Sa'idi

Sa'idi music is the folk music of the Sa'id, the rural heartland of Upper Egypt. Its sound is led by the mizmar, a piercing double-reed shawm, the rababa spiked fiddle and frame and kettle drums, accompanying singers who perform mawwal laments, wedding songs and sung narratives of local heroes. The tradition is inseparable from tahtib, the martial stick dance performed to mizmar bands at festivals and weddings. The *Musicians of the Nile*, from Luxor, carried the Sa'idi sound to world audiences, presenting *rababa* player *Metqal Qenawi* and singer *Shamandi Tewfiq*.