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Between Two Cultures 2021 - Maqam in Contemporary Composition - Heterophony and Landscapes

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In October 2021, the second “Between Two Cultures” workshop was held in Cairo and Fayoum, Egypt.

 

The 4 young egyptian composers Mohamed Ahmed, Khouloud Adel, Ahmed Radwan and Ahmed Fayez, was chosen (you can read the CALL OF ENTRY below) and attended the workshop at a residency in a village in the Fayoum area close to the beautiful Qarun lake, with masterclasses by arrangers and composers Dr. Nahla Mattar and Sune Kølster, as well as special guests musicologist Dr. Søren Møller Sørensen and the amazing danish accordeonist Bjarke Mogensen, who presented his specially made Quarter Tone Accordion.

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Every day the composers went to a new spot in The Dessert west of Fayoum, where everybody should compose a piece  on the spot, pen on paper, and i the night the pieces was read by the 4 amazing musicians.

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The young composers was guided in composition as well as working with the above as well as the 4 amazing musicians Mohamed Abdel Fattah (cello), Khaled Saleh (violin), Mohamed Zanaty (clarinet) and Michael Onsy (oud), and the pieces written in the workshop, was performed at a public concert at the Makan venue in Cairo, the recordings and documentation is on the left.

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The end of the workshop was celebrated with a concert in Cairo Opera House, where the danish conductor Peter Ettrup Larsen lead Cairo Symphonic Orchestra playing danish music, including Bjarke Mogensen premiering the piece “Concerto For Quarter Tone Accordion and Orchestra” by composer Sune Kølster.

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The whole workshop was followed by documentary director Emil Nørgaard Munk, who created the beautiful shortfilm "How To Understand A Maqam", that premiered in 2023 in Copenhagen.

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Call of Entry
 

To all young composers interested in the field between classical maqam tonality and contemporary / "classical western" composition:

 

In October 2021, Music Composers Atelier in Cairo will hold the workshop and masterclass "Between Two Cultures" in Egypt - The World of Arabic Music Maqam in contemporary composition, and we are searching for composers and composition students to attend.

 

The workshop will last a week, and most of the time will be spent in a house in Fayoum, where we will have day to day composition tasks. The pieces we compose on the spot will be read and performed by the great ensemble Awtar Quartet, and we will make a public presentation concert in Cairo when we return from Fayoum.

 

The requirements for participation are:

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To be approved you have to be an active composer with at least basic skills in composition, score reading / writing and orchestration / instrumentation, and with basic knowledge of both classical western composition and maqam tonality, and you have to be able and eager to make small composition assignments pen on paper. To be approved you have to send in an application before August 10th 2021 to betweentwoculturescall@gmail.com with:

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A: A short statement  about yourself and your compositional ideas about the contemporary use of maqam tonality.
 

B: A small CV / biography
 

C: A small composition with the following requirements:

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  1. Written for the instruments: Violin / Cello / Oud / Clarinet. 

  2. The piece should be inspired by a landscape chosen by the composer

  3. The piece should be maximum 1 minute long, and can either be:

    • A small 1 minute piece on its own (this is the most preferable format)

    • A beginning

    • An end

    • A middle part

  4. The tonality on the piece has to be based on at least one or more maqams, as long as it contains at least one part with a maqam containing micro tonality, and the composer has to find out a creative and musically satisfying way to solve the problem harmonically.

  5. The piece have to consist of both:

    • An element of Heterophony, where the instruments play around the same melodic structure

    • An element of polyphony / harmony where choices have to be taken regarding the maqam and microtones. 

  6. It is an artistic quest into the world of maqam in contemporary, not a practice of style with rights and wrongs, and artistic and aesthetic solutions that are breaking theoretical rules are always appreciated over "correct" solutions that follow the middle of the road.

  7. The composition should be delivered on score AND recording (mp3)

 

The approved participants will get a letter of confirmation September 1st with more details and information on the workshop. 

 

The deadline for receiving the applications is August 10th, betweentwoculturescall@gmail.com. 

 

Travel from Cairo to Fayoum Oct. 15th and back Oct. 20th is included.

Simple accommodation, food and drinks will be provided by Between Two Cultures  in Fayoum.

All travel to and accommodation in Cairo is not included.

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