A Nubian enchanter

Nubian musician Karam Murad's concert at the Saqiyat El-Sawy in Cairo this week should help bring this traditional music to wider audiences, writes Rania Khallaf While I first heard the music of Karam Murad, a composer and performer of traditional Nubian music who is now receiving more of the recognition he deserves, in one of Cairo's downtown cafés some years ago, it was only this week that I attended one of his concerts. However, my reluctance to attend a concert may not be all that uncommon, since Murad says, "unlike foreigners, most [northern] Egyptians prefer to listen to lyrics they can understand." Born in 1966, Murad was raised in Toushka and then moved with his family to the Cairo district of Abdine, home to many people of Nubian origin in the 1960s. Following his graduation from the Faculty of Commerce, he spent... [read full story]