• Hey man! I’d like to salute you for such an interactive social group. First, let’s introduce you to our readers, and tell me more about you.At first, I would like to thank you very much for this great opportunity and to better know your magazine. I am Yasser Monsef and I am interested in all types and colours of music. I play guitars and synthesizers. And I am very interested in all that is related to the music scene in Egypt.
• What was the main reason behind adding other activities for the group other than selling and buying instruments?
Buying and selling musical gear and instruments was an entrance to a lot of other things. So, we directed the group towards active discussions about musical gear as it was not widely popular in Egypt before. We came up with this idea as a good way to know each other and share our different experiences and review musical gear. And therefore, it was an entrance to building a society interested in certain types of music.
• Although the group supports all kinds of music, I believe that it tends to be more into rock music, am I correct?
Not really. Actually, guitars are widely used in different types of music like jazz, funk, reggae, and film scoring. Most of the musical gears that we discuss and talk about in our group are guitars, amps and effect pedals. So, it gives the impression to anyone new to the group that the group is more rock-oriented. But if you noticed, our group is called “King of Tone”. So, we discuss our experience in the sound building regardless of the music genre.
• The interactive jamming method of the group is pretty unique. Can you tell me more about it?
In case if you mean the monthly activities which we made and called Jam of the Month, these were initial attempts at first to encourage and motivate certain friends whom we felt their main problem was being shy to show their music although they are passionate and very talented. So, we tried to overcome this problem by editing professional guitar backing tracks and allowing members to jam over them. Then, we take a vote and the winner was awarded a symbolic prize offered by one of the major music stores in Egypt.
We did not expect this rapid growth in the number of participants. As some members started to participate, others were motivated and encouraged to do so, until we’ve reached a point where a lot of members would be eagerly awaiting the following jam.
• Well, what procedures should musicians take to apply for this jam?
In the main pinned post in the group, we’ve made a statement, which I hope is understandable to all, that we do not have any group terms and regulations. We wanted to make it very easy for anybody to do their posts and activities without any restrictions so that it wouldn’t take a lot of time for anybody to come up with ideas and lay them down easily in a post for discussion.
• Also, I noticed that you’re taking it to another level by now each member tries to compose his own film scoring, is this true?
As I mentioned before, that after the idea of the Jam of the Month succeeded and attracted the attention of a lot of members, we started to raise new ideas which are more challenging like playing covers of well-known famous songs.
And this led us to a more complicated level of a challenge after famous guitars participated in this event. We took the Jam of the Month into the next level to expand members’ experience by composing film scoring over a silent short movie. And we’ve prepared a surprise for the next Jam of the Month.
• Also, I loved the idea of the “Atif Association,” is it only based on helping newcomers or something else?
The group at first was for discussions on musical gear, instruments, guitars and amp etc, this has caused a certain number of people especially beginners to start to dislike and stay away from the group as they felt the discussions are immensely complicated. So, this has led us to make an initiative specified for them called “Atif Association” where all the discussions are simply explained with a more easy choice of words and expressions so that they would be more understandable for them. And this has led to a very positive effect as they started to be involved in these discussions and even getting involved in other more complicated discussions.
• I believe the group has many activities, aren’t you considering taking it to an external website to be more organized and easier for users?I am so glad that you’ve addressed this suggestion. We have many future initiatives which are also sequential. But we are planning to execute these plans in distanced time intervals so that our members will take in the new developments and catch up with the updates.
• Finally, I appreciate such a chat and I’d love to know what upcoming plans does King of Tone have in the nearest future?
We actually do have a primary target, which we’ve pursued vigorously, and I think we’ve accomplished this target significantly. This target was to divert the musicians’ attention from behind mobile and laptop screens to reality. So, we’ve started a series of initiatives of workshops in music theory, musical gears and practising, and this has achieved considerable success. In addition, it was a great chance to meet the youth in reality. And we will continue these workshops with a gradual increase in their difficulty to reach more professional levels.
Participants of the last four-month