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KHAIRIYA MAZIN - interview

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Published: Friday, 28 July 2017 08:35

KHAIRIYA MAZIN, October 2017, boat from Luxor to Esna

Please tell us how a ghawazee learns to dance and when? How did you and your sisters start?
The knowledge in our familly is transmitted from generation to generation. My older aunts taught my oldest sister, Su´ad Mazin. And then, our sister Su´ad taught the remaining 5 of us how to dance. 

In which time of your life did you decide to continue with the family tradition of dancing, for it to be your profession?
I started dancing at 14 years of age just for fun, but I used to accompany my sister on her performances, so I danced all the time. The firts time I earned money from dancing was, when I was 20 years of age.

Who were your major clinets during the time of Banat Mazin? For whom did you perform the most?
We were mainly performing at different kinds of family celebrations, in the countryside. Also the people from the countryside paid us very good money for our performances.

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OUM KALTHUM – UMM KALTHUM, 2nd part

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Published: Monday, 29 January 2018 14:25

OUM KATLHUM - OUM KALTHUM – UMM KULTHUM, 1st part

OUM KALTHUM AND MOHAMED ABD EL WAHAB

A dramatic high point in the production of new love song was collaboration with Mohamed Abd-el Wahab. He began his career in musical theater in 1917 and became highly regarded as singer and composer. They became aquainted during 1920´s. Abd el Wahab starred in a number of successful films during the 1930´s and 1940´s, for which he also wrote music. He was viewed as prestigious and innovative composer. His speciality was to combine wide variety of styles, mixture between Arab and Western music.
The two artists different artistic objectives discouraged collaboration. Abd el Wahab was interested in modern music, experimenting with other styles and influenced by West, while Oum Klathum wanted to work with old arab music roots. From time to time the two were in direct competition. Both ran for president of Musicians Union in 1940´s and early 1950´s.

It is believed that egyptian president Abd el Nasir was very important in the connection of the two artist, that he alone cherished so much. In 1960 both of them received Order of Merit by Egyptian governement. Slowly  Abd el Naser and other mutual friends of the artists persusaded both of them to colaborate together. Agreement was formaly reached when Oum Kalthum and Abd el Wahab were performing together for a concert in honor of Egyptian National Day.
Their first success was Enta omri (You are my life), premiered in 1964. The song quickly became one of her most popular and famous songs. Nine more songs followed. All of the songs they did together were acompanied by huge press coverage. Not only in trade publication and fan magazines but also in the daily newspaper.

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OUM KATLHUM - UMM KULTHUM, 1st part

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Published: Friday, 22 December 2017 07:07

OUM KATLHUM AND HER CHILDHOOD

She was born in a small Egyptian village called Tammay al Zaharya, by the Nile Delta. The date of her birth is still a matter of discussion, but her English language biographer, Virginia Danielson, says her date of birth was the 4th of May 1904.
Her father was an imam at the local mosque, her mother was a housekeeper. She was raised in a very religious family where she learned suras from the Koran, ever since she was a child. Her father noticed that she was talented and enrolled her into the school of Koran at the age of 5. Her father was also a sheikh, a singer of religious songs at local mulids and festivals. While practicing those songs at home, he discovered that his daughter not only remembered the lyrics, but had a strong voice, too.  She learned from her father by repeating after him, without understanding the words. Her father started teaching her to sing and soon she began performing with him. The audience was always amazed to hear this young girl singing with such a strong voice. They got more and more work, as people heard of the wonder child. Her father was concerned for her reputation, as she was a woman, so he dressed her up as a boy, whenever they went to perform. Also, there were family members and relatives who accompanied her to every performance she had. 
Between 1910 and 1920, her father began to take on the role of her manager and the family's economic situation soon improved.
Between 1920 and 1922, she began to perform in Cairo, and from 1922 onwards, she become a real star.

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MY PERSONAL ENCOUNTER WITH THE LEGENDARY KHAIRIYA MAZIN

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Published: Friday, 28 July 2017 07:44

When you learn oriental dance in a non-oriental country, like myself, the fascination to get to know the origin of the dance grows with time, and with knowledge. It is only natural, that after some years of dedicated learning one wants to go and see the country of origin of the dance and wants to learn from the source. My fascination with the Ghawazee began soon after I started to dance oriental dance. Maybe because I started learning from a teacher of a gipsy origin, or maybe it was because of my love for dance with finger cymbals and that-up beat feeling that upper Egyptian music gave to me...but for sure I fell in love with it when I bought Aisha´s Ali DVD Dances of Egypt. I knew I had to go to south Egypt. For more than 10 years I deepened my knowledge of oriental dance and some Arab folklore, travelled to Cairo a few times, but never had the opportunity to learn Ghawazee. It seemed that everything needed its time to thrive, and so did my Ghawazee experience.

It was the 24th of October 2015, that I first smelled the air in Luxor and felt the warm ground of upper Egypt. From the first minute on, I completely loved it. The following day our hosts, my dear teacher and friend, an amazing woman named Brigitte and her husband, a citizen of Luxor, Mohammed, arranged a meeting for us with the last of the Banat Mazin, the living legend itself, Khairiya Mazin. I am not going to write about Banat Mazin, because I am sure all the oriental dancers know about them.

We were to meet with Khairiya at Mohammed's restaurant Nile View on the west bank of the Nile in Luxor. If you have ever experienced what it's like to be a fan, to have an idol, well, then you know how I felt. I was sitting in the Nile View with my friends, waiting for Khairiya to come. First, the musicians came, then, there was a very elegant lady in a black galabiya, wearing black hijab. That was Khairiya. Oh, my god. My eyes filled with tears and I started trembling. Just a few metres from me, there she was. A legendary dancer, the last of the Banat Mazin. I told my friends: »My dear girls, we are witnessing a historical moment. Do you know how lucky we are right now to be sitting here with her? «

After we met and had lunch, we had a private workshop, ten girls from Slovenia, Kshatriya Mazin and their amazing Shaba musicians for Luxor. What can I say? During the next three hours, magic happened. Khairiya was dancing for us, telling us about her dance, her life and we were totally enjoying each and every moment with her. She is a wonderful person, soft, gentle and sweet. Her dance is very earthy but at the same time very feminine, very natural and a pure joy to watch. She showed us all of her repertoire and we knew we wanted more, but at that time we already had some other plans to travel around upper Egypt, so we said goodbye to her and we were hoping to meet each other again soon.

all of us with Khairiya 2015

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