The last days
of a great master
by Shenouda Mamdouh - Sunday 15 July 2001
In March 1991, I was asked from my parish church to conduct a research concerning Coptic Music and present a paper in order to graduate from the two-years formation I received to become a Sunday school teacher. The research was intended to show how different hymns sung in liturgical offices relate to older hymns in Ancient Egyptian offices. Visiting many libraries and bookstores, I was struck to find that there are absolutely no books or references available on the subject and a complete ignorance. Deacons in the church told me if you want to know about hymns, all we can do is teach you to sing the hymn. Not really interested in keeping in my small memory more than the hymns I already know, I was advised to meet with a man called Dr Ragheb Habashy Moftah who was 93 years old and head of the Music Department at the Higher Institute of Coptic Studies. So I wrote down a set of questions and went to meet him. To prepare for this meeting I had already read the Institute of Coptic Studies Magazine 1958 and the Keraza 1975 as well as the Master Thesis of Nabil Kamal Boutros about Coptic Music.

I remember this first encounter with the great master. In the second floor at the Higher Institute of Coptic Studies, at the end of a gallery a small and poor room had one desk facing the door. An old man was seated on the desk and behind him a window gave sight down to the backyard of Anba Ruweis area. At the right side old wooden sound recording machinery (offered by the WCC) lays with a small opening on the wall revealing an adjacent bigger (recording-studio) room, on the left side a closet enclosed audio tape recordings of all Coptic rites. Those were for sale each for LE 6.00

Although old, the man was remarkably alert, he greeted me and invited me to sit down while his secretary offered a cup of tea. He was very prestigious, wearing a suit with a carefully knotted tie. Colors of his clothes revealed not only luxury but also taste. It is later that I learned about him being rich and educated in Bonn.

I asked him if I can record the interview on tapes, but he suggested that I just take notes of what I want. I asked the questions one after the other and he answered them. I expected such a man, in this position to deal with me as son, acting so by guiding me and informing me of the truth. What I found was different: all his talk revealed a man defending a position that he took. He knew that many modern Copts want to introduce western instruments in offices, he knew they feel bored of their own heritage and they want to play hymns on the organ during the liturgy. He knew that even some church hierarchs prefer to sing the hymns in Arabic language instead of Coptic and some western scholars degrade Coptic music by saying it is not the descendant of Ancient Egyptian Music. Not many people stood by his side throughout his life laborious work. He felt alone in his position yet he was sharp, clear and he had strong arguments. I was asking him questions and he was answering in details. In case I needed further details, he explained it clearly. The meeting lasted for nearly 45 minutes. It was already 13h30 and he should leave. I escorted him down to the taxi that used to take him from his home in the Pyramids district to the ICS in Abbassia everyday and back. Till then he used to come this 1-hour drive from his home and climb the stairs to the second floor and spend the whole day working.

He sat in the taxi and waved while the car drove far, yet he left in me a big thirst and fire wanting to revive the language and music and the whole culture of my forefathers. Since then, it was my habit to stop at his office and greet him every time I am around. I phoned him and asked him different questions I had. When I began working with computers and the Internet, I also told him.

When I left him in the car, I had one thought in mind. Dr Ragheb had mentioned in his article (Keraza75) as well as during his interview that the man who revived Coptic Hymns in modern ages. Cantor Tekla (around 1870 - and later Fr Tekla) wrote a book with a French Musicologist Gro. It is known that Cantor Tekla and Erian Effendi Gerges Moftah were appointed by Pope Cyril IV (1854-1861) and by his later successor Demetrius II (1862-1870) to revive Coptic Music and Hymns. Dr Ragheb mentioned that this book was lost. I felt that finding this book would reveal a lot about Coptic Music. I asked Dr Ragheb on the phone and learned that he searched thoroughly Dar El-Kotob Library, the British Museum Library, The Bibliothèque Nationale in Paris, the Vatican, Vienna and the Library of the Old Patriarchate to find the book but in vain. The book is completely disappeared.

Dr Ragheb first learned about this book in 1937 from an old journalist who was surnamed (El-Sa7afi El-3aguz) "the Old Journalist". This journalist claimed that he has a copy but he died before Dr Ragheb could even see it. He used to write in Al-Ahram a column called "3ala el-hamesh", he also used to write at the El-Tewfik Association, Masr Newspaper and El-Watan Newspaper. Dr Ragheb also told that he was a relative to Gad family and would have liked to know where his books are become? I learned that he didn't search through the American Congress Library nor St Catherine... So I asked if I can give it a try. He approved and encouraged me. He told it would be a great benefit if we can find it.

