Music of Upper & Lower Egypt
During the Grateful Dead's historic 1978 performances in Egypt, percussionist Mickey Hart set time aside to travel with longtime friend Hamza El Din and make field recordings of the country's richly varied folkloric music.  The music of Egypt can be classified into four basic regional styles -- the southernmost style of the Aswan area, divided into Arabic-speaking Nubians and a Nubian-speaking sector divided into Mahasi and Mattokki; the style of Luxor, commonly known as Sa'ed; the style of El-Meniya to the Mediterranean Sea, called the Fellahim; and the urban music of such cities as Cairo and Alexandria.The first four tracks of this exotically beautiful album hail from the Aswan region and typify a rhythm known as "moon fever."  The first song celebrates the exhumation of a dignitary due to the flooding caused by the  Aswan Dam.  Two are wedding songs, and a fourth is a traditional religious song praising Allah.A fifth track represents the folk music of Sa'ed, known for the great variety of instruments used in this joyful call-and-response style music generally heard at celebratory gatherings; the final track exemplifies the more western compositional style of modern popular forms.