Introduction 3
Theoretical Questions 5
Primary Contacts 6
Other Sources of Information 7
Methodology 9
Bibliography 13
Appendix 14
Travel Grant Proposal to Egypt
Introduction
There are many reasons why Egypt is ideal place to study music. Firstly, Egypt has historical significance in world history and a study of its culture and music would help establish a link between modern culture and the cradle of civilization. Music in Egypt became a much relevant subject during the pharaonic period. Throughout this period, music formed a significant aspect of the Egyptian way of life. Majority of musicians assumed various positions in the Egyptian society and music got adapted into many environments such as the battlefields, workshops and temples. The travel grant contained herein outlines the need for a study on Egyptian folk music with conservation being of particular importance. Primarily, the study aims to study the Egyptian folk music with the aim of encouraging its popularization, study, and preservation as a historically significant part of culture.
In Egypt, music is a fundamental element of religious worship. Hathor is goddess and Bes is the god of music. Each of the instruments was inscribed with the musicians name and the symbols of the goddess and god of music. Wind instruments were flutes and trumpets and the stringed music apparatus entailed lutes, lyres, and harps.
Egyptian music all through history has intermingled native primordial Egyptian rituals with African, Arab, Turkish and Western components. The music types set up in Egypt are interrelated and have solid borders through which a regular floe takes place from one type to another. There are six different genres:
- Egyptian religious music traditions
- Egyptian baladior urban folk music tradition
- Arab/ Egyptian art music
- Egyptian pop music
- Egyptian sha’bi or folk music traditions
- Egyptian film music
The study will focus on the Egyptian sha’bi or folk music traditions because the genre is under threat of becoming extinct due to various reasons. After the study, the research information will be used to make various presentations and CDs that will help teach and extend the Egyptian sha’bi music to modern scholars and contemporary enthusiasts. This will be a significant milestone in spreading the value of preserving the rich Egyptian culture.
The contents of the grant proposal will include the objective of travelling to Egypt and the goals the study will hope to achieve. It will contain the methodologies that will be applied to the study including the scope, data collection methods, work breakdown schedule, budgetary allocations, objectives, sources of future funding, and major milestones. The grant budget proposal will be divided into three sections. Section A and B will contain the personnel budget, where all members of the workforce allied with the applicant organization contributing effort to the project will be included on the personnel budget with their base salary and effort or if they are not requesting salary support.
Section C, D and E will detail the travel, equipment and any learning costs. Broad-spectrum purpose tools such as laptops will not be included as direct costs. In the budget justification the place to visit, number of people travelling and duration of the stay will be provided. Section F includes other direct costs such as materials and supplies, publication costs, consultant services, and computer services.
Theoretical Questions
Egypt would be the ideal setting for the qualitative research, as this will provide accurate information by the obtaining information from the source. Through observational research, the research team will gain access to various areas important to the research without any limitations. The research party will be able to place itself as open participants this provides the free will for them to carry out interviews, interrogate and overtly record information. The study will encompass the kind of efforts that the government has put in place to preserve folk music through the Nile Ensemble and the National Ensemble for Folk Musical Instruments. It will also provide additional preservation methods that will draw out from the qualitative research. It will also distinguish the methodologies applied by the Nile Ensemble with those of the National Endowment for the Arts (NEA) in the United States.
The Research Questions Posed by the Proposal are:
- What is the current perception of Egyptians of the folk music Egypt?
- How do the local artists interact with the culture?
- What are the key instruments and melodies?
- How is Egyptian folk Music different from other forms of music from the region especially the Arabic type of music?
- How is Egyptian folk music taught in a traditional setting?
- How does the Egyptian folk music relate to global music?
- How can the Egyptian folk music be modified to appeal to the younger generation?
- What methods can be employed in the effort to pass the spread Egyptian folk music?
- What is difference between the values people gain from Egyptian folk music and modern music?
Primary Contacts
The study’s primary contacts will be Musicians involved in the Egyptian folk music and scholars on the discipline. Although the study will narrow down on musicians, who are sha’bi veterans from the 1970s to date. The “godfather” of contemporary sha’bi music was Ahmad Adawiya who later passed on but he influenced and set a standard for all Egyptian performers including Sha’ban Abd al-Rahim. The study will use Sha’ban also known popularly as Sha’bola as a primary contact. He lived in relative obscurity for nearly 20 years dabbling in locally controversial songs in the 1990s.He burst into international notoriety with the song Ana Bakrah Isra’il (I hate Israel) in 2001, thus establishing himself as a socio-political commentator of humble origins. He still lives with his mother in the village of Mit Halfa and comes from a lineage of foot operated laundry pressers. He describes himself as a patriotic ironer that speaks about the Egyptian way of life.
