Oxford Maqam
Pioneering Oxford Maqam comprises vocalists and musicians who are renowned experts of Egyptian music and song of the 19th and 20th centuries knows as the Nahda (Renaissance). They first met over ten years ago, and now regularly tour both in the UK and internationally. Their self-made album, described as ‘revolutionary’ by Songlines magazine, used recording techniques from over one hundred years ago to play key works of the Arabic Nahda repertoire. Oxford Maqam specialises in the rich tradition of muwashahat, qasidas (poetry), and adwar. Their more recent project was to bring to life the muwashahat last sung by Shaykh Darweesh Al-Hariri as recorded at the 1932 Cairo conference. Whilst the Muwashshah form is famous today, many of those found in Al-Hariri’s recordings have never been sung since, and date as far back as the 9th century.