Features of Sheikh Minshawi’s Recitation Style
His pleasant recitations bear special features and delicacies and many young qaris imitate his style on their growth path.
Manshawi is one of the Egyptian masters who chose simplicity for recitation despite being mastery over different styles of recitation; but this simplicity had a specific framework and rules. This simplicity is not bad and sets a framework that differentiates it from other styles.
Another point was the consistency in his voice. That is, his voice was consistent from the lowest to highest pitches. Qaris are usually weaker in low-pitched voices and stronger in higher ones, however, Minshawi had a mastery over all these levels.
Due to his perfect calmness, Sheikh Minshawi presented his art with exact timing and mastery. These are his strategic features in terms of voice and tone.
There are many qaris who, despite having a pleasing voice, engage in extra emotions while reciting but Minshawi was in no harry to transfer this emotion to his audience.
Minshawi's school of recitation is also different from his father's. If you listen to the recitations of Siddiq Al-Minshawi (father), you will see that his tonal style is completely similar to the masters before him and his contemporaries, but his son’s tonal style is similar to the style of master Kamil Yusuf Al-Bahtimi and Muhammad Salamah, and is somewhat more classical.
His style, while being simple, has the highest level of attention to expressive tone. Expressive tone refers to the internal tone and music according to the content of the verses. Accordingly, when going from one verse to the next, this tone may also change according to the context. We imagine that Minshawi recites in a linear form, or they say that those who recite in a linear form have a weak expressive tone. It is difficult to maintain this feature in simpler styles, however, Minshawi observed it in the best form possible.
Imitating Minshawi’s recitations seem easy at the first glance but challenges are not few. We imagine that he doesn't recite in a high pitch but when we want to imitate, we find out that it is not easy at all.
Meanwhile, experts recommend young qaris to imitate Minshawi’s style in early years because such training will boost their voice. It is also believed that following his style will facilitate and accelerate qaris’ progress.
