Iraqi-British musician Khyam Allami began to study the oud at the age of 23, after years of learning guitar, bass and drums. The composer, who is now completing a PhD in composition at the Royal Birmingham Conservatoire, says that biases are deeply ingrained – even in modern music-making.
In an era when musicians and composers are increasingly dependent on digital apparatus, he says the dearth of tools catering to musicians working in traditions that use microtones, rather than the classical western 12-tone octave, reveals a deeply ingrained bias stemming from the supremacy of western music theory.
Introducing Leimma and Apotome
Frustrated by the way this bias has shaped global perceptions of what music is – and in turn limited how many musicians think and what they can do – Allami decided to take matters into his own hands, by launching two new purpose-built tools, Leimma and Apotome, named after Ancient Greek musical terms. The apps, developed in collaboration with Counterpoint the creative studio, run by Tero Parviainen and Samuel Diggins, were released last Friday as part of CTM Festival, an annual music and visual arts event in Berlin, which is taking place online until Sunday, February 14.
"I think that this supremacist narrative does exist, and rather than just writing some articles or doing a video essay to try and confront that narrative, I decided that creating tools musicians and anybody with a little bit of interest in music can use would be a far better way of encouraging a discussion within the wider communities, especially among musicians who are interested in their own or other non-western cultures," he says.
Leimma and Apotome work in tandem. Leimma is a tool for exploring different tuning systems, and the modes and scales they use. Musicians can experiment with scales from African, Middle Eastern, Chinese, Indian, Indonesian and Turkish traditions, and also create their own. Apotome builds on these systems to generate compositions based on the user's parameters and instructions.
Allami has also organised a series of events at the festival that demonstrate the potential of the apps for individual and collaborative composition and performance. On Tuesday, January 26, he will give a talk entitled Repressed Possibilities, introducing Apotome and the issues surrounding microtonal music.
It will be followed by performances by Wahono, an Indonesian producer and sound artist based in Jakarta; Deena Abdelwahed, a Tunisian producer and DJ who lives in Toulouse; and Slikback, a Kenyan DJ and producer who lives in Kampala.
On Wednesday, January 27, Allami will participate in a panel discussion, Dismantling Western Bias in Music Software and Music Education, followed by live-streamed concerts led by Allami and New York composer Faten Kanaan. They will use Apotome to generate live compositions and relay them to four synth musicians, who will modulate their sounds and timbres, accompanied by acoustic improvisation by cellist Lucy Railton.
In addition, a 24-hour live stream is running until the festival ends, playing compositions created in Apotome and accompanied by computer-generated visuals. Anyone interested in participating can use Apotome to create their own compositions and add them to the community pool to be included in the stream. Audiences can also sign up for a live slot in which to generate compositions that will be relayed in real time.
The liberation of musicians
Given that Allami launched Leimma and Apotome to liberate musicians and composers who feel constrained by the dominance of western music theory, both are free to use and run in a web browser, making them accessible to anyone with a laptop and the internet.
"What I realised is that all this time in my creative lifespan, I've been searching for a creative freedom that I couldn't have when dealing with digital tools or modern musical electronic tools," Allami says. "There are these very philosophical ideas about what it means to be free as a creative person today, in 2021, with all of these tools at our disposal, all of this technology at our disposal. I did not feel free, in any way, creatively."
Young Arab and non-western musicians who want to create music rooted in their own cultures often have to choose between studying a traditional acoustic instrument and making western-style music online, Allami says. "The tools are not there for someone to be in the middle, between having the interest in modern tools and modern sounds, and having the interest in their own culture and their own identity.
"I know that this is a huge problem in the Arab world, and it's a big problem when we think about music education, but I'm 100 per cent sure that it's exactly the same for young Iranian, Indian, Indonesian and African musicians."
From Arabic maqams to Indian ragas
The applications will allow users to switch from one tuning system to another mid-composition, a common feature of traditional melodies such as Arabic maqams and Indian ragas, but a practice not commonly found in western classical music. For those new to non-western musical traditions, the tools also provide much-needed context.
The word 'decolonised' has become a bit of a buzzword and slightly lost its meaning, but in a way that's what these tools are trying to do
Existing online tools that allow musicians to work with microtonal tuning systems don’t provide information on how they are traditionally used, Allami explains, meaning that compositions made with them often sound strange or out of tune. Apotome generates compositions that take into account the traditional base notes and ornaments, allowing composers to get a sense of the way traditional melodies are formed.
“By doing that, you get an immediate feeling for what that subset means, so you feel a sense of context. Then the system generates all these different melodies depending on the parameters that you select, which are mostly done by sliders or check boxes.”
