Performance | Marwan Anwer | TEDxMinia
[Music] Why is it that music in Egypt is either extremely sentimental or nothing truly reflects the spectrum of Egyptian society? I thought, "That's great," and made a track called "The First," and I made the first cover. I started this sorting thing from the perspective that I'm trying to market myself as a musician, not an arranger or composer or anything like that. I made covers of Amr Diab, Mohamed Mounir, and many other artists. Thank God, people really liked it, and there was a lot of support from people in the wider field. After that, I started to see why not make my own original material. I started with a simple track called "Dust of the Past." This "Dust of the Past" was about a state I put the listener in, where Egypt was and where it is now. This state is a mix of Umm Kulthum, Abdel Wahab, and Abdel Wahab again in another period of his life. After these three stages, there's a musical phrase being played. After them, it was very simple, and I said, "That's great, release this track." I was in the army at the time, of course. When you go to the army, you're usually calmer, so when I finished, I found that people really liked the track, thank God. So I started thinking, "Okay, let's develop the concept of working on my organ a bit, and enough with the covers." I made a track called " Ishtiyaq" (Longing). It was really about the situation I was in, which is that I was forced into the army, and at first, I hated the idea of stopping music for a year and having a completely different life with completely different standards. But through this experience, I was able to understand something strange: that, praise be to God, when God writes something for someone, it's really for their own good. I went to the army and became very attached to the people there. It was one of the best years of my life, even though it was really difficult, but when I was surrounded by people from Cairo, Alexandria, Upper Egypt, the Arabs, and the Bedouin, we were all in the same boat. When I finished the army, I said, "I'll try." I translated this topic musically. I made a track called "Longing," which we can listen to now. This track... I'll explain a few things about it so I don't make it too long, if you do n't mind, Bakr. But the track [music] is working. I initially based this track on the concept of missing my army friends, but then I realized that this concept could apply to anyone, not just army friends. It could be someone who hasn't seen their grandfather, father, or brother, or anyone who misses something they used to do in their youth, like a certain street they loved walking down. Thank God the track is out. I was genuinely surprised by your reaction. I mean, she really liked the track and said it's beautiful. I still have to keep going because there are obstacles we face against our will. These obstacles can be financial, like how you can make your own album, or obstacles from people in the industry itself. Some people in the industry don't like anyone from outside the industry even entering the field. Then something very strange caught my attention. I mean, why doesn't anyone express something like Upper Egypt in music much? These days I'm preparing my album, God willing, and it will be released successfully. One of the tracks on the album is called "Sukkarak Sukkar" (Your Sugar is Sugar). It's about the Upper Egyptian girl, the ordinary girl we don't really know anything about, or her beauty. The beauty is real; she wakes up in the morning, washes her face, and goes out. Her beauty is truly genuine, with the features of true Egyptian women. So, I'm preparing this track, and God willing, it will be released soon. It's called " Sukkar." But what I learned from all of this is a golden rule I've adopted as a principle in my life: the only thing I'll fail at is if I actually fail. Why? Because God placed me in a position that wasn't mine as a person. He placed me in a position as a human being. God gave me intelligence and the ability to utilize everything He has placed around me. I do n't want to exploit this situation, because I'm actually the one at fault. YouTube has a lot of people uploading useless things, but it can also be used to upload things that change the course of our lives. As soon as I released "Ishtiyaq" (Longing), a girl I didn't know sent me a message. She said, "I hadn't spoken to my father in 15 years. After watching the 'Ishtiyaq' music video and listening to the music, you made me pick up the phone and call my father. And now I'm talking to you while sitting next to him. I felt so grateful, thank God, that I was able to do something." The same thing happened to me after I released this track. I felt like, "Yes, I miss my friends from the army and we used to hang out together, but at least I was able to come away from this with something that will immortalize these days." So the point is, you should look inside yourselves. The idea of " how you are" doesn't have to be... Adam is just an ordinary person because you're not an ordinary person already. We're all different in every way. Each of us might have a core of talent for something specific. Don't let anyone discourage you, and at the same time, don't let anyone praise you excessively or inflate your ego. Ultimately, have a realistic and objective perspective on the path you want to pursue, whether it's music, poetry, painting, or anything else. In the last five years in Egypt, the violin has started to become very popular. The streets and the Egyptian street are full of people. It's wonderful that almost anyone has started playing the violin. I remember Valentine's Day, the day I went—that was a dark day. I was walking along and I saw someone with a violin hanging on their back. He said to me, "Hey, Captain, can you play something for us on this oud?" It's not an oud, it's a violin, but people are starting to realize that there's an instrument called a violin. You don't have to be an ordinary person. For example, if you're from a certain social class, you don't necessarily have to play Western games; you can play Eastern games, or you can play both together. You can even add your own touch. The same applies to music; it's also developed because people in Egypt started this, and there are names emerging from Egypt, like Hassan El Shafei and many others. You all have so much potential within you, focus on it. God gives you blessings and sees what you'll do. Will you truly appreciate and develop these blessings? If you don't develop them, He'll love them more. If you develop them, He'll give you even more, and you'll achieve even more. But the most important thing is this: if you go too high, that's the beginning of your downfall. No one should forget how they started. No one should forget that they started weak, or even below average. So, it's their duty to help someone who is average or below average, and to help them for God's sake, not for any other reason. Just as God helped me, I help others. So, this is the wisdom behind God's creation. We've talked a lot already, so now it's time for us to play some music. Thank you. I just want you to welcome Mu'adh on the guitar and Hatem Omar on this instrument. This instrument is called the cajon. Now, let's listen to some music. [Music] A [Music] [Music ] [Music] [ Laughter] [Music] A [ Laughter] [Music] Q [Music] A [ Music] [Applause] [Music] ah [Applause] [Music ] A ah [Music] k [Music] h [Music] A [Music] A [ Music] [Music] [Music ] [Music] h [Music ] [Music] [Music] h [Music] A [Music]