Thursday, September 22, 2011

The Conference on Arabic Music in Cairo 1932

Original label from one of the 78 rpm's



Recordings from the
Conference on Arabic Music held in
Cairo 1932







The conference on Arabic music was held in Cairo 1932 on the initiative of baron d'Erlanger and under the presedency of King Fouad I in the presence of several great musicologists, composers and orientalists, uniting the best of the classical and popular music styles performing musicians of the Maghreb and Asia Minor. After recordings made under the direction of Béla Bartòk and Mansûr Awad in connection with the conference, the Gramophone Company published noncommercially more than one hundred sixty 78 rpm discs. That is more than 320 sides of approximately 3 minutes each.

Finally in the 1990's some reissues from this vast body of recordings made at the Cairo conference 1932, previously only accessible to a few specialized scholars was made available on CD for the enjoyment and scrutiny of a wider audience . The ones that I know of will be posted here. I have decided to make the long out of print reissues of these early 78 rpm recordings available again to a wider o a possibly wider group of listener than has been reached before. These recordings are too precious to be forgotten in some attics of institutions or remain rare precious unobtainable objects in private collections.

This is truly beautiful music that constantly is worthy of finding new listeners.

First out is this boxed 2 CD collection that was published with a very informative book in several languages. This edition a long out of print and there has to my knowledge not been issued again. It was hard to get a copy already in the beginning of the nineties. I hope you enjoy this effort and should you sit on any other material visual printed or audio please share it with me. See also the end of this post for a list of what will be forthcoming.






Congrès du Caire 1932 Vol.1-2
APN 88 - 9-10 - P.1988


(Institut du Monde Arabe et Phonotheque National du France)

APN 88 - 9

Disc 1

01 Abûdhiyya 4:45 Musique Savante de Bagdad / Irak
02 Maqâm Ibrâhîmî 20:50 Musique Savante de Bagdad / Irak
03 Pasta 5:54 Musique Savante de Bagdad / Irak
04 Taqsîm Santûr 3:02 Musique Savante de Bagdad / Irak
05 Taqsîm Jawza 3:00 Musique Savante de Bagdad / Irak
06 Taqsîm °ûd 2:59 Musique Savante de Bagdad / Irak

The Iraqi ensemble of Mohammad al-Qubbanji (1901-1989)
(as you see he died only one year after this re-issue so you see 
why there is no year given in the booklet.)

07 Mawwâl & Taqtûqa 5:35 Musique Populaire / Égypte
08 Chant De Mariage 5:27 Musique Populaire / Égypte
09 Air De Procession Des Pèlerins 2:45 Musique Populaire / Égypte
10 Samâ°î Bayyâtî Thaqîl 3:11 Musique Populaire / Égypte
11 Chant & Danse de Bedouins 3:32 Musique Populaire / Égypte
12 Zâr Sa°îdî 4:42 Musique Populaire / Égypte
13 El Zâr Nubien 4:50 Musique Populaire / Égypte

Disc 1 total time: 71:31



The Egyptian ensemble of Mohammad al Arabi (1885-1941)
are represented here with some of my favourite tracks.


APN 88 - 10

Disc 2

01 Tawshiya 6:01 Musique Citadine De Tlemcen / Algérie
02 Shughl Basît 6:01 Musique Citadine De Tlemcen / Algérie
03 Mawwâl Il Taghtiya 2:55 Musique Citadine De Tlemcen / Algérie
04 Inshâd Baytayn Taghtiya I 3:03 Musique Citadine De Tlemcen / Algérie
05 Hawfî 3:08 Musique Citadine De Tlemcen / Algérie
06 Batâ'ihî 3:08 Musique Citadine De Tlemcen / Algérie

The Algerian ensemble of the singer el Hajj al-Arabi Ibn Sari (1883-1965) 
who also played Ud, Rabab and Qanun.



07 Bughya Tawshiya 4:57 Musique Savante De Féz / Maroc
08 Shughl Basît 6:16 Musique Savante De Féz / Maroc
09 Mawwâl Il Taghtiya 2:55 Musique Savante De Féz / Maroc
10 Inshâd Baytayn Taghtiya I 2:43 Musique Savante De Féz / Maroc
11 El Inshâd Baytayn Il Taghtiya II 2:25 Musique Savante De Féz / Maroc
12 Mawwâl 2:29 Musique Savante De Féz / Maroc

The Moroccan Ensemble of Umar Faid al Juaydi (1873-1952)
that participated at the Cairo conference. 
The singer Muhammad al-Shuwayka (c 1890-1940) 
is the man with the rabab. Originating from Meknes
he also sang in the Fes tradition. There are only six tracks in 
this set but I will post a record with twenty tracks of this group later. 




