soprano and Percussion
All of these composers were born in the U.S.A. except Henri Vieuxtemps, who was French. Bolcom, Burton, Harvey, Laitman, Larson, Summer, and Velez are still alive. Larson and Laitman are women. Ellington was African-American.
Please note that in addition to the American repertoire, Cultures in Harmony also performed Egyptian pieces, both on their own and together with Egyptian musicians in Alexandria. Those pieces included the following:
Lounga Reyot Elsonbaty
Bent Al Youm
El Helwah Di
Ma Oltelaksh Innelkotra
“Memories”
Samai Bataty
