This week in class we travel to Egypt, a true cradle of human civilization that for over ten thousand years has continually found a way to develop, build, learn and, even after so much time, still surprise us all. The earliest Egyptian scientists, mathematicians, astronomers and architects used written language and a base-ten system of numbers to pioneer their fields. In fact, when historians of music say Egypt has always been at the musical forefront in the Middle East, they may actually mean always--according to ancient Egyptians, the god Thoth invented music and the god Osiris used it as a tool to help him civilize the world.

Egyptian music may not have originated at the dawn of time, but it certainly did begin a long while ago, fifteen hundred years or more, as we know from the remnants of ancient Egyptian rhythms and melodies still present in ancient Sufi Muslim dhikr rituals. Those rituals take place at Muslim and Coptic traditional celebrations called Mulids, which are held to celebrate particular saints. Egyptian Bedouins also still perform music from centuries past, as do Coptic musicians who chant ancient liturgical hymns, as well as performers of Saidi music from Upper Egypt. Egyptian-Nubian musicians have also become known worldwide for blending ancient Egyptian folk with contemporary forms.