13 Istiftâh & Musaddar 4:27 Musique Citadine De Tunis / Tunisie
14 Abyât & Batâ'ihî 7:02 Musique Citadine De Tunis / Tunisie
15 Qasîda 3:01 Musique Citadine De Tunis / Tunisie
16 Muwashshah & Zajal 3:22 Musique Citadine De Tunis / Tunisie
17 Chant De Circoncision 2:43 Musique Citadine De Tunis / Tunisie
18 Danse De La Ghayta 2:52 Musique Citadine De Tunis / Tunisie

Disc 2 total time: 70:13


The Tunisian ensemble of Muhammad Ghanim (c 1880-1940)








Arabic front


Comment:

There is some duplication on other releases with reissued material from this conference but I stronlgy recommend you to get this volume as well because of the very informative and nice accompanying trilingual (french, english and arabic) 200+ pages volume:
«Congres du Caire 1932 - La Musique Arabe Savante & Populaire» Paris.



After a preparation period from 15-27 March the conference on Arabic Music 
was held in Cairo from the 28th of March - 3'rd of April. 
As can be seen from the picture above, there were many illustrious participants.
One of the driving forces behind the Conference, held under the auspices of 
King Fouad 1 of Egypt,was baron Rodolph d'Erlanger, who in the end was unable to attend 
due to illness that was to take his life a few months afterwards.
Some of the participants and organisers were composers Bela Bartok, 
Paul Hindemith, Aloïs Haba, Henri Rabaud, music critic Emile Vuillermoz, 
musicologists Erich Morris von Hornbostel, Robert Lachmann, Curt Sachs, Egon Weilesz, 
and orientalists baron Carra de Veaux, Padre Xavier Colangettes, Henry George Farmer, 
Alexis Chottin,
In the picture above you can also find one (maybe two) 
of the few female participants.






For the rest of republished recordings from the conference known to me see this list. I will, in due time, post all those remaining volumes here as well. If you have information about any other reissues than the ones mentioned in the list please let me know. When done with the above I will also attempt to post some related material.

I will also add a bibliography and try to list all the recordings at a later date.
Anyhow more will come in due time.

Again, I have kept you waiting for what should have been a complete post.


My sincere apologies!


I am really truly sorry, this post went out of the house before it was ready! Again I was overly enthusiastic about the free time I might get on my hands but also again was overwhelmed by my workload to the point that I forgot that I had set a publishing date for this post that turned out to be premature! I had the best intention, I assure you, to supply links to all the music files and the accompanying book in pdf and to provide a lot more information to the post! I finally got it done this weekend. I hope you don't mind that I did not delete the post since a few kind people had already commented on it! Again, please excuse the once again prolonged wait. 



Now all the files are also here below! The optimized pdf will be here later but all the scans for the record in high resolution are already here! 

The scans is probably what always takes the longest time to prepare for most of the posts.

Anyhow here they are in a rather unnecessary high quality considering the original 78 rpm.
So also the non-lossy files are included should you prefer to make single channel mono in another tighter bitrate. All the documentation is included in each file below so the files are rather big. 
Maybe I should have separate files for the documentation only. 
Leave a comment if you have any problems with them,









46 comments:

Anonymous said...

Hi hello, Nice to see you, did you have a holiday?
about these Arabic Music Conference in Cairo, I have a question, where can I download or where can I buy them.

thanks Richard

ajnabi1957 said...

Bolingo sahib!
Welcome back. Hope you're feeling refreshed! The world is not the same without Luobaniya.

Mutha Klanger said...

Bolingobhai, welcome back. Hope all is well with you. Looking forward to hearing what went down in Cairo back in '32 :-)

Anonymous said...

Almost glad not to find it, I had no time to listen.

Please take the time to breathe, health comes first.

tusitala said...

I am so happy to see my favourite blog alive again! Thanks Bolingo for your big efforts, good luck and long live from Luobaniya!

Anonymous said...

nice to see you again. we simply LOVE your blog.

Lestorian said...

I can't tell you how happy I am you are back! And looking forward to hearing this and many more posts from you. Thanks again for all the sounds!!!

Giri Mandi said...

Marhaba! I join the universal jubilation for your auspicious return, looking forward to this time-journeying to Cairo...

Anonymous said...

welcome back, friend! I missed you, really. Nice to see your post again!!

Anonymous said...

welcome back, friend! I missed you, really. Nice to see your post again!!

bolingo69 said...

Finally the wait is over and thank you for your kind comments. I have no idea when I will find time for the next post it may be soon but more likely a little later ;-)
Rest assured however that I will continue to post more wonderful and hard to find music here!

Nice to see that you still keep coming around here!

Luobaniyan time has been temporaily revised but I am working hard on reinstalling the old order.

calaf said...

Marvelous again. Thanks, malák li-l-musíqà.

lord haw haw said...

Herr Bolingo, nice to see you are still with us. I was worried about the stability of the Luobaniyan state, what with all those revolts and such around the world. Still looks like you could use some help tho. If you need an assistant let me know, perhaps you can pull a few strings and get me a Luobaniyan work permit.

Dolly Jagger said...

Thank you!

Anonymous said...

What an awesome submission. And that full booklet! All your posts exhibit so much warmth and dedication, and suggest your country must be a kind of utopian paradise. Thank you for all the wonderful work. Tintweiss

Janas said...

Thanks a lot Bolingo!

AmbroseBierce said...

Ah, Bolingo, you're the king not only of Luobaniya, but of the blogger's world. The post more than made up for the long wait...