The tools have helped him to radicalise his own approach to composing. "The word 'decolonised' has become a bit of a buzzword and slightly lost its meaning, but in a way that's what these tools are trying to do. It really is about identity, and about being able to represent oneself and to challenge one's identity, and to break the rules and formations that are imposed on those identities by local culture and by international culture."
Allami is hopeful that Leimma and Apotome will prove to be useful educational tools. "When you read about microtonality, when you read about tuning, you only ever come across numbers and mathematical ratios," he says.
"It's very rare to have something that's interactive, where you can actually hear the difference, let alone something that allows you to compare the difference … I think it's going to make teaching non-western music theory a lot easier, especially when it comes to talking about pitch and melody. I think it's going to be incredibly simple and incredibly powerful."
The tools and the live stream from the CTM Festival can be accessed at www.isartum.net
Key findings of Jenkins report
- Founder of the Muslim Brotherhood, Hassan al Banna, "accepted the political utility of violence"
- Views of key Muslim Brotherhood ideologue, Sayyid Qutb, have “consistently been understood” as permitting “the use of extreme violence in the pursuit of the perfect Islamic society” and “never been institutionally disowned” by the movement.
- Muslim Brotherhood at all levels has repeatedly defended Hamas attacks against Israel, including the use of suicide bombers and the killing of civilians.
- Laying out the report in the House of Commons, David Cameron told MPs: "The main findings of the review support the conclusion that membership of, association with, or influence by the Muslim Brotherhood should be considered as a possible indicator of extremism."
What is graphene?
Graphene is extracted from graphite and is made up of pure carbon.
It is 200 times more resistant than steel and five times lighter than aluminum.
It conducts electricity better than any other material at room temperature.
It is thought that graphene could boost the useful life of batteries by 10 per cent.
Graphene can also detect cancer cells in the early stages of the disease.
The material was first discovered when Andre Geim and Konstantin Novoselov were 'playing' with graphite at the University of Manchester in 2004.
Star%20Wars%3A%20Episode%20I%20%E2%80%93%20The%20Phantom%20Menace
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What is blockchain?
Blockchain is a form of distributed ledger technology, a digital system in which data is recorded across multiple places at the same time. Unlike traditional databases, DLTs have no central administrator or centralised data storage. They are transparent because the data is visible and, because they are automatically replicated and impossible to be tampered with, they are secure.
The main difference between blockchain and other forms of DLT is the way data is stored as ‘blocks’ – new transactions are added to the existing ‘chain’ of past transactions, hence the name ‘blockchain’. It is impossible to delete or modify information on the chain due to the replication of blocks across various locations.
Blockchain is mostly associated with cryptocurrency Bitcoin. Due to the inability to tamper with transactions, advocates say this makes the currency more secure and safer than traditional systems. It is maintained by a network of people referred to as ‘miners’, who receive rewards for solving complex mathematical equations that enable transactions to go through.
However, one of the major problems that has come to light has been the presence of illicit material buried in the Bitcoin blockchain, linking it to the dark web.
Other blockchain platforms can offer things like smart contracts, which are automatically implemented when specific conditions from all interested parties are reached, cutting the time involved and the risk of mistakes. Another use could be storing medical records, as patients can be confident their information cannot be changed. The technology can also be used in supply chains, voting and has the potential to used for storing property records.
Company%20Profile
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Company profile
Name: Fruitful Day
Founders: Marie-Christine Luijckx, Lyla Dalal AlRawi, Lindsey Fournie
Based: Dubai, UAE
Founded: 2015
Number of employees: 30
Sector: F&B
Funding so far: Dh3 million
Future funding plans: None at present
Future markets: Saudi Arabia, potentially Kuwait and other GCC countries
The specs
Engine: 2.0-litre 4cyl turbo
Power: 261hp at 5,500rpm
Torque: 405Nm at 1,750-3,500rpm
Transmission: 9-speed auto
Fuel consumption: 6.9L/100km
On sale: Now
Price: From Dh117,059
If you go
The flights
Etihad (etihad.com) flies from Abu Dhabi to Luang Prabang via Bangkok, with a return flight from Chiang Rai via Bangkok for about Dh3,000, including taxes. Emirates and Thai Airways cover the same route, also via Bangkok in both directions, from about Dh2,700.
The cruise
The Gypsy by Mekong Kingdoms has two cruising options: a three-night, four-day trip upstream cruise or a two-night, three-day downstream journey, from US$5,940 (Dh21,814), including meals, selected drinks, excursions and transfers.
The hotels
Accommodation is available in Luang Prabang at the Avani, from $290 (Dh1,065) per night, and at Anantara Golden Triangle Elephant Camp and Resort from $1,080 (Dh3,967) per night, including meals, an activity and transfers.
