{"id":3640,"date":"2011-12-29T18:28:10","date_gmt":"2011-12-30T01:28:10","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.gildedserpent.com\/cms\/?p=3640"},"modified":"2011-12-29T18:43:02","modified_gmt":"2011-12-30T01:43:02","slug":"alia-thabet-ramzy-cd-ruby-el-sultaan","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/www.gildedserpent.com\/cms\/2011\/12\/29\/alia-thabet-ramzy-cd-ruby-el-sultaan\/","title":{"rendered":"Hossam Ramzy Plays Fast and Loose"},"content":{"rendered":"

Two CDs for Classical Egyptian Dance<\/h2>\n

\"Ruby<\/p>\n

Review by Alia Thabit<\/a>
\nposted December 29, 2011<\/span><\/h3>\n

\u201cRuby, Classical Egyptian Bellydance\u201d
\n\u201cEl Sultaan, Classical Egyptian Dance\u201d<\/em><\/span><\/p>\n

\"Ruby\"\u201cRuby\u201d<\/strong> is a collection of ten fairly short (5-6 minute) instrumentals composed by Hossam Ramzy<\/span> and Ossama el Hendy<\/span>, each named for a precious or semiprecious stone (the liner notes explain the composers\u2019 intentions for each selection). The album is designed as a follow-up to the CD \u201cFaddah\u201d<\/a> and presents the same big, complex sound. The pieces are in the style of the great classic dance songs of the \u201870s and \u201880s (\u201cPrincess of Cairo\u201d, etc); however, they strike me as modern. I\u2019m not sure why\u2014but there is a busy, clockwork undercurrent to the pieces\u2014and I find the same feel to a lot of dance I see these days; so maybe that\u2019s it. I like it, though; I like music with a lot of detail, because it gives you plenty with which to play.\u00a0 <\/p>\n

All ten songs are frothy, tightly constructed, highly orchestral, and full of fun-to-articulate lazima (orchestral flourishes), that seem unexpected, but are nicely predictable, once you know where they are. The songs are all connected by maqam, which means they mix and match well, and feature glamorous openings, splashy endings, and dramatic shifts of emotional timbre, energy, tempo, and rhythm. There is a great Saidi section here, some mysterious darkness there, all interspersed with dashes of 6\/8 or 7\/8 rhythms to spice things up. Every time I listened I liked something different, and though no one song emerged as my favorite (well, maybe The Pearl in My Heart<\/em>), all are engaging and suitable for the intermediate to advanced dancer.<\/p>\n

\"jewel\"<\/p>\n

\"El<\/p>\n

On the other hand, \u201cEl Sultaan\u201d<\/strong> features more old-style baladi music with a far looser structure, allowing much more room for taqasim, and indeed, lots of room for what I can only call \u201cnoodling\u201d, during which the whole ensemble is happily improvising away,\u00a0 with no apparent particular structure. Indeed, a few of the songs just drift off into the sunset as the volume fades out. (Although others have clear, dramatic endings.) <\/p>\n

There are some beautiful taqasim, including a delicious accordion opening for a wonderfully lazy \u201cYa Bent el-Sultaan\u201d<\/em><\/strong> that shimmers in the heat and includes melodic interplay between a kawala<\/em> (an end-blown cane flute, similar to, but breathier than, a nay) and a trumpet, and it works. Sadly, this is one of the songs that trail off, but it is over nine minutes long, so I am willing to accept the compromise.<\/p>\n\n\n