Fiddle Hill in Egypt: A Week of Reels by the Pyramids

Brian and me at Giza, 1999

In 1999, my friend Brian Bender and I packed our fiddle and piano, and flew to Cairo to play music as “Fiddle Hill.” It’s still one of the strangest and best weeks of my musical life.

How it happened

In the late 90s, Brian and I did a few projects with Michael DiMartino and his Gaia World Music Ensemble. Michael was putting together a world music festival through his connections at the Giza pyramids park, right where the famous light show happens. I’m still not sure how he finagled it, but he did. All our expenses were covered, we stayed in a nice hotel, and for one week our job was simply to play.

The 1999 festival program: our klezmer set at 3:00 and Fiddle Hill at 4:00 on December 6th, both with Brian Bender, Michael DiMartino and me

Adam and Brian with the Sphinx behind them — Fiddle Hill, with the Sphinx photobombing

Arriving at the hotel in Cairo — Leaving the hotel

Celtic and klezmer under the pyramids

We played a mix of Celtic and klezmer music. Irish reels and Jewish wedding tunes, a few hundred yards from the Sphinx. If that sounds like an odd combination for Egypt, it was, and it worked. Good dance music is good dance music anywhere.

Adam Sweet playing fiddle on stage at Giza — On stage at the festival

The crowd

Michael must have had some well-connected friends, because there were a few Western faces in the audience. But most of the crowd was Egyptian men and boys, many of them hearing a fiddle tune for the first time. They listened hard, and they let you know when they liked something.

The festival audience at Giza — The audience

The crowd under the palm trees — A packed crowd under the palms

Off the stage

We also got to jam with the Cairo Conservatory jazz band, which was a thrill. And between gigs, we did what anyone would do: we went and touched the pyramids.

Adam with the pyramids of Giza — The pyramids of Giza

Adam at the base of the Great Pyramid — Up close with the Great Pyramid

Looking back

It was a whirlwind week of music. Twenty-seven years later, I still think about those faces in the crowd and how a fiddle can make friends faster than any language.

I recently released a track called “Fiddle Hill In Egypt” in honor of that trip. Buy and Download for $1.50: Listen on Bandcamp.

Listen in Full on YouTube: https://youtu.be/saQ_QC7HFHQ

Adam Sweet
Verve Music

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