"Solo Violin"
(Op. 30-1998)
"Barsoum Looks for a Job", Film Music for a silent movie
(Premier: Cairo Opera House September 1998)
Mohamed Abdelwahab AbdelfattahFattah
د.محمد عبدالوهاب عبدالفتاح
This composition was commissioned from the Goethe Institute in
Bayoumi's 12-minute film -- low budget, produced, directed and, probably, financed by Bayoumi -- is an early example of independent cinema.
“Barsoum Looking For A Job”, 1923, was the opening film at the UNESCO celebration of the centenary of cinema in Paris on 9 January in 1995, the International Year for Tolerance. It depicts the friendship of Shiekh Metwali, the muslim and Barsoum, the Copt (Egyptian Christian). Both of them are poor and compete for the same modest job at a bank. Because of a misunderstanding, the bank director invites them for lunch thinking that they are coming to do business. The director discovers their true identity. He realized that the two were not wealthy business men and he throws them out. They lay content and sleep on the pavement but a policeman comes and arrests them and leads them to jail
The topic of this movie is an appeal for tolerance between muslims and copts people in
This composition consists of an introduction and 7 music scenes in addition to the final scene. The composer tries to create a marriage between the historical visual scene and his contemporary music. The music is composed to play "live" and to be in parallel synchronization with each scene. The composer translates the visual content which exists in each scene into a specific unified music paragraph. He wrote some instrumental sound effects in a funny way such as glissando and pizzicato to express the comic scenes. He used to construct his melodies in Arabic Maqams but in a free post modern style including some western articulation techniques. One of those melodies was written as a basic skeleton in Taqasim; an improvisation style which is distinguished by some flageolets.