I developed a theory, that in this period (the end of the 19th century), the main event where tourists came from allover the world was the inauguration of the Suez Canal (Nov 1869) and Verdi's opera Aïda first play in Cairo (24 December 1871). Several guests came from Europe amongst was Queen Eugenie of France. I expected that French Musicologists might have come as critics at this time. And feeling that they might not come again, they might have been interested in encountering Copts who still maintain Ancient Egyptian music as well as other forms of folk music in Egypt. From Music Encyclopedias I could get the names: Grau (1849-1907), Grojean (1815-1888) and Guiraud. I sent out to many libraries and only received answers from the British Library and the Bibliothèque Nationale in Paris. They both couldn't identify the book. It was a big disappointment to me, which I also shared with him. I had an idea that it might not be a whole book about the subject, may be a section in a book or an article in a newspaper or so but I never kept up the search. I told him the news but he didn't seem much disappointed. It seemed to me that he lost hope on this matter long ago.

On 1993 I took his advise when publishing my first article on Coptic Music in Watani Newspaper (August 1993). Later the same year, I visited him and I coordinated with the Patriarchate and St Mark Church in Heliopolis Cairo the organization of the "First Meeting with Coptic Music" for all churches in Cairo and Giza. The meeting was meant to conceive Coptic Music as "music" not strictly as "liturgical". It was an invitation to listen and enjoy. The meeting was opened by Hegumen Antonios Amin, then Ethnomusicologist and opera singer Nabila Erian Ph.D. gave a short introduction about music. Then the light turned down, candles lit throughout the hall, projectors showed Coptic woodwork, architecture, ornaments and icons (offered especially by the late Photograph Amir Gabra) while Coptic hymns from different rites were sung by deacons choir, Cantor Farag Abdel-Messih, as well as young and old male and female voices. The meeting was followed by two others in the course of the following year but stopped due to lack of audience.

On 1994, I visited him and the studio (the adjacent room) was open. It was large with a piano and microphones everywhere. I was introduced to Fr Matthias Nasr, a young knowledgeable priest who makes recordings in his voice to Dr Ragheb. I was also introduced to the choir of seminarians and I learned then that a very big step was being made. Dr Ragheb accompanied by Margit Toth was publishing the first of his musical transcriptions "The Liturgy of St Basil". He asked me to follow up the computer editing with Engineer Ayman Samir at thOld Cathedral. To our bad luck, I visited Eng Ayman one day to find that the file of the book that he has been editing for months collapsed as well as all the backup copies. There was no solutions but retyping and formatting the whole thing again. I learned later that Ayman gave up and the whole task remained suspended until given to the American University in Cairo Press which surely had better equipment, expertise and finance. Pope Shenouda himself and his lawyer Maitre Fayek Fahim signed the contract with AUC Press.

During the following years, I didn't have much contact with Dr Ragheb except meeting him at the Cathedral the eve of Easter and Christmas. He was always there standing in the midst of the Theological Seminary Choir till the end of the Liturgy at 4:00 am. It was his natural place to stand. He refused people's invitation for him to sit down. Assisted by deacons, including myself he was many times led to take communion. I looked at his face once after communion and I was amazed to see him looking exactly like a child. In this old age, he was as pure and young in his heart as a child.

I learned that he escorted the Theological Seminary to trips to Germany and other countries to perform Coptic Music and gave talks to the media. He had the same heart of the young man who lectured once in Cambridge, Oxford and Cairo about Coptic Music in 1930.

On January 1999, Pope Shenouda organized a Century Birthday for Dr Ragheb at the Jusabian Hall at the Cathedral. Several guests were invited and a booklet was issued about his efforts. Later on the next year COEPA (Coptic Orthodox Electronic Publishing Australia) got a written permission from him to refine the sound and republish several of his older recordings on CD, which they did. Three sets having The Liturgy according to St Basil, the Midnight Vigil and the Holy Week hymns.

Till last year 2000, Dr Ragheb was talking to Pope Shenouda about his forthcoming projects of transcribing St Gregory and St Cyril Liturgies. But he was facing health problems every now and then and was rushed to El-Haya hospital in Cairo or Victoria Hospital in Alexandria. On Saturday 6 June 2001, Pope Shenouda visited him at Victoria hospital. On Monday 18 June 2001, at 16:00 pm hundreds of his Coptic children came to have a final look at their great father and master who departed at the age of 103 years old.

We Copts, we all owe him much for what he did for us. All the humanity owes him much for preserving the most ancient musical heritage on earth.

Dear Dr Ragheb may you go in peace and joy with your beloved Christ. The Nile valley shall miss you but we shall meet one day to sing a new song.

 
Shenouda Mamdouh