Defence review at a glance
• Increase defence spending to 2.5% of GDP by 2027 but given “turbulent times it may be necessary to go faster”
• Prioritise a shift towards working with AI and autonomous systems
• Invest in the resilience of military space systems.
• Number of active reserves should be increased by 20%
• More F-35 fighter jets required in the next decade
• New “hybrid Navy” with AUKUS submarines and autonomous vessels
Expert advice
“Join in with a group like Cycle Safe Dubai or TrainYAS, where you’ll meet like-minded people and always have support on hand.”
Stewart Howison, co-founder of Cycle Safe Dubai and owner of Revolution Cycles
“When you sweat a lot, you lose a lot of salt and other electrolytes from your body. If your electrolytes drop enough, you will be at risk of cramping. To prevent salt deficiency, simply add an electrolyte mix to your water.”
Cornelia Gloor, head of RAK Hospital’s Rehabilitation and Physiotherapy Centre
“Don’t make the mistake of thinking you can ride as fast or as far during the summer as you do in cooler weather. The heat will make you expend more energy to maintain a speed that might normally be comfortable, so pace yourself when riding during the hotter parts of the day.”
Chandrashekar Nandi, physiotherapist at Burjeel Hospital in Dubai
Our legal columnist
Name: Yousef Al Bahar
Advocate at Al Bahar & Associate Advocates and Legal Consultants, established in 1994
Education: Mr Al Bahar was born in 1979 and graduated in 2008 from the Judicial Institute. He took after his father, who was one of the first Emirati lawyers
Key figures in the life of the fort
Sheikh Dhiyab bin Isa (ruled 1761-1793) Built Qasr Al Hosn as a watchtower to guard over the only freshwater well on Abu Dhabi island.
Sheikh Shakhbut bin Dhiyab (ruled 1793-1816) Expanded the tower into a small fort and transferred his ruling place of residence from Liwa Oasis to the fort on the island.
Sheikh Tahnoon bin Shakhbut (ruled 1818-1833) Expanded Qasr Al Hosn further as Abu Dhabi grew from a small village of palm huts to a town of more than 5,000 inhabitants.
Sheikh Khalifa bin Shakhbut (ruled 1833-1845) Repaired and fortified the fort.
Sheikh Saeed bin Tahnoon (ruled 1845-1855) Turned Qasr Al Hosn into a strong two-storied structure.
Sheikh Zayed bin Khalifa (ruled 1855-1909) Expanded Qasr Al Hosn further to reflect the emirate's increasing prominence.
Sheikh Shakhbut bin Sultan (ruled 1928-1966) Renovated and enlarged Qasr Al Hosn, adding a decorative arch and two new villas.
Sheikh Zayed bin Sultan (ruled 1966-2004) Moved the royal residence to Al Manhal palace and kept his diwan at Qasr Al Hosn.
Sources: Jayanti Maitra, www.adach.ae
Rashid & Rajab
Director: Mohammed Saeed Harib
Stars: Shadi Alfons, Marwan Abdullah, Doaa Mostafa Ragab
Two stars out of five
Greatest Royal Rumble results
John Cena pinned Triple H in a singles match
Cedric Alexander retained the WWE Cruiserweight title against Kalisto
Matt Hardy and Bray Wyatt win the Raw Tag Team titles against Cesaro and Sheamus
Jeff Hardy retained the United States title against Jinder Mahal
Bludgeon Brothers retain the SmackDown Tag Team titles against the Usos
Seth Rollins retains the Intercontinental title against The Miz, Finn Balor and Samoa Joe
AJ Styles remains WWE World Heavyweight champion after he and Shinsuke Nakamura are both counted out
The Undertaker beats Rusev in a casket match
Brock Lesnar retains the WWE Universal title against Roman Reigns in a steel cage match
Braun Strowman won the 50-man Royal Rumble by eliminating Big Cass last
UAE currency: the story behind the money in your pockets
How to avoid crypto fraud
- Use unique usernames and passwords while enabling multi-factor authentication.
- Use an offline private key, a physical device that requires manual activation, whenever you access your wallet.
- Avoid suspicious social media ads promoting fraudulent schemes.
- Only invest in crypto projects that you fully understand.
- Critically assess whether a project’s promises or returns seem too good to be true.
- Only use reputable platforms that have a track record of strong regulatory compliance.
- Store funds in hardware wallets as opposed to online exchanges.
THE SPECS
Engine: 3.5-litre V6
Transmission: six-speed manual
Power: 325bhp
Torque: 370Nm
Speed: 0-100km/h 3.9 seconds
Price: Dh230,000
On sale: now
A timeline of the Historical Dictionary of the Arabic Language
- 2018: Formal work begins
- November 2021: First 17 volumes launched
- November 2022: Additional 19 volumes released
- October 2023: Another 31 volumes released
- November 2024: All 127 volumes completed
