In a scene from Henry Barakat’s 1971 film Ebnati El Aziza (My Dear Daughter), the iconic Egyptian electric guitarist Omar Khorshid plays a slow building improvised solo in the kurd scale on his Fender Stratocaster. Dressed in a black dinner jacket and bow-tie with a slicked back hairstyle and charismatic smile, he stands alone on stage, his shadow extending out behind him onto a dreamlike set.
The camera switches to the enchanted audience watching his show. Legendary actor Rushdy Abaza and the singer Nagat al-Saghira are sitting in the front row. Then the camera zooms in on Khorshid’s distinctive fast-picking technique as he changes tempo and scale.