Maqām Festival- Multaqā Al-Mūsīqā Al-Maqāmiyya

Established to revive and celebrate the maqām musical traditions of West Asia, North Africa and Europe. While our base is rooted in Cairo, we collaborate with an extensive network of researchers, musicians, and institutions, including universities and cultural organizations across the Arab world and beyond. From this network, we have established a scientific and artistic board composed of dedicated scholars, experts and musicians, who guide our initiatives and ensure the integrity and depth of our work.

The term Multaqa ( مُلتقى ) signifies both a place and time for convergence. In the context of Maqām Festival, it embodies the gathering of artistic and cultural traditions of maqām music, serving as a unifying point for the shared artistic musical system of the Mašriq (West Asia and Egypt) and the Maghreb (North Africa), mainly.

The Maqām Festival combines academic and artistic expertise, supported by partnerships with scholars & artists from research and documentation institutions, such as Sorbonne University (Paris) and Antonine University (Lebanon). Together, we aim to preserve and promote the maqām melodic system and music traditions—a cornerstone of Arab musical heritage, deeply intertwined with classical Arabic poetry—while adapting these traditions to resonate with modern audiences.

Founder
Dahlia Rashad

Artistic & Scientific Director
Prof. Nidaa Abou Mrad

Head of Artistic Planning
Dahlia Rashad
d.rashad@maqamfestival.com

Legal Advisor
Dr. Houssam Loutfi

Scientific and Artistic Board

Prof. Nidaa Abou Mrad
Prof. Salwa El-Shawan Castelo-Branco
Prof. Mahmoud Guettat
Dr. Scheherazade Qassim Hassan

Calligraphy & Original Mızrap Drawing by Mustafa Cemil Efe, Hattat
Mızrap Logo Digatalised & Visual Identity by Muhammad Soliman, Graphic Designer

DAHLIA RASHAD
Founder & Head of Artistic Planning

Holds an MA in Cultural Management from Rome and a BA in English Literature from Cairo. Served as Concert Tour Director at Arabesque International (Cairo & Muscat) from 2014 to 2022, managing and coordinating numerous concerts and productions across prominent festivals, opera houses, and cultural events in the Arab region and Europe. Her work spanned diverse locations, including Oman, UAE, Kuwait, Lebanon, Egypt (Cairo, Alexandria, Luxor), Jordan, and international events like Milan Expo 2015.

Passionate about preserving and promoting maqām music, she founded the Maqām Festival Organization in Cairo, dedicated to celebrating and contributing to the rich heritage of maqām music through innovative projects and international collaborations. This initiative is guided by an esteemed scientific council, ensuring a scholarly and authentic approach to preserving this invaluable musical tradition while fostering its development.

PROFESSOR NIDAA ABOU MRAD
Scientific & Artistic Director

MD and PhD in Musicology, is currently Senior Professor of Musicology, Neuropsychology of Music and Music Therapy at Sorbonne Université (Paris), Institut de recherche en Musicologie (UMR 8223) and coordinator of the international scientific network “Music, neuroscience and therapy” at the Collegium Musicæ, Sorbonne Université, at the same time as the Dean of the Faculty of Music and Musicology and the Director of the Research Centre for Music Traditions at the Antonine University (Lebanon), and the editor in chief of the peer reviewed journal titled Revue des traditions musicales. He has published a large number of articles and authored the book titled Elements of Modal Semiotics: An Essay on Generative Grammar for Monodic Traditions, in which he drew his own theory on the Modal Semiotics and for which he won the CNRS-L Annual Research Excellence Award in 2017, in the category “Multidisciplinary cognitive research”. As a violin player and a composer, with twenty audio CDs, he is specialized in the art music tradition of the Mašriq.

PROFESSOR HOUSSAM LOUTFI
Legal Advisor

Professor of Civil Law at Bani-Suef University and UNESCO Chairholder for Copyright and Neighboring Rights, he serves as a Legal Consultant to SACERAU (Société des Auteurs, Compositeurs et Editeurs de la République Arabe d’Egypte), specializing in the collective management of musical rights. He also provides legal consultancy to the Egyptian Union of Publishers and the Arab League for Publishers, contributing to the advancement and protection of intellectual property rights in the region.

Professor Salwa El-Shawan Castelo-Branco
Scientific Board Member

Professor Emerita of Ethnomusicology and Director Emerita of the Institute of Ethnomusicology–Center forMusic and Dance (INET-md) at the New University of Lisbon in Portugal. She is the editor of the four-volume Encyclopedia of Music in Twentieth Century Portugal. She is past President of the International Council for Traditional Music and Dance. El-Shawan Castelo-Branco conducted field research in Egypt, Oman and Portugal resulting in publications on cultural politics, heritage, musical nationalism, music media, modernity, and music and conflict. She received her doctorate from Columbia University, taught at New York University, and was a visiting professor at Columbia University, Princeton University, Chicago University, and the University of California at Berkeley.

Professor Mahmoud Guettat
Scientific Board Member

A distinguished Tunisian scholar, musician, and researcher specializing in musicology and Arab-Islamic civilization. As the founding director of the Higher Institute of Music in Tunis, he played a pivotal role in introducing musicology as an academic discipline in Tunisian universities since 1982. He has collaborated with numerous institutions across the Arab world and Europe and has contributed significantly to the field through his leadership roles, including serving as Regional Secretary for the Arab region at UNESCO’s International Music Council (2002-2010) and as a consultant for the Ministry of Information in Oman (2003-2008). His scholarly and artistic endeavors focus on Maghrebi-Andalusian, Mediterranean, and Eastern musical traditions, emphasizing the role of music as a language, science, craft, and art that shapes cultural identity and fosters development. His academic contributions include over 141 works in Arabic and 90 in other languages, with several translated into Persian, Italian, Spanish, English, German, Turkish, Russian, and Chinese. Recognized for his influence in music research, he has received multiple national and international honors, including the Kuwait Foundation for the Advancement of Sciences (KFAS) Award for Arts and Literature (2020) and an Honorary Certificate of Excellence from the International University for Creativity, Humanities, and Peace among Nations (2021). In 2017, the Tunisian Ministry of Culture established the Mahmoud Guettat International Prize for Musicology to encourage research in the field. His work continues to shape the study and appreciation of Arab and Mediterranean music worldwide.

Dr. Scheherazade Qassim Hassan
Scientific Board Member

An Iraqi Ethnomusicologist who holds a PhD in Islamic sociology and Ethnomusicology. Her work focuses on the Music of Iraq and the Arab Middle East. She was an Assistant Professor at the University of Baghdad. She conducted field work throughout Iraq and founded the first Centre for Traditional Music with its archive in Baghdad. her field research to Syria and South Yemen, and contributed to many surveys in Bahrain, Qatar and the Emirates.

Maqām Festival | مُلْتَقَى المُوسِيقَى المَقامِيَّة
P.O. Box 288
Postal Code 12311 Dokki
Giza, Egypt

Tel./whatsapp: +20 109 0379090
info@maqamfestival.com
www.maqamfestival.com