A live webchat with Eiden Brent

March 26, 2009

26/03/2009 01:59:33  
Moderator : Hello and welcome to today's webchat with Eden Brent, Blues Vocalist. 
Ms. Brent will lead this discussion and answer your questions.

Eden Brent : I have just arrived and pleased to be here. It is a beautiful city with interesting architecture and I look forward to the chat. Thank you for joining us.

26/03/2009 02:01:56  
Osama Sabry : Welcome to Cairo, is this your first time in Egypt? The Middle East? If yes did you expect Cairo to be that crowded like this or a desert full of camels?

Eden Brent : I have never visited Egypt or the Middle East. This is my first visit. I read about Cairo and the culture here and was not so surprised by the busy traffic. I live on the Mississippi River and so am delighted to be here on the Nile River. I have heard that if you drink from the Nile you will return many times. I do plan to drink from the Nile!

26/03/2009 02:09:00  
elnmsawy : I do not know much about BLUZAPALOOZA, but I would like to know from Ms. virtuous
thank you

Eden Brent : This Bluzapalooza tour features Memphis, Tennessee blues artists and is the first time that Bluzapalooza has been presented in Egypt. The word "Bluzapalooza" is catchy term that invites one to wonder what it means. It is just a fun name for blues music and the concert. Tomorrow's concert features Delta Highway, a four piece band influenced by Muddy Waters, Billy Gibson, who plays harmonica, and me. I am boogie-woogie piano player. Boogie-woogie is the sort of music that makes you want to tap your feet. Specifically, boogie piano has a rolling bass line with flashy melodies. It is the beat that matters -- and I hope you will come hear it tomorrow. It might be easier to understand if you hear it.

26/03/2009 02:13:24  
Kareem : Hi Eden, this looks interesting, can you tell me what is Blues? what this name came from? 
Thanks.

Eden Brent : Kareem, thank you for question. Blues music started from the slaves and sharecroppers in Mississippi who were farming cotton. Another reason that I was excited to visit Egypt is because cotton is grown here, too. Cotton farming is difficult work and the farmers made music that eventually became known as "blues." This music helped the time pass in the cotton fields as they were working. 

Blues is sometimes associated with sadness but is a style of music that makes one happier when he is sad. Some of the instruments associated with blues music are guitar, piano and harmonica. Also the voice in blues music is very important. 

26/03/2009 02:21:19  
Eden Brent : Etab, thank you for the warm welcome. I am really happy to be here in Cairo. 

The original blues artists used only acoustic instruments but since the invention of the guitar pick up and microphones, contemporary blues has an electric sound and uses electric instruments, like guitar and the Hammond B 3 organ. Also, the early singers had to nearly shout for the audience to hear them until microphones and sound systems became widely available. 

Blues continues to change. Newer artists who are known world wide include Susan Tedeshi and Joe Bonamasa. 

Some of the major blues festivals in the U.S. and around the world include the Chicago Blues Festival, the Waterfront Blues Festival in Portland, Oregon and Notodden Blues Festival in Norway. All of the performers at tomorrow night's concert are currently nominated for 2009 Blues Music Awards. The Blues Music Awards celebrate blues artists, both traditional and contemporary.

26/03/2009 02:27:34  
Sylvia Hamza : I am sorry to say it but I do not know about many famous Blues singers other than the old Louis Armstrong who is really popular here in Egypt. So Besides yourself, who are other artists do you suggest I should listen to?

Eden Brent : Hey Sylvia (that is how we say "hi" in Memphis), I am happy to know that Louis Armstrong is popular in Egypt. As a matter of fact, I just saw the photo of Louis Armstrong playing his trumpet in front of the Sphinx. 

I am also a Louis Armstrong fan and Louis worked with many musicians, including other famous blues musicians of his time like Bessie Smith. Bessie Smith influenced Janis Joplin and me, too. If you like Louis, you will like Billy Gibson. Billy plays the harmonica kind of like Louis played the trumpet. And sings, too! Also, Delta Highway has a harmonica player who, like Louis and Billy, plays and sings. 

Other artists who couldn't travel with us this time that you might look for are Curtis Salgado. And if you have never heard of BB King, he really is the "king of the blues."

26/03/2009 02:36:22  
Ahmed Aly : (This question is to Eden Brent, because I feel there is a bug in the web chat script).

Hello, and allow me to say "Ahlan wa sahlan" (Welcome) in Egypt. I hope you spend a nice time here, and I hope you realize that Egypt is a safe place for everyone regardless of their cultural, religion and race backgrounds.

