Cairo Nights, May 2023, Greenwood Theatre, London Bridge

During the COVID-19 lockdown, I was contacted by Prof Martin Stokes about the possibility of a collaborative project. We wanted to arrange eight Egyptian jazz charts, first performed in the 1950s, and have them performed by KCL students. These charts by Abdel Halim Hafez were hugely popular in the Arab-speaking world.  1950s Egypt was a cosmopolitan centre – a melting pot of musical traditions from Arabic classical compositions, to swing and Cuban and Latin American music.  The music of Abdel Halim Hafez reflected this diversity. 

We performed a range of jazz charts that encompassed a large proportion of Abdel Halim Hafez’s career, from his early works, that contained some hugely exciting brass lines (do check out ‘Ya Mugramin’), to some of his classics including ‘Ahwak’ (which members of the audience recognised from the opening two notes).  These charts have largely survived through audio and vinyl recordings.  This was a rare occasion for many in the audience to hear this work live with a big band and string section, especially in the UK. 

For this concert, I brought together the Oxford Maqam Big Band.  Oxford Maqam is a world-leading ensemble of Egyptian and Arabic music.  For the first half of the concert, they performed takht from the 19th century.  For the second half, I brought them together with a big band and string section, made up of musicians from across London.

We're looking forward to performing with this fantastic ensemble again soon!