Anonymous said...

dear sir,

for this, i thank you a thousand times, again and again.

may your days be of jasmine.

bobb said...

Thanks so much:)

autumnleaf said...

Brother-please accept my Autumnal embrace and the wellwishes I send to you as you surface from your rigors to share with we grateful ones....I shower you with red and gold leaves...best to you...

Ethnoscelsi said...

Thank you so much for this set, and triple thanks for the booklet scans. It's great to have a 2-CD overview of the conference, and the book is invaluable!

Anonymous said...

Thanks very much for sharing Cairo '32 with us.
Peace
Don Julian

Mark said...

I've been trying to track this stuff down for years. I can't thank you enough for this stunning generosity.

May your tribe increase!

SOTISE said...

BO,Many thanks for this ,and for a Flac Option appreciated !
best to You, hope you are well.
dpmng

CraterTech said...

Fantastic archival of rarities, your efforts and work as appreciated i'm enjoying

troods said...

This site is new to me, the music is exciting and enriches my world and continues to make me feel that we are very close neighbors with so much to share. Thank you so much for your hard work and generosity.

Anonymous said...

I just hope that you extremely busy and hasn't snowed yet.All my love dear Bo.

bolingo69 said...

Thanks to all of you that fell by this joint and said thanks and left so many nice comments.

You all make me very happy!

And Yup, Nauma! you are right I am busy and very big parts of Luobaniya (Me :-) is currently residing in Madras for a while. I won't upload much as I am busy with book production but I am certainly accumulating much more brilliant music as I roam around. Maybe I will find time to upload some more but I won't be back in my more permanent Luobaniyan archives until late spring next year. I have done everything I could not to be snowed in this year!

Hmm, lots of fireworks outside I think I have to go out on the roof a little while ;-)

Much love from Bolingo!

Anonymous said...

that's super news Bolingo
no snows but lots,lots of fireworks!
(and music from around)
Luobaniya is a indeed a happy land...
pass my love to Arvind too,next time you see him.

n.

Africolombia said...

Bolingo

Cordial Greeting.
I often visit your blog is fantastic I hope this new year is very good for you.

I noticed you have posted in Arabic music sometimes. I have a melody that I would like to know your ID, name or the name of the band, if you know who sings it or know someone who can help me, please thank you very much.

Excusse my english is not very good.
Greetings!

Fabian Romero Altahona
Barranquilla - Colombia
fabianaltahona@hotmail.com

Africolombia said...

I forgot the link of the melody I want to help me identify

http://www.mediafire.com/?7ypui983ctxdk83

Anonymous said...

Multiupload.com seems to have vanished. I've tried the link a couple of times and typed in the main URL without luck. Any chance you could re-upload, say to mediafire please? Cheers and thanks for the education!

Roy said...

Hello! I would love to see this reuploaded, too!

ABDHAB said...

Please Please Please!

I am trying to promote cross-cultural musical enterprise in the Middle East at the moment.

I hope to score a piece which infuses all the sounds and ideals of the this conference.

To see it uploaded would be a dream.

Many thanks,

Henry

AFOFOROMUSICCLUB said...

Hello,
I really love your blog and I've found some vynil-rip companions to others that I have since 30 years now. I am REALLY interested in this Cairo conference one but it seems that also the RS links are dead, like the old megaupload of course. Any chance to fix it or re-upload soon? thank you very much for the passion yopu put into it,
Libero Malatesta

Anonymous said...

Hi bolingo,

Thanks for the great blog! I really enjoy all the traditional material. Looking forward to more gems!

Anonymous said...

Wow so nice! I like this site.Thanks for a great blog. I was able to get the information that I had been looking for.
Arabic Music Online


Thanks once again!
Aadhil Aariz

Anonymous said...

This is a really good read for me about Music, Must admit that you are one of the best bloggers I ever saw.Thanks for posting this informative article.

Arabic music mp3

Thanks!
Aadhil Aariz

Kuba said...

I'm begging for re-up!

bolingo69 said...

I am sorry but if links are not working as is I cannot do anything about it until I return back to Luobaniya in the autumn. Unable to effectively work the ropes behind this Great digital wall of China where I am residing since last fall …

bolingo69 said...

seems there is nothing wrong with the links but you may have to register for a free account at RapidShare …

Here is a download lin for the flac files

http://rapidshare.com/share/90B145C7481CA01F8FF7B445DA3923E6

bolingo69 said...

And here the link for mp3

http://rapidshare.com/share/2CDD144F3BE905F1799D111145C2D7A2


I think all links are operational still but maybe the RapidShare changed their conditions for free downloading I don't know as I have a paid pro account …

Anonymous said...

Sadly, rapidshare has new restrictions that make it impossible to download this now. If anybody got them down before this, please post some alternative link! It is such a shame that a gem like this is impossible to get hold of anywhere.

Anonymous said...

Hello ! Can someone re-upload this masterpiece please ! Thx

Muff Diver said...

Thanks very much for offering this set in FLAC!

diego tc said...

Thank you so much, it was so important still have the link!