By the way, I walked (virtually) at Beale Street, and it looks very interesting - I walked in the street using Google maps with "Street view" feature.
Take a look at it here:
http://maps.google.com/maps?hl=en&ie=UTF8&split=0&ei=tojISfPBCtSyjAecp_DNAw&t=h&layer=xc&g=Beale+Street,+memphis&cbll=35.139582,-90.05185&panoid=E_jBV8Un0wQp4CjSCGzpSw&cbp=12,357.98130548764624,,1,-10.540751618814067&ll=35.140483,-90.051732&spn=0,359.997253&z=19

I am so glad to see a "free" concert that's open for the public - although I don't understand what's the point behind that?

I just have a small question; What is your opinion about the online startups that allow users to listen to the music online for free (Without downloading), but on the other side they promote for the Music CDs by providing a link to buy it?
RIAA is fighting such startups because of the decline in the sales through the last decade, and if you heard of FabChannel.com , they are closing now; Do you think these startups help you, the singer, in promoting for your music?

I hope that you come back to Egypt in the next year, and have a "paid" concert that people would pay for, to attend it.

Eden Brent : Hi Ahmed, thank you so much for the warm welcome. I am glad you joined us. Let me answer your question in a few steps and as well as I am able. 

I feel very safe here and very welcome. Cairo seems to be a multicultural city, much like New York City, and that is very exciting. The hospitality of the Egyptian people is known around the world and I am so glad to experience it myself for the first time. 

I am glad that you saw Beale Street on the internet. I have walked on Beale Street many times and it is a street filled with lots of music. Delta Highway plays at Handy's on Beale every week!

We are delighted to offer a free concert for the Egyptian people to introduce blues music that they might not have heard before. 

Online music is a great tool for promotion and I have benefited from free music downloads on several internet sites. While I enjoy making CDs, I most enjoy performing live. 

So I hope you can come to the concert tomorrow night!

26/03/2009 02:41:00  
Rania : Hi Eden,welcome in Egypt. Did you perform in the Middle East before? and why did you choose Egypt? Thanks

Eden Brent: Hi Rania, thank you for your question. This is my first time in the Middle East. I am excited to be in Egypt. I think that Egypt chose me -- because I am lucky. To be in a location that is so vastly different from my home on the Mississippi River but has so much in common, like the beautiful Nile River and a connection to the land, makes me feel like staying here in Egypt for a while.

26/03/2009 02:46:06  
Miral Saad : What do you think about music in Egypt?

Eden Brent : Hi Miral, thanks for asking me about the music here in Egypt. Unfortunately, I only arrived today and have not yet had the chance to hear a live musical performance. I have heard recordings of Egyptian music and like it very much, even though it is different than blues. I noticed that much of the world's folk music, traditional music from villages around the world, shares a joy with the blues music from my area. I love all kinds of music and enjoy sharing time with other musicians. It is challenging and rewarding to play music that is different from what I am accustomed to. I hope I will have the opportunity to play with some Egyptian musicians.

26/03/2009 02:52:14  
John Luttrell : Who were your biggest influences and who do you listen to on the road?

Eden Brent : John, I am happy that you asked that question. I studied piano with an old man named Boogaloo Ames for sixteen years and he was my biggest influence. He is the one who taught me to boogie woogie. In university I studied voice but never felt qualified to sing opera. Now, I will sing the blues at an opera house! 

I love to listen to Billie Holiday (who also loved Louis Armstrong) and Buddy Guy and Janiva Magness and Eric Bibb and many others. I like all sorts of music and hope I get to hear some Egyptian music before I go home.

26/03/2009 02:54:16  
Sherif Magdy : Hi Eden, How are you? welcome in Egypt. you are very beautiful, and i am a great fan of you. I have a question for you: will you make another party in Egypt in the future?

thanks

Eden Brent : Thank you so much for your kind compliments and warm welcome, Sherif. When I learned that Bluzapalooza would be presenting a concert in Cairo I was so excited because I have never been here but have read about it in books and seen it on TV. To be here in Egypt is a dream come true and I am sure will that I will come back. (Remember, I plan to drink from the Nile!)

26/03/2009 02:59:33  
John Luttrell : What's the reaction of the folks who take in the performances? Have you spoken with any people who've watched the shows, but up to that point, haven't been exposed the The Blues?

Eden Brent : John, thanks for the question. Our first concert will be tomorrow night at the Open Theater of the Cairo Opera House. I hope and trust that we will be well-received. The music that we perform is very inviting and warm like an Egyptian welcome. We invite the audience to sing and dance and have fun with us. Most people who hear blues music like it a lot because many famous people borrowed their music from blues. For example, Elvis Presley (who was from Mississippi and later lived in Memphis) sang the song "Hound Dog" many years after the great blues singer Big Mama Thornton. If you like Elvis Presley, you will like the blues and the Bluzapalooza concert.

26/03/2009 03:00:55  
Moderator : Thanks to everyone who participated in today's webchat and thanks to Eden.

Eden Brent : Thanks y'all for participating in the webchat and allowing me the opportunity to visit with you. I hope y'all and y'all's friends will come tomorrow to the show. I promise that we will all have a good time together.