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MuchWorldMusic: Egypt

MuchWorldMusic: Exploring Sound Cultures Egypt edition (1 hour)
Produced: 2000

Introduction

This video presents us with many issues of poor youth in Egypt, and the help that Canada is providing through CIDA. We also experience several musical styles played in Egypt. There is no voice-over narration, but some flowing titles provide background information and explanation. With the exception of the flowing titles, the youth, musical artists and social workers speak for themselves. More information and background on Egyptian music and these issues can be found by using a WWW search engine and the search terms: Egypt, music, culture.

The discussion and activities suggested below are intended to help students understand the role of music in the culture of Egypt, appreciate the qualities of Egyptian music and understand the role of CIDA in Egypt. Teachers are welcome to select and modify the ideas to best suit the needs of their students and the time for study.

1. Opening Montage
The video begins with an Egyptian folk song heard behind a montage of many images of Egypt. Watch and listen to the montage, then stop and reflect on the impressions you get of Egypt and Egyptian culture. List your impressions and refer to them occasionally through the course of the video to see if they are confirmed or contradicted. Some useful questions to use when building your list are:

Which dominant groups of people do you see in the montage? Men? Women? Children?

What fashions do you notice? Western? Egyptian? Hip Hop? Cowboy? Athletic? Grunge?

How common are trees seen in the landscapes? What kinds of trees do you see?

What are the dominant types of transportation? How are the street scenes, especially the transportation, different from your own city or town? What is the dominant type of housing? How is the housing different from your community?

2. Egyptian music videos

During the show, we see all or part of five music videos: "Traditional Yemenite Song," by Am Kalseum, "Sia Sia," by Mohamed Monir, "El Taxi," by Hareem, "Shawfe," by Hishamabas, and "Song Ya Lail," by Anoshka. View each of these and discuss what impressions of Egyptian culture they are making on you. Check your list of impressions from #1 to see how many are confirmed or contradicted.

Note the Western influences you hear in the music and see the images.

In "Traditional Yemenite Song," by Am Kalseum, we see a group of people enjoying the singing of one woman. Who has the power in this video: the woman or the piper? How can you tell? What impression of Egypt does this video give you? The video is black and white and seems to have film scratches funning through the images. How does this influence your feelings about the video? What evidence of technology do you see in the video? Consider that the singer and musicians are air banding and the camera moves often during the video. What might this tell you about the technology used?

In "Sia Sia," by Mohamed Monir, we see many surreal images, predominantly a baby crawling across a city street. Afterwards, there are several other images of children. What might these images suggest about the subject and theme of the video?

In "El Taxi," by Hareem, we see a dancer costumed like Cleopatra, a beautiful ancient-Egyptian ruler. Intercut with her dancing are scenes of Hareem riding through the streets of Cairo in a cab seeing many views of Cairo life. What impression of Cairo street life do you get from this video? What do you think the dancing Cleopatra at the Pyramids might mean in the video?

In "Shawfe," by Hishamabas, we see a fast-paced combination of live-action and animation. There is a break dancer, a costumed traditional dancer and a fashionable European-looking dancer. How are these images different from those seen in the previous videos?

In "Song Ya Lail," by Anoshka, we see a costumed Anoshka dancing, evidently against her will, for several men. In what ways does this video follow Arab traditions? In what ways does it show a western influence?

In Anoshka's interview, she states that she wants to maintain her Egyptian traditions and still be an independent woman. Does her video give that message? Why?

How would you describe Anoshka's accent? Where do you think she learned English? In Egypt? In North America? Can you suggest the city that her accent matches? Toronto? Vancouver? Chicago? Los Angeles? Tampa? What might that tell us about her musical and cultural influences?

Which of these five videos would be most successful on MuchMusic? Why?

3. CIDA Youth Centre

We see and hear an interview with Kamal Fahml, the Program Manager at the CIDA Youth Centre. During the interview, we also see the screen divided into three parts, with scenes from the Centre shown on two of the parts. The three images combine to provide a great deal of information.

One of the mistakes in television editing is to show a "talking head" for a long time. This is considered a mistake because, without movement, it gets boring. How do the two additional images help us listen longer? Do the images help you understand his statements better? Why?

Listen and note the main features and purposes of the Centre as described by Kamal Fahml. [non-formal education, chosen by the children; an attempt to encourage children to look beyond tomorrow and plan for the future; expose children to a life beyond the street life they are currently leading.] The host suggests that there are hazards in providing these activities for the children. What are the hazards? Do you think that the Centre may do more harm than good for homeless children?

Debate the following resolution: The Canadian International Development Agency has the right to influence the lives of homeless children in Cairo.

Written by: Neil Andersen

Neil Andersen is a Curriculum Consultant with the Toronto District School Board. He is also a speaker and consultant in media and communications technology. His most recent work includes the Media Launchpad website, the teachers' study guide for the award-winning Scanning Television, and study guides for Space, Bravo! and MuchMusic's Cable in the Classroom broadcasts of original media literacy programming.

For more information about MuchMusic's educational programming -- or to give us your feedback -- please contact:

Calla Dewdney
Public Affairs Coordinator
CHUM Television
416-591-7400 x5940
callad@chumtv.com

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