In Egypt today popular music can be discussed as falling into two overlapping categories sha’bi and shababi. Sha’bi is described as the music of the people because is well known to majority of the people and is regarded as the urban folk music. It is usually performed in lower class rite of passage ceremonies. As a traditional genre, sha’bi music is performed in leisure venues and is associated with the lower rungs of the nightclub and cabaret business. On the other hand, shababi literally means “belonging to the youth” and focuses in music meant for the youth. Shababi features showily alluring superstar singers and the fan base comprises of mostly young adults. The two music styles, sha’b and shababi overlap each other in terms of class and cultural boundaries. For instance, sha’bi musicians at times perform at high-ranking events while the shababi music is played on conventional media platforms such as radio and TV. Additionally, the El Mastaba Center for Egyptian Folk Music in Cairo holds regular musical concerts with the aim of popularizing it. Zakaria Ibrahim is also a primary contact since he has been active in the folk music scene since the early 1980s. He is credited with reviving the fortnight performances of cultural music within Cairo.
Other Sources of Information
Besides Sha’ban, other sources of information regarding traditional Egyptian music are deejays, radio presenters, music libraries, and written literature. Deejays are known to dig deep into the music and look for music that entertains people across all generations. They are entertainers and have to meet the standards of every section of the population. Different generations have varied preferences to music. The present generation listens to modern music and may not have enough knowledge about traditional music in Egypt. On the other hand, the older people listen to music of previous generation, understand it, and feel more entertained through it. They request it in entertainment joints and have social gatherings where they meet to relive the earlier years through music. The entertainers, therefore, have to know the different generations of music so that the entertainment is not limited to the present generation alone. There are present deejays and retired deejays and both would be a good source of information on traditional Egyptian music. The retired deejays can explain, in depth, the types, and sources of music in the traditional times, the instruments that were used, and the events where specific types of music were played. They understand the rituals that followed the music since they lived and witnessed such times. On the other hand, the present generation of deejays provides a link between the previous and present styles of music. Therefore, the DJs explain the transitions and any link that exists between the previous and present styles of music.
Radio stations are another source of information on Egyptian music. Radio stations were started long ago as avenues for entertainment and relaying information on various occurrences. They seek listenership all over the country and, therefore, have to meet the entertainment needs for the all Egyptians irrespective of their ages. This forces them to keep records and play music across different generations. They have both traditional and modern music in their records so that everyone in the country can listen to them. The radio stations can be an important source of information on traditional music. The presenters understand the transitions in the music industry and know the traditional musicians who lived in the ancient times. The DJs can explain the genres that existed and the differences between the traditional and present music.
Most traditional information can be found in libraries and museums. They contain information about traditional ways of life and cultures that existed in the ancient times. There are sections within the libraries that contain written literature about traditional forms of music and examples of the music. One can visit the libraries to read about the traditions from written literatures or borrow recorded traditional music and acquire first-hand information on music in Egypt. The museums display artifacts associated with traditional cultures and can display instruments used in the ancient music in Egypt. The guides in the museums explain the uses of the instruments, the people who used them, and the events where they were used. The instruments also have some information that one can read to understand their names and their significance in Egyptian traditions.
In most countries, there are social organizations that help in preserving cultures and traditional ways of living of a people. They constantly remind people of their origins and provide a link between the traditional and present lifestyles. They organize various events that display traditional performances. One of such organizations is El Mastaba. It presents four consistent weekly concerts that bring several bands to perform. The El Mastaba network contains eleven bands whose performances emphasize on damma and simsimia traditions from the Suez Canal and Port Said regions. The performances take place in several towns and this ensures that everyone learns about the traditional music in Egypt. The eleven bands associated with El Mastaba can provide information about their style of music since it is founded on Egyptian traditional ways of life.
