If only the present reality exists, and if we can only see and experience the present reality, then how is it possible that we can also be conscious of the past, the present and the future as though they are organized in a particular sequence? This question did not just ponder philosophers, but also musicians like Egyptian-American Halim El-Dabh, who is famously known as the “father” of electronic music. As per a 2021 article in the Derivative, a Beirut Arts Center bi-annual publication, the author Joe Namy explores El-Dabh’s relationship with music as one akin to his relationship with the universe; using music as a tool to explore transcendence and the state of being deeply immersed in a ‘stream of consciousness’ where the past, the present and the future are flowing harmoniously. For El-Dabh, music created more than just sound, but also movement, embodiment, and political expression. It can awaken inner voices and suppressed identities, and reverbate waves of energy that synchronize with the rhythm of the universe. “I wanted to find the inner sound, that vibration that’s always necessary for transcendence. That’s what the whole idea of electronic music…
Decolonizing the Ear: Halim El-Dabh Captured the Homegrown Sounds of Egypt
May 26, 2022
