Typically, a Moravian University music major’s senior project is a solo recital, but Shokr and orthodoxy don’t often harmonize.

“Amal is very unconventional,” says Larry Lipkis, professor of music and composer in residence, who taught Shokr for three years. “She loves improvisation and experimentation and is always exploring sounds. She brings to her compositions very fresh, innovative thinking.”

That became apparent as the performance began. Shokr incorporated traditional Egyptian instruments in her program—the oud, a short, fretless guitar; and the darbuka, a goblet-shaped drum. She arranged poems sung and recited in Arabic and melodies borrowed from famous Egyptian songs into her own compositions for the three moody movements.

You also could call Shokr’s program a family affair. Her sister Mona Shokr played the darbuka, a national symbol of Egyptian Shaabi (“of the common people”) music. Another sister, Lila Shokr ’23, helped with artwork and graphic design. Their father, Moustafa Shokr, recited a love poem in Arabic. Images from Amal’s childhood years spent in Egypt were projected onto a large screen behind an ensemble of seven Moravian student musicians—John Hoofman ’23, guitar and oud; Elizabeth Hutchinson ’26, violin; Phoenix King ’27 cello; Jacob Gumulak ’26, alto sax; Julianna Thompson ’25, flute and piccolo; and Grace Young ’23, double bass. Director of Instrumental Music JoAnn Weiszczyk conducted.

To hold the disparate sensory elements together, Shokr featured a strange-looking instrument called the Bertoia sound sculpture that looks like a series of cattail plants in a pot. The instrument, which was used in each of the Shokr’s movements, is made up of long copper and bronze rods that when stroked sway and collide, creating resonant frequencies. The sound sculpture, made by famed Barto, Pennsylvania, sculptor Harry Bertoia (1915–1978), was loaned to Shokr by Moravian’s art department.

Percussion is Shokr’s strong suit, so Lipkis suggested she work the sound sculpture into the composition. “It’s really cool; as soon as I heard it, I was locked in and that became the main instrument,” Shokr says.

Shokr had never written for strings, which are a key component of Egyptian classical music, so she asked violinist Hutchinson to take part. “I’m a classically trained violinist, so there was a bit of a learning curve for someone who doesn’t do a lot of nonwestern music,” says Hutchinson. But Hutchinson says she welcomed the looser style for a change, “sliding around a little bit to create the distinct Arabic flair.”

“I brought in Julianna on flute because I wanted some warm woodwind since the recorder is important in Egyptian music,” says Shokr. “And the saxophone…I just love sax and wanted something really weird, and Cody really brought it. The darbuka I had from Egypt, and it’s obviously a staple.”

Throughout the performance, Shokr moved gracefully, almost dancelike, between playing the piano, the Bertoia sound sculpture, tubular bells, and mallet percussion instruments (vibraphone and marimba) all while cueing the ensemble with her eyes. She even mixed in an original poem she had written called “A Light Flickers.” Her father translated it into Arabic since she doesn’t speak the language, and she sang and recited the words. Shokr also added collages she had constructed “like scrapbook memories” for the posters and on-screen visuals. Through sight, sound, and sculpture, Music & Memory revealed the breadth of her creative skills and her love of the free form. “Improvising comes naturally to me,” she says.

The three mysterious, celebratory, and gentle movements in the composition certainly seemed to strike a chord with the audience of students, faculty, and friends, too.

“These songs are iconic of the Arabic music I listened to every Thursday night on Iraqi radio in Baghdad,” said Sam Redha, a spectator from Iraq who studied in Egypt and now lives in the Lehigh Valley. “Beautiful. It brought tears to my eyes.”

Thank you, Mr. Miller: Amal Shokr ’24 was the recipient of financial support for her Moravian University education through a scholarship funded by Jody R. Miller ’70.