Methodology
Data collection is an important part of any research. The method selected must be relevant to the objectives, the subject under review, the phenomena, and people under review, and the environment. For the data collection in Egypt, primary data will be collected using private interviews and use of focus group discussions. To keep the interviews objective, it is important that an interview questionnaire is used. The questions in the document would be open ended to ensure that the data collected is qualitative enough to meet the objectives. However, the research will try to explore an unstructured one-on-one direct discussion with influential opinion leaders on Egyptian Folk Music. To facilitate data collection and to eliminate bias, the interview will be recorded either by using a mobile phone or a simple recorder. Image 1 shows as sample voice recorder that will be used during the interviews. The data collection process will explore overt methods, as that would help reduce any ethical liabilities. Overt methods involve disclosing to the respondents that they are under review. Thus, I will also explore observation as a data collection method, especially for the collection of data regarding attitudes and the atmosphere during performances.
Image 1: Data collection tool, recorder
The El Mastaba Center for Egyptian Folk Music will be the primary data collection site, as an institution that is dedicated to the preservation and presentation of folk music in Egypt. What is more, its location makes it the ideal data collection center. The institution is located in downtown Cairo on 4 Sweqat Elsabbaeen Street, which means that it is easily accessible. Additionally, it has four standard musical concerts that occur weekly. The institution has 11 regular bands that have performed together for the past 24 months. Moreover, the bands are an assembled from all over Egypt, thus the information collected from these groups would be inclusive and representative of the Egyptian culture and people. The bands to be interviewed are El Tanbura, Rango, Bedouin Jerry-can band, NubaNour, and Baramka. El Tanbura was selected as a primary source of information on Egyptian folk music since it is composed of veteran musicians that have been performing since the 1980s. Thus, their knowledge would be invaluable. The band is regarded as custodians of some of the oldest folk songs in the Mediterranean region. The interviewer's aim is creating rapport with the main band members including Zakaria Ibrahim in order to gain insight on the role of the small lyre instrument, the simsimiyya. This instrument has historical significance on Egyptian folk music and its understanding would be a significant milestone. Zakaria Ibrahim is seen as a “musical Godfather” in the Egyptian Folk music scene as he has been influential in its revival.
The focus group discussions will be mostly conducted with members of the bands that agree to take part in the study. The musical group, Rango, has cultural significance to the study as it is made up of a mix of cultures from all over the African continent. The responses from the discussion groups would help create a path in the history and evolution of folk music. Focus group discussions will also be conducted in with the youthful musicians including famous Disc Jockey (DJ) DJ Haha, who is a contemporary hip-hop DJ. Dj Haha will be the main respondent especially for any information involving the younger audiences and musicians.
Once the data is collected, it will be compiled into a report that answers the main research questions. Since the data is mainly of qualitative type, special numerical data processing tools do not have to be used. However, information on the popularity of folk music can be recorded using rough estimates and approximations on attendance and feedback from the respondents and participants.
Bibliography
Banning, Eyre. "Authentic Egyptian Music Is From The Streets." NPR. October 11, 2011. Accessed December 19, 2014. http://www.npr.org/2011/10/04/141052309/authentic-egyptian-music-is-from-the-streets.
Bauer, Marion. Music Through the Ages-A Narrative for Student and Layman. Read Books, 2007.
Birnbaum, Michael H. "Human research and data collection via the Internet."Annu. Rev. Psychol. 55 (2004): 803-832.
Fahmy, Latifa. "Egyptian Music: tradition and‘New Tradition’." Museum International 57, no. 1/2 (May 2005): 49-54. Academic Search Premier, EBSCOhost (accessed December 19, 2014).
Marcus, Scott Lloyd. Music in Egypt: experiencing music, expressing culture. Oxford University Press, USA, 2007.
Rich, Martin. "Learning Research Methods: How Personalised Should we be?." Electronic Journal Of Business Research Methods12, no. 2 (November 2014): 124-131. Business Source Complete, EBSCOhost (accessed December 19, 2014).
Appendix
Appendix 1: Sample Budget
BUDGET
ITEM COST
Travel expenses $2,000.00
Data collection tools $1,500.00
1) Salaries:
-1 Social Worker $700
2) Placement:
-Accomodation (rent, electric, water, trash, telephone, etc.) $1,000
-Food and Basics $2,300
3) Insurance: $ 780
4) Transportation: $1,000
6) Data collection equipment $800
5) Extra Accessories/Things: $ 600
Total Research Budget $10,680
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