Mohammed Antar, (1978-), is an Egyptian musician, Ney player and conductor of Ensemble Munajah and Oriental Secrets Ensemble. He is mostly concerned with the Original Middle-eastern musical traditions by which he is abided in his own compositions. Through these compositions, whether restricted by the original forms or in newly invented forms, he tries to set a link between the Middle-eastern rich musical heritage and the contemporary era through developing this musical tradition from the origin, i.e., the main lines, including the shape and the style, are still preserved, yet, he tries to usually make his musical phrases in different styles so as to break the monotony often caused from the stylistic repetitions.
Mohammed Antar was born on the 14th of October, 1978 in Tanta, the capital city of the Egyptian governerate of Gharbiyya. It is thought that his musical gift was bestowed upon him at the night of his birth as he was born in the night of Sheikh Ahmed Al-Badawi’s anniversary or Mawlid where musicians and Maddahs or sufi singers usually celebrate this night all over Tanta which is known to have been a hometown for a number of Egyptian folkloric and classical musicians. Antar’s musical education started as early as his primary school where he learned how to play Piano, Flute-Recorder and Accordion. He met the Ney for the first time in 1993 and learned it in a short time. During his university life, he temporarily stopped his musical activities until in the year 2000 when he listened to the original Arab, Turkish and Persian musical traditions. He then decided to devote himself to studying and developing this original oriental art. He, as a consequence, started to develop his Ney playing through studying with different masters belonging to the different Ney schools, until, in 2003, he decided to dispose himself of his post graduate studies in English and Comparative Literature and professionalise the Middle-eastern music.
As a composer, Antar’s careful listening to the different musical types, with concentration on the oriental musical traditions which he studied with greater care, gave him a special musical taste reflected in his musical compositions which appeal to the ears of the audience no matter how their musical backgrounds are, as his compositions have musical structural elements taken from all the musical traditions he acquired to the extent that he even sometimes chooses to set a composition in a completely western style when he needs to express something thence related or in a project in which middle-eastern music takes part. He composes instrumental music and music for songs in both Egyptian and classical Arabic in various traditional and free forms, and sound tracks for dramatic works. Musicians usually describe his music as “Middle-Eastern Music without a clear identity”. His instrumental and vocal music has been so far recorded and performed in various projects, synchronised with video clips or imbedded into dramatic works or TV or radio programs. So far, Antar has issued three Ney albums, a single album with Oriental Secrets Ensemble, took part in four project albums, and four of his tracks were issued as singles on four albums. He also composed the music for four short movies and a drammatic video poem, and his song Fulan El-Fulani was also shoot as a video clip.
As a Ney player, having studied and mastered the three major Ney styles, namely Arab, Turkish and Persian ney styles, furnished a room for him to play in his own Ney style which has characteristics of the above-mentioned schools. He uses this new style in his performances as a soloist and in his projects, yet he sometimes becomes more traditional when he plays with other groups that do not require this style. Between 2003-2007, Antar used to play in various musical groups including Sheikh mohammed El-Helbawi, Sheikh Mahmoud El-Tuhami and others, conducts his group Cairo Group for Sufi Chanting and Zikr in Sufi Musical performances taken from the existing tradition, and he used to participate in projects with musicians like Fathi Salama and others to present the middle-eastern heritage in different styles. Starting 2007, however, Antar took serious steps to devote himself to performing his and his friends’ original compositions, so he rarely performs with a group dedicated only to the heritage unless in an important project.
Since then, in addition to his activities as a soloist, with Ensemble Munajah and Oriental Secrets Ensemble, and with the projects in which he takes part, namely his project with Fernando Perez, with Edward Powell and with Taram, Antar plays with Ensemble Asil, with Ihab Younis and with Walid Shahin and sometimes as a guest in a number of other groups. He also held projects with Omar Haggag, Werner Hasler and others. So far, As a soloist and lecturer, he has given recitals, lectures, hold workshops and presented research papers in Egypt, Lebanon, UK, Turkey and Hungary; he has also taken part in a number of national and international tv and radio programs, interviews and podcasts; he has performed with his groups and in other projects in Egypt, Turkey, Lebanon, Hungary, Serbia, Poland and Spain; and he has performed with other groups in Egypt, Turkey, Lebanon, Azerbaijan, Jordan, Bahrain, UAE and Morocco.
(Source : mohammedantar.net)
01 Sirto (سيرتو (02:44
02 Anatolia (رقصة الأناضول (03:11
03 A Solo Ney (تقاسيم ناي منفرد (03:52
04 Egyptian Dance (رقصة مصرية (07:00
05 Conclusion (ختام (02:12
06 Prelude (مقدمة (02:37
07 Solo Oud (تقاسيم عود (02:06
08 9Th Of April (التاسع من أبريل نيسان (04:54
09 Solo Cello (تقاسيم تشيلو (01:49
10 Oyun Hava (رقصة (06:58
11 Andalusiyya (أندلسية (03:10
12 A Solo Ney (تقاسيم على الناي (02:28
13 Oyum Havasi (رقصة في مقام الحجاز (02:18
14 Prelude (مقدمة في مقام النهاواند (02:34
15 A Solo Qanoun (تقاسيم على آلة القانون (02:00
16 Oriental Breeze (نسيم الشرق الساحر (03:10
17 Longa (لونجا في مقام النكريز (03:07
HERE
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