Ten Arab Filmmakers provides an up-to-date overview of the best of Arab cinema; offering studies of leading directors and in-depth analyses of their most important films. The filmmakers profiled here represent principal national cinemas of the Arab worldmdash;Algeria; Egypt; Lebanon; Morocco; Palestine; and Syria. Although they have produced many of the regionrsquo;s most-renowned films and gained recognition at major international festivals; with few exceptions these filmmakers have received little critical attention. All ten share a concern with giving image and voice to people struggling against authoritarian regimes; patriarchal traditions; or religious fundamentalismmdash;theirs is a cineacute;ma engageacute;.The featured directors are Daoud Abd El-Sayed; Merzak Allouache; Nabil Ayouch; Youssef Chahine; Mohamed Chouikh; Michel Khleifi; Nabil Maleh; Yousry Nasrallah; Jocelyne Saab; and Elia Suleiman.
2015-04-22 2015-04-22File Name: B00WYT1K9K
Review
8 of 8 people found the following review helpful. Big range of challenges for beginners.By EmommyI got this for my fourth grade son and his friends; to encourage his recorder playing. I think hes pretty excited about it; so I am hopeful that it will work out for him. There are features of the book that I think are very helpful for early beginners who are learning musical notation at the same time as the instrument (like my son). The notes are in large print; with the name of the note written inside the head of each note. Very helpful! Also; there are no key signatures; and each note is written with its sharp or flat; as required. This is sort of helpful. Most of the pieces are cluttered with sharps and/or flats; which is kind of intimidating; even though in most cases it just means the piece is arranged in a key other than C. I can see; though; how a kid who is new to reading music might find it a useful crutch. But it does not much help musical understanding. Normally when you see an accidental it means something has happened harmonically in the music; and when youre just going along in your main key the music looks plain and clean.Some of the rhythms are a little simplified; which is generally good for beginners with basic reading skills; and if they know the music they can correct the rhythms themselves. Also there is a pretty good technical section at the beginning of the book that briefly explains recorder technique and fingering and the rudiments of music notation; and provides two very simple tunes to practice on. You could theoretically use this as a stand-alone primer for starting recorder.Overall; though; I think the difficulty of the pieces is a bit high for kids who are assumed to have so little musical experience that they benefit from the above beginner-oriented features. Yodas theme is the easiest; as it involves very simple rhythms; and only a one-octave C scale augmented with F#. The Duel of the Fates is also fairly accessible; using only the first register (up to D); and the new note of Bb as well as F#.It would probably be helpful if the songs were arranged in this way; in order of difficulty; but they are not (those are #6 and #5 respectively). I would put "May the force be with you" next; which is arranged in D minor with just one octave of range and the Bb the only "tricky" note. But with a lot of skips; it is actually pretty challenging for a beginner. Princess Leias theme adds Db; and also requires only the first register. Like the "force" theme; it is a lovely; lyrical tune; which a motivated beginner can probably master with some effort.The Star Wars main theme is arranged in the key of F; goes up into the second register and involves big intervals and triplet rhythms; so now were getting into challenging territory for kids. Still playable; though. Good challenge for kids; who will surely WANT very badly to play this tune. But the Imperial March is downright hard; and it is made harder by the choice of arranging it in the key of Eb. I find it MUCH easier to play on the recorder transposed down a half step into D; which would also be a lot easier to read. (On the other hand; if you want to do a duet with someone playing a Bb instrument like trumpet or clarinet; Eb is good because the other person would be playing in F; which is easy). By the time your beginning recorder student is playing chromatic scales in both the first and second registers; and reading all kinds of accidentals and dotted eighth-sixteenth rhythms; maybe a little transposing is not going to throw them one bit.I didnt mention "Throne room;" which as little more than a reprise of the force theme seems like a waste of space.13 of 13 people found the following review helpful. Good. But not "easy" or "beginner."By MJF LimeI love these songs and love that its put together; but theres no way these are "easy." I teach recorder; and there are accidentals like crazy; of course. But more troubling are the high notes! I cant hardly get them out without a terrible squeak; let alone a beginner.7 of 8 people found the following review helpful. I LOVE THIS!By Tina BassettI LOVE THIS!!! When my kid brought home that cursed recorder; I cried. Really; I did. I was doing my usual Star Wars stuff browsing when I came across this. If Im going to have to listen to that stupid recorder; I might as well listen to it play songs I actually WANT to hear!Ill gladly listen to anything John Williams over "Hot Cross Buns" any day!I highly recommend this to any of my fellow geeks/nerds with kids :)
