Youssra El Hawary – Rubenstein Atrium – October 4, 2018
There’s a bit of Arab Spring vibe in El Hawary, but she seems to be more documenting the social fallout of modern Egypt rather than sounding a call to arms. It’s always interesting to see how the stereotypical image of an instrument can get warped by the cultural filter of distant hands. The handout blurb mentioned that she has modified the reed setup of some accordions, to be able to produce the quarter tones that are part of the genre, and which give music of this region (the band is from Egypt) its distinctive not-of-the-west tonal signature.
Youssra El Hawary
Tarek Abdelkawi & Yamen ElGamal
Luka Gamal
Sedky Sakhr
Shadi El Hosseini