1. What made you start composing music?
Most musicians start their training by learning traditional or classic songs. That way the young musicians can play together, because they know the same repertoire. I started this way as well, playing my favorite songs with other musicians. Then I started having unique ideas. Specific melodies came from my instrument, almost involuntarily. When I was a teenager, about 18 years old, I wrote my first significant song.
2. Why do you like to compose music?
I am always singing melodies, words and rhythms. I do this all day long. When I sneeze, I like to do it as a melody. When I drop my shoes on the ground, I try to do it in rhythm. Even if I listen to a Talk Show on the radio, I always turn it off at the end of a sentence. It seems like composing music is a natural bodily activity for me.
Sometimes I like to make new and original music. But sometimes I like to re-interpret music that is already known and famous. And sometimes I like to simply improvise, and the act of recording that improvisation creates a composition.
3. How would you describe your musical style/ features? How do define the music you create?
I have been using the term "Tradition Re-Imagined" since 2002. I feel that my music is the future of folklore. I try and imagine what the old music may sound like 20 years from now. I like to re-contextualize music. I take it from its origin, and place it in a new location. Or I take an old location, and put foreign music inside.
I am very well trained in traditional Arabic music and dance. So I do not believe that I am corrupting tradition. I believe that I am energizing the roots of the music, and keeping it alive through contemporary practice.
4. Tell us about your new album “Unregulated”?
This is my best Turbo Tabla album. It has the best sonic quality, and the best design. It has a nice range of music as well. There is Techno, House, Hip Hop, Arab Folklore, Indian, and European music. It can be used by Cabaret, Tribal, and Folklore dancers.
5. Why it called “Unregulated”?
My friend Bozenka, the famous dancer from Miami
However, soon after I named the album, I realized it has a new meaning. It refers to the music, without boundaries and controls. My music is a hybrid of many styles and sounds. So it comes from an "Unregulated" world.
6. What are the differences between Unregulated and past Turbo Tabla albums?
I feel that all 4 of my Turbo Tabla albums (Arabic Music Re-Imagined, Bellydance Overdrive, The Belly and the Beat, and Unregulated) are part of the same trend and intention. I am taking traditional sounds, melodic styles, and rhythms, and making a more powerful modern version. I feel that "Unregulated" is simply the best of the 4.
Here is the New Music Samples of Unregulated just for I Raqs fans!! So kind of Karim!!!
About Karim Nagi
Karim Nagi is a native Egyptian drummer, DJ, and folk dancer. He is the creator of Turbo Tabla, and has released two internationally distributed CDs of this unique brand of Arab House/Electronica using acoustic instruments. Karim has authored instructional DVDs for the Tabla/Doumbek and Riqq tambourine, as well as two rhythm compilation CDs. He is also well versed in the ultra-traditional styles of music and dance as the leader of the Sharq Arabic Music Ensemble, and the Arab Dance Seminar. Karim performs and teaches Tahteeb Cane Dance, Dabka Line Dance, and Zikr Sufi Dance.
He taught at the New England Conservatory of Music for 5 years, and has lectured and presented at Harvard, MIT, Yale, Bowdoin, Princeton , Stanford, William & Mary, and several Community Colleges. He has recorded music for Bellydance Superstars, Bellyqueen, and the Bellytwins, as well as mainstream artists like Alicia Keys, and The Urban Griot Project. His performances boast a dynamic concoction of live drumming and dance, done in unison. Because of his proficiency in both music and dance, his workshops deliver students to a new physical understanding of the connection between these two disciplines.
As a dance and drum teacher, Karim has taught in nearly all major bellydance festivals in the United States and Cairo, as well as all major Arab Culture festivals in the USA. Karim Nagi is a true crossover artist, uniting the Cabaret and Tribal, Traditional and the Modern, the Ethnic and the Urban.
# Extended Reading
More about Karim Nagi
Karim Nagi: http://www.karimnagi.com/
Turbo Tabla: http://www.turbotabla.com/
New CD Album Unregulated: http://www.cdbaby.com/cd/TurboTabla
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