Sharjah 24: The Arab Cultural Club (ACC) in Sharjah hosted the Sudanese professor Dr. Mohamed Abdullah Al-Riyih in a lecture titled "Pentatonic Rhythms." The lecture, moderated by journalist Musab Al-Sawi, featured musical performances by artists Luay Abdel Aziz and Saad Al-Din Al-Tayib.
The event saw a large turnout of intellectuals and art lovers, including Ali Al-Mughni, Vice Chairman of the club's Board of Directors.
Musab Al-Sawi introduced Professor Al-Riyih as a former university professor in Sudan and Saudi Arabia, a renowned zoologist, a visual artist, and a researcher in culture and anthropology.
Al-Riyih delivered his lecture on the occasion of the publication of his study titled "Pentatonic Rhythms" on the Al-Rafid website, affiliated with the Sharjah Department of Culture.
Al-Riyih explained that musical scales can be tetratonic, pentatonic, hexatonic, or heptatonic, with the heptatonic scale being the most widely known globally. However, the pentatonic scale also has prevalence in Africa, parts of the Arab world, Eastern countries, and some Western rhythms. It is the predominant scale in Sudanese music.
Al-Riyih's connection to music came from his specialisation in bird studies, noting that singing is a vital necessity for birds and a cultural requirement for humans to express emotions and inclinations. During his PhD studies in zoology, he focused on bats, which rely on echolocation for movement. This analysis of bat sounds inspired him to study Sudanese music in a laboratory setting.
Through years of research, Al-Riyih concluded that the pentatonic scale in Sudan is not merely a musical scale but is deeply embedded in Sudanese culture, influencing social and religious events. He emphasised the need for creating an atlas of Sudanese cultural practices based on quantitative studies, which would be beneficial for future cultural planning.
Dr. Omar Abdul Aziz praised Al-Riyih's insights during the event, considering them keys to deep cultural studies based on the pentatonic cultural field extending in Africa and reaching regions like Yemen, the Maghreb, and the Arab-Islamic cultural extensions in East Asia. Such a study would provide valuable information about the cultural movement in this geographic area.
The evening included musical segments performed by violinist Loay Abdel Aziz and musician Saad Al-Din Al-Tayeb, showcasing the application of the Sudanese pentatonic scale by various artists over different periods. The performances included pieces by musicians like Hassan Khoud, Sorour, Ibrahim Al-Kashif, Al-Taj Mustafa, Othman Hussein, Burai Dafa Allah, Zidan, Mohamed Wardi, Mohamed Al-Amin, and Khalil Farah.
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