This and that-a few Cairo notes

Exciting news on the currency front-Egypt appears to just this week have reintroduced a 50 piaster coin! 50 piasters is half a pound, or about 10 cents, but is of vital importance. The problem is that Egypt does not use coins. The 50 piaster denomination is a bill that clogs up your wallet, and more confusingly at first looks exactly like a 50 pound bill, which leads to much confusion and embarrassment. Or maybe it's just me being a dumbass. Sadly the new 50 piaster coin is not a two-tone coin, with a silver inner circle and gold outer circle in keeping the the Jordanian half dinar, the Euro, the Israeli 10 shekel coin, and the Syrian 25 pound coin. Oh well, can't win them all.

I had a chance to see Wast el-Balad last night at the Sawi Culture Wheel with Soren and his roommate, a guy from Johns Hopkins. It's been great having Soren here, because at least then I've had one friend before classes start! Speaking of classes, they need to start. I'm bored, and there's only so much reading and studying Arabic and Hebrew on can do by ones self. Point here is Wast el-Balad is one of the most popular bands in Cairo, and it showed. It was an interesting exercise in people watching. There were a few hundred people there, of the few hundred there were perhaps 5 foreigners. The vast majority were young, westernized Egyptian men and women. There were maybe 10 girls in hijab in the whole crowd, a remarkable phenomenon. It's fairly unusual to see an uncovered woman outside of Zamalek and perhaps the further out, wealthier suburbs.
The concert itself was sort of a mixed bag.

Pros
-The rhythm section was great. The drummers (plural!) worked well together, the bass player was good, if too far down in the mix, and the oud and rhythm guitar were very good.
-The singer gave Arabic a lyric quality I had not heard before in Arabic music where traditional vocal styling is often so excessive it ruins the singing. More on this in the con section.
-The band played very well together
-I've never heard Arabic sung falsetto.
-It took almost an hour and a half to get to the word “Habibi”

Cons
-The lights appeared to be run by a 5 year old with ADHD and a monkey. So distracting, inappropriately frenetic and blinding that it detracted greatly from the show. Very, very poor lights.
-Just because you can sing in a western style, doesn't mean you should adopt all the bad habits of western singing. This includes beat boxing and scat singing. Beat boxing is never cool, and scat singing even less so. Sorry guy.
-When the word “Habibi” was uttered, because it was inevitable, the crowd went nuts. Seriously. I've never heard such a response to “ya Habibi”

The greatest strengths, and weaknesses of the band were actually the lead singer/guitar player. He should not solo. Period. He's sloppy and has poor phrasing. Makes the solo on Cinnamon Girl look inspired. He is a legitimately good singer, he just tries to do too much. Which was my general problem with the band. They try to do too much. They adopt too many styles, even within songs, weakening their whole effort. You wind up liking parts of songs, rather than the whole thing.
That said, I can see why they are popular. They are dynamic, compelling and charismatic. It's not the kind of music I can see myself listening to outside of a concert, but live it makes for a fun show. I am beginning to wonder if clapping on the beat is a Pavlovian response by Arab audiences. It's weird. Every goddamn music show on TV, and every concert I have ever been to in this part of the world. It's eerie. Noga claims the same thing is true in Israel, so perhaps it's just a conditioned response of the whole Middle East.


Tried to find an Oud concert the other day that the Daily News labeled “not to be missed” but saw fit to publish only the most vague directions. On al-Azhar street doesn't help much when it's one of the biggest, busiest streets in a city of 18 million. Thanks guys.

Going to a lecture on forced migration tonight, should be interesting. I'm excited. Ok, maybe excited isn't the right word, but I'm sort of a nerd. I guess that's betrayed by all the maps up in the apartment. Including one in Arabic now! I bought it from a guy on the street while we were out looking for a foul place downtown, after going to the 8 pound Stella place. It's great.

Headed to Alexandria this weekend before my classes start and Ramadan starts. Sort of curious to be here during Ramadan. I'm curious how the Copts handle it, and how I am going to go about eating. Because I am not keeping Ramadan, but you just can't eat or drink in the streets. I'm also curious to see how many of the AUC kids keep Ramadan. The Egyptian AUC kids that it. I've been told they sit outside the AUC gate by Tahrir Square and smoke during Ramadan. If that's true, they're a bunch of jerks, but I suppose they are being rebellious. Got to get your rebellion in where you can.

Listening to Neil Young's Live at Massey Hall, and it's fantastic. Recorded right before “Harvest” was cut, he sings a lot of songs off of Harvest. It's just so sincere, so unpretentious. Definitely listen to it if you get the chance.

It's been interesting reading a series of interviews with the Grand Mufti of al-Azhar, Sheikh Ali Gomaa in the Daily News. He's a highly pragmatic cleric, and very willing to revise older rulings in light of new social norms or scientific discoveries. His condemnation of female genital mutilation is a very good example of this. I found his statement that “Islamic jurisprudence does not differentiate between culture, economy or politics. It only responds to human actions according to Islamic edicts. We deal with life as a whole, not as segments or categories.”
As an appointed position by Mubarak, he is sometimes called upon to issue political statements. Just last Friday he condemned the rumors of Mubarak's ill-health or even death as not in keeping with Islam. While there is a kind of separation of Church and State in Egypt, it helps a whole lot when the most prestigious cleric in the Muslim world is appointed by the President.

Some worthwhile links-
No Thanks Mr. Nabakov
Setting the Record Straight
A Different Look at Bin Laden's Video
Thank god this era of Hip-Hop is dying
You go Tel Aviv!

Ok, I am going to end this ramble a bit prematurely because my stomach is back to killing me. How on earth does this always happen to me? It's not nearly as bad as Bedouin sick, but enough to give me some nasty stomach cramps. Blech.
One of these days I am going to find real internet access and post pictures!