<P> In the second half of the 19th century, the Hasaballah genre of popular improvisational brass band folk music emerged, initiated by clarinettist Mohammad Hasaballah and his band, also called Hasaballah, playing in Cairo's music and entertainment quarter on Mohammed Ali Street . The typical line - up of trumpet, trombone, bass and snare drums, was popular, such as at family events, for well over a century, and is still played . </P> <P> Egyptian music began to be recorded in the 1910s when Egypt was still part of the Ottoman Empire . The cosmopolitan Ottomans encouraged the development of the arts, encouraging women and minorities to develop their musical abilities . By the fall of the Empire, Egypt's classical musical tradition was already thriving, centered on the city of Cairo . In general, modern Egyptian music blends its indigenous traditions with Turkish, Arabic, and Western elements . </P> <P> Since the end of World War I, some of the Middle East's biggest musical stars have been Egyptian . Contemporary Egyptian music traces its beginnings to the creative work of luminaries such as Abdu - l Hamuli, Almaz and Mahmud Osman, who were all patronized by the Ottoman Khedive Ismail, and who influenced the later work of the 20th century's most important Egyptian composers: Sayed Darwish, Umm Kulthum, Mohammed Abdel Wahab, Abdel Halim Hafez, and Zakariyya Ahmad . Most of these stars, including Umm Kulthum and Najat Al Saghira, were part of the classical Egyptian and Arabic music tradition . Some, like Abd el - Halim Hafez, were associated with the Egyptian nationalist movement from 1952 onward . </P> <P> Religious music remains an essential part of traditional Sufi Muslim and Coptic Christian celebrations called mulids . Mulids are held in Egypt to celebrate the saint of a particular church . Muslim mulids are related to the Sufi zikr ritual . The Egyptian flute, called the ney, is commonly played at mulids . The liturgical music of the Alexandrian Rite also constitutes an important element of Egyptian music and is said to have preserved many features of ancient Egyptian music . </P>

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