I remember first hearing a recording of Gamal Abdel-Rahim's composition (the duo for violin and cello) back in '95 and absolutely fell in love it (was probably my first actual introduction into anything having to do with some traditional elements of Arabic music).� Here's the blurb about the piece from the International Opus website:
Gamal Abdel-Rahim - Improvisation on a Peddler's Tune
Composed in 1982 for his son-in-law, Egyptian cellist Kamel Salah El-Din, and published here for the first time, this piece is destined to take its place among the major 20th Century works for unaccompanied cello. Despite the free, improvisatory nature of the work implied in it's title ("Taqasim" in Arabic), Abdel-Rahim crafted a carefully notated, technically challenging virtuoso solo piece based on a peddler's song from the northeast Egyptian coastal town of Abu Qir. It allows the cellist to have great expression and use many colors evoking the sounds of Egyptian folk instruments, while exploring the Arabic microtonal mode (maqam) Bayyati. A unique addition to the solo cello recital repertoire, described as a landmark in modern Arabic art music.
http://www.internationalopus.com/cgi-bin/io.pl?mode=composer&composer=14
I figured some of you folks had expressed interest in Arabic art music for the cello in the past that this might also interest you as well.� For those interested in maqam Bayati, you can see and hear examples of some of the variants of the mode here: http://www.maqamworld.com/maqamat/bayati.html and more information about the composer at the link in the quoted text above.
