Music
"2011 Caravan Festival of the Arts"
My Neighbor
Mohammed Antar
On 18 May 2011, renowned Ney (Middle Eastern Flute)
player Mohammed Antar, performed a closing
Musical concert for the Caravan Festival of the Arts
inside St. John’s Church. Following the concert,
Mohammed Antar said, “It was my deepest joy to play to
God in this beautifully spiritual place.”
Mohammed Antar is the renowned Egyptian Ney (oriental
flute) player, musical composer, and founder and
conductor of Ensemble Munajah for meditative
middle-eastern music (formerly Cairo Group for Sufi
Chanting and Zikr) and Oriental Secrets Ensemble for
traditional Middle Eastern music. based in Cairo, Egypt.
Being born blind opened the way to his ears to catch the
beautiful tones surrounding him with little difficulty,
and therefore he discovered this musical talent in an
early age. At the age of four he was first exposed to
the Ney instrument.
His commitment to the Middle Eastern classical and
traditional music, especially to the spiritual musical
branches, led him to master the Arabic, Turkish and
Persian Ney blowing techniques and styles with special
concentration on the classical approaches.
He plays as a soloist, with rhythmic accompaniment (Riqq,
Doff or Bendir), in duets with other Middle Eastern
instruments, and with small musical groups that perform
the Middle Eastern classical music in the traditional
way. He is the elder brother of the Egyptian oud player,
Mustafa Said, the founder and conductor of Asil Ensemble
for traditional Eastern music. He is also a co-founder
and a basic member of Ishq Group conducted by the
Egyptian oud player Omar Hajjaj.
Mohamed Antar has preformed concerts throughout the
Middle East and Europe. He has released a couple of solo
Ney improvisational albums (In Mawlana’s Presence & The
Arab Maqam) and he released an instrumental light
musical album entitled Oriental Breeze with his group
Oriental Secrets Ensemble. And with the Spanish
guitarist Fernando Perez, he released an album entitled
Nabadat mina’sh-Sharq. He also participated in the
recording of albums by Ishq Group and Asil Ensemble in
which some of his compositions are performed. His
website is:
www.mohammedantar.com
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Mohammed
Antar performing inside St. John's Church |
Mohammed
Antar with percussionist |
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Mohammed
Antar concert |
Audience
listening to Mohammed Antar concert |
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