Mysterious Arab Music Instrumental - Raqsat Shanghai by Riad al-Sunbati

This semester I'm playing oud with the Tufts Takht, a student and community Arab music group at Tufts University. Kareem Roustom, a talented composer and oud player, is our conductor. We're working on some beautiful music this spring. Among the pieces is a short instrumental, Raqsat Shanghai, or Dance of Shanghai, by the late Egyptian composer, Riad al-Sunbati.

This is Sunbati, playing the oud.  

Sunbati is one of my favorite composers. His oud improvisations are always in a lower register, and some of my favorite compositions of his center themselves below middle D - and range more toward the A below it. But this piece, Dance of Shanghai, mystifies me. The main theme has a cheerful, almost syrupy pseudo-oriental sound to it. Then, he switches into three different sections, each in a different maqam. Usually, maqam transitions are done according to traditional aesthetics. But these sound harsh and unnatural.

There's got to be a reason. So I went to the source - Kareem, our conductor. He did his Master's thesis on Sunbati, so he ought to know. It turns out that much of Sunbati's instrumental pieces were lost, that few survive. He is most well-known for his Longa, a challenging and virtuosic instrumental piece in the maqam of farahfaza. But Raqsat Shanghai? Kareem said that little is known about it. Sunbati was involved in radio, so perhaps it was used for a radio show, or maybe even the theater. But it's a mystery. The more we play it, the more I like it. It's almost like advertising copy, where every word counts. Each section is pared down and minimal, each note deliberate. Kind of like an opening theme song for a television comedy. But, that said, if you rush through it, you miss it. Now, if we can just polish it up and keep from racing through it.

Below you can link to a video of the Arabesque Music Ensemble playing Raqsat Shanghai on their 2006 tour. What do you think of this piece?