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
Bournemouth 0
Manchester United 2
Smalling (28'), Lukaku (70')
ELIO
Starring: Yonas Kibreab, Zoe Saldana, Brad Garrett
Directors: Madeline Sharafian, Domee Shi, Adrian Molina
Rating: 4/5
The specs
Engine: 1.5-litre turbo
Power: 181hp
Torque: 230Nm
Transmission: 6-speed automatic
Starting price: Dh79,000
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Key facilities
- Olympic-size swimming pool with a split bulkhead for multi-use configurations, including water polo and 50m/25m training lanes
- Premier League-standard football pitch
- 400m Olympic running track
- NBA-spec basketball court with auditorium
- 600-seat auditorium
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- Specialist robotics and science laboratories
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- Disruption Lab and Research Centre for developing entrepreneurial skills
Killing of Qassem Suleimani
Gran Gala del Calcio 2019 winners
Best Player: Cristiano Ronaldo (Juventus)
Best Coach: Gian Piero Gasperini (Atalanta)
Best Referee: Gianluca Rocchi
Best Goal: Fabio Quagliarella (Sampdoria vs Napoli)
Best Team: Atalanta
Best XI: Samir Handanovic (Inter); Aleksandar Kolarov (Roma), Giorgio Chiellini (Juventus), Kalidou Koulibaly (Napoli), Joao Cancelo (Juventus*); Miralem Pjanic (Juventus), Josip Ilicic (Atalanta), Nicolo Barella (Cagliari*); Fabio Quagliarella (Sampdoria), Cristiano Ronaldo (Juventus), Duvan Zapata (Atalanta)
Serie B Best Young Player: Sandro Tonali (Brescia)
Best Women’s Goal: Thaisa (Milan vs Juventus)
Best Women’s Player: Manuela Giugliano (Milan)
Best Women’s XI: Laura Giuliani (Milan); Alia Guagni (Fiorentina), Sara Gama (Juventus), Cecilia Salvai (Juventus), Elisa Bartoli (Roma); Aurora Galli (Juventus), Manuela Giugliano (Roma), Valentina Cernoia (Juventus); Valentina Giacinti (Milan), Ilaria Mauro (Fiorentina), Barbara Bonansea (Juventus)
Day 3 stumps
New Zealand 153 & 249
Pakistan 227 & 37-0 (target 176)
Pakistan require another 139 runs with 10 wickets remaining
The specs: 2017 Dodge Ram 1500 Laramie Longhorn
Price, base / as tested: Dhxxx
Engine: 5.7L V8
Transmission: Eight-speed automatic
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Director: Mahdi Fleifel
Starring: Mahmoud Bakri, Aram Sabbah, Mohammad Alsurafa
Rating: 4.5/5
BIGGEST CYBER SECURITY INCIDENTS IN RECENT TIMES
SolarWinds supply chain attack: Came to light in December 2020 but had taken root for several months, compromising major tech companies, governments and its entities
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Log4j breach: December 2021; attackers exploited the Java-written code to inflitrate businesses and governments
The White Lotus: Season three
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Top 10 locations for inquiries from US house hunters, according to Rightmove
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More from Neighbourhood Watch:
Dr Afridi's warning signs of digital addiction
Spending an excessive amount of time on the phone.
Neglecting personal, social, or academic responsibilities.
Losing interest in other activities or hobbies that were once enjoyed.
Having withdrawal symptoms like feeling anxious, restless, or upset when the technology is not available.
Experiencing sleep disturbances or changes in sleep patterns.
What are the guidelines?
Under 18 months: Avoid screen time altogether, except for video chatting with family.
Aged 18-24 months: If screens are introduced, it should be high-quality content watched with a caregiver to help the child understand what they are seeing.
Aged 2-5 years: Limit to one-hour per day of high-quality programming, with co-viewing whenever possible.
Aged 6-12 years: Set consistent limits on screen time to ensure it does not interfere with sleep, physical activity, or social interactions.
Teenagers: Encourage a balanced approach – screens should not replace sleep, exercise, or face-to-face socialisation.
Source: American Paediatric Association
The Facility’s Versatility
Between the start of the 2020 IPL on September 20, and the end of the Pakistan Super League this coming Thursday, the Zayed Cricket Stadium has had an unprecedented amount of traffic.
Never before has a ground in this country – or perhaps anywhere in the world – had such a volume of major-match cricket.
And yet scoring has remained high, and Abu Dhabi has seen some classic encounters in every format of the game.
October 18, IPL, Kolkata Knight Riders tied with Sunrisers Hyderabad
The two playoff-chasing sides put on 163 apiece, before Kolkata went on to win the Super Over
January 8, ODI, UAE beat Ireland by six wickets
A century by CP Rizwan underpinned one of UAE’s greatest ever wins, as they chased 270 to win with an over to spare
February 6, T10, Northern Warriors beat Delhi Bulls by eight wickets
The final of the T10 was chiefly memorable for a ferocious over of fast bowling from Fidel Edwards to Nicholas Pooran
March 14, Test, Afghanistan beat Zimbabwe by six wickets
Eleven wickets for Rashid Khan, 1,305 runs scored in five days, and a last session finish
June 17, PSL, Islamabad United beat Peshawar Zalmi by 15 runs
Usman Khawaja scored a hundred as Islamabad posted the highest score ever by a Pakistan team in T20 cricket
Results
Final: Iran beat Spain 6-3.
Play-off 3rd: UAE beat Russia 2-1 (in extra time).
Play-off 5th: Japan beat Egypt 7-2.
Play-off 7th: Italy beat Mexico 3-2.
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UAE currency: the story behind the money in your pockets
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