HKUST Arts Festival 2021 - Art, Despite the Pandemic - Maqams, Rhythms and Instruments: an Interactive Workshop on Central Asian and Middle Eastern Music 中亞及中東音樂互動工作坊

HKUST Arts Festival 2021 - ART, DESPITE THE PANDEMIC 藝術在蔓延
Maqams, Rhythms and Instruments: an Interactive Workshop on Central Asian and Middle Eastern Music 中亞及中東音樂互動工作坊

GUEST SPEAKER

Dr. Alicia LIE
Mr. Eugene LEUNG

PROGRAM

What do we usually associate with Middle Eastern and Central Asian music? Belly dance? Scales with out-of-tune notes? Difficult rhythms? Exotic-looking instruments that look neither western nor eastern but resemble them somehow? In this workshop, members of The Nur Collective will unpack some of the mysteries of theses musics. Through trying to sing some of these mesmerizing scales (maqams), to clap their irregular rhythms, and learning about these different types of instruments, with examples from Arabic, Turkish, Uyghur and Uzbek musics, you will come away with a greater bodily and intellectual understanding of these delicate yet ecstatic musics.

Language: English

SPEAKER BIOGRAPHY

Alicia LIE

Alicia Lie aspires to be a public intellectual, a writer, and a musician, doing something in each area and succeeding in none.

She started learning the piano as a child and the cello as a teenager. In the course of learning Arabic she became interested in Arabic music and starting learning the oud. The oud is a plucked instrument with a bent neck and a pear-shaped body, an ancestor of the European lute. It is very popular in Arabic music as a solo instrument, as accompaniment to songs, or as part of an ensemble. She chose the oud as it is an important instrument in the tradition and the fact that she can utilise some of the techniques acquired in studying the cello, and thus would be able to concentrate her efforts in learning the aesthetics of Arabic music. She studied at the Arabic Oud House in Cairo. She has played in concerts with the Nur Collective and conducted Middle Eastern music workshops at various universities in Hong Kong including the Chinese University of Hong Kong, Hong Kong Baptist University, and the University of Hong Kong. 

She was first attracted to the Islamic world through the spirituality that effuses from Iranian art-house films. She took Arabic when she was a postgraduate student at the University of Hong Kong doing research in Artificial Intelligence and Philosophy of Mind. The interest in Islam converges with her interest in Philosophy of Religion, examining the ultimate pursuit of human salvation, and its social, political, artistic, and literary consequences. She wrote a book titled 《埃及男女－－政治不正確的中東觀察 (Egyptian Men and Women—Politically Incorrect Observations on the Middle East)》（台北︰秀威出版，2019）discussing her experience and reflections on this intellectual journey.

She is currently a lecturer at Division of Social Sciences, Humanities and Design, the School of Professional Education and Executive Development, the Hong Kong Polytechnic University. Before that, she had taught part-time in various institutions including the Chinese University of Hong Kong, Hong Kong Baptist University, and the University of Hong Kong. She has taught diverse subjects such as Logic, Critical Thinking, Philosophy of Science, Practical Ethics, Introduction to Political Philosophy, Islam and the Modern World, and History of Hong Kong and China in Eurasia.

She is passionate about philosophy, various kinds of music, and promoting understanding of the Middle East.

Eugene LEUNG

Eugene Leung read music at the University of Cambridge in the UK, and subsequently earned a Masters of Music in Ethnomusicology at Goldsmiths’, University of London, during which time he became interested in the music of Central Asia, especially that of the two-stringed lute dutar, found in different forms throughout the region. He began his studies of the Uzbek dutar with the London-based Uzbek ethnomusicologist Razia Sultanova, and has since travelled a few times to Uzbekistan and Tajikistan to study the instrument with renowned masters such as Alisher Alimatov, Guzal Muminova and Sirojiddin Juraev. More recently, he has also been studying the Turkmen dutar with Oghlan Bakhshi from Iran, as well as the Arabic violin with Driss Berrada from Morocco.

Eugene is active in the promotion of traditional musics from regions along the ancient Silk Road in Hong Kong. He co-founded The Nur Collective, which focuses on promoting and performing traditional music from Central Asia and the Middle East on authentic instruments, with performances at the AC Hall, the Hong Kong Maritime Museum among other venues. Eugene has also given talks hosted by the LCSD, the HKAPA, the Baptist University and Lingnan University on related subjects. He was invited by the Music Office to create the roving exhibition “Classical Music of Central Asia” which is touring selected public libraries in 2020/21, and he is also the curator of the exhibition “Beyond Europe and Asia: Traditional Music and Costumes from Central Asia, Caucasus and the Middle East” for the HKUST Arts Festival 2021.

ONLINE REGISTRATION

• HKUST Staff Members and Students: 
  Please submit the online registration via Engage (click the RSVP button on this event page)
  
  
• HKUST Staff Quarter Residents & Alumni: Click Here

REMARKS 備註

• Free admission 免費入場
  
  

• For HKUST members only 活動只供科大成員參與
  
  

• No admission under the age of 6 六歲或以下恕不招待
  
  

• Online registration is required; each registration admits one person only.
  參與活動必須先網上登記；每個登記只限一人出席活動。
  
  

• Please arrive at the venue 15 minutes early before the showtime.
  請於演出15分鐘前抵達場地。
  
  

• Attendees must show their HKUST ID card to the reception desk for identification before admission.
  出席者必須於接待處出示科大證以核實登記資料，方可進入場內。
  
  

• If the registrant cannot attend the event, please change your RSVP status on the Engage page or send an email to artsctr@ust.hk to release the quota.
  如登記者無法出席活動，請於Engage頁面更改RSVP選項 或 傳送電郵通知至 artsctr@ust.hk，將活動名額留給其他科大成員。

DISEASE PREVENTION MEASURES 防疫措施

• A temperature check is arranged at entrances. The audience with fever symptoms will be denied entry and should seek immediate medical advice.
  觀眾進入場地前須接受體溫檢測，若有發燒症狀，將不得進場，並建議盡快求醫。
  
  
• Masks must be worn at all times in the venue.
  場地內必須佩戴自備的口罩。
  
  
• Special seating arrangements and capacity control have been implemented. Please follow the seating instruction of the CFA staff.
  為配合表演場地使用人數上限及保持社交距離，觀眾席現正實施特別座位安排。請觀眾遵從藝術中心職員指示入座。
  
  
• Hand sanitizers are provided in the venue.
  場地入口均設有酒精消毒搓手液。

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ENQUIRY

HKUST Center for the Arts

E-mail: artsctr@ust.hk
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ORGANIZED BY

HKUST Center for Education Innovation and Center for the Arts