We’ve updated our Terms of Use to reflect our new entity name and address. You can review the changes here.
We’ve updated our Terms of Use. You can review the changes here.

Tqaseem. Mqamat Elharam - ت​ق​ا​س​ي​م​. م​ق​ا​م​ا​ت ا​ل​ه​ر​م

by 1127

/
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
7.
8.
9.
10.
11.

about

tqaseem mqamat alharam
Alharam/Ahramat: the giza pyramids, Alharam is also the name of the street that connects giza square to the giza pyramids, where I was born & raised, also where this album was produced.

taqaseem/takaseem/ta2seema is an improv piece/performance, usually used in calling oud or qanun improv performances in early 20's century arabic music.

so instead of Taqaseem or rather Ta2aseem-تقاسيم, we've used Tqaseem denoting the transliteration in Turkish dialect, since you'd find it in many tutorials (see youtube) using English letters for تقاسيم, it's a sarcastic take on both the use of transliteration (the lost in translation infamous case here) and the past status quo of sociopolitical dynamics & relations between Turkey, Egypt, their neighboring countries x the US & Europe.

mqamat, plural for maqam, in written turkish colloquial,
an A is lacking when translitering words like Maqam unlike its use in prevalent arabic transliteration (Egyptian in particular).

A Maqam - مقام is arabic for a musical "scale" it also means a particular 'status' in many other contexts
وَلِمَنْ خَافَ مَقَامَ رَبِّهِ جَنَّتَانِ [الرحمن:46]
so when thinking of it in terms of a given stature, it has a deeply embedded meaning to a given superior-inferior space/column, or rather building blocks if you will, also in this context (tqaseem mqamat alharam) it kind of refers to the main pillars that give a pyramid its main foundations which help establish it, or any top-down model really.



for its use in the album name it's a take (a word play) on both scales and shrines/tombs, Maqam is usually used when referring to a sufi/mystic shrine which is haram/forbidden according to Wahabys and Wahaby thought since the only object that is used to pray (for تبرك or evoking blessings) is Makka's Alka'aba (الكعبة / البيت الحرام) and also they bury people using the standard muslim way w. little to no surrounding ornaments/decorations in the space of burial w. afew exceptions, including alrasool muhammad, Khalifas and alsahaba in medina, KSA, and that's where it ends really for/according to their thought, see any similarities/intersections after-before almost 1400 years?

so for the past few years I've been slowly delving into sufi thought ideas & concepts which i find (in a very abstract way) contemporary in essence, that I've found many assembling ideas in tech, media & art nowadays for instance, capital here is incorporeal or spiritual if you will, so for knowledge (i.e philosophy) and its embedded value for groups & given societies, sufi/mystics would build pyramids to their sheikh, for its subsequent (or more accurately, prepetual-timeless) value and social domino effect/resonance.

Starting with these meanings (parallel thoughts) the record (check the sound design, stereo mixing & dynamics) explores this very concept of complex matricies based polytics [+various enigmatic dogma/noise] harmony is lacking most of the time or hidden amidst unpredictable rhythmic happenings (frequencies)
first in Egypt, to the arab world and beyond.

credits

released June 19, 2019

Mastered and cut by Fred Alstadt @ Ångström, Brussels
Front and back cover by Yazan El Zubi

الغلاف عمايل: يزن الزعبي
هندسة صوت فردريك الستاد
اصدار نشازفون 31
شكر للحج ماكستون فورت اللي منغيره غالبا الابوم كان عمره ما هيخلص و كل اللي ساعدوا

license

all rights reserved

tags

If you like 1127, you may also like: