Bands marching to an Egyptian beat

Shadle Park High School’s marching band thought they were being original by designing a halftime show with an Egyptian theme.

The brass section would sound like a pharaoh’s welcome. The dancers would move with belly dancer “snake arms.”

As it turns out, Central Valley High School had the same idea.

Both shows will be on display Saturday with 17 other bands for the annual Pacific Northwest Marching Band Championships at Joe Albi Stadium, which runs most of the day.

Each year, fad-inspired themes emerge at halftime shows, but for some undetermined reason ancient Egyptian culture has captured the minds of these young performers. Leaders for both school programs asked their students for help deciding their halftime shows. They wanted the sounds of sand, pyramids and camels.

These days it’s not uncommon to see subtle Egyptian cultural nods in everyday life. In fashion circles, the look of heavy liner that extends beyond the eyelids into wings is called “Egyptian eyes.” Some dueling card games are drawn from Egyptian mythology with figures like Anubis, the jackal-headed god of the dead. Anubis was featured in recent movies like “The Mummy Returns,” “The Scorpion King” and even as a Pokemon character named Lucario.

“It is a current fad, you might say,” said Glenna Martin, co-owner of Auntie’s Bookstore in downtown Spokane.

While there was a time when Steve Martin and touring shows made King Tut a cultural icon, there seems to be a new surge in mummy-land popularity.

Auntie’s front display window is dedicated to an Egyptian theme to further push the popularity of books like Emily Sands’ “Egyptology.”

The book is interactive and includes pieces for a game played in ancient Egypt called Senet. While it would seem to be a kid’s book with the faux-jeweled gold cover, it has been popular with adults too, Martin said. It’s been a top seller.

Students in Shadle Park’s marching band program have heard of the book, “Egyptology.” They’re familiar with Egyptian eyes.

“When we had an Asian theme (a few years ago), a lot of students got involved in it,” said Shadle Park senior Josh Christensen.

They built a dragon then, which still rests in the band room.

At the end of last year, they all talked about what to do for the next year.

“We were going to do ‘Lord of the Rings,’ ” Christensen said. “A lot of people were calling out ‘Egypt! Egypt!’ “

So that clinched it. They chose the music, “River of the Ancients.”

Shadle Park senior Alissa Putz said living in Spokane makes students hungry for other cultures.

“This is a new cultural experience,” said Andrew Van Winkle, a tuba player.

The dance team learned traditional Egyptian dance moves from a local instructor. For their performance, they will wear lace-up sandals on their feet and purple and maroon scarves on their hips.

During a rehearsal, as they ran through combining the marching maneuvers of brass and woodwinds, they used gongs to conjure up an ancient feel with thumping drums and chimes. Five-foot rain sticks – tubes that simulate the sound of rain – added to the primeval mood.

There’s still work to be done.

“We’re 80 meters into a 100-meter dash,” Shadle Park band director Kevin Hartse told the students. “We have to reach the tape.”

But he reminded them to have fun while doing what he calls the most complex show he’s ever done.

Central Valley’s marching band, led by Mark Tietjen, went with an Egyptian theme after listening to a variety of music last year, including a piece called “Hieroglyphics” by composer Key Poulan of California.

At first, the production focused on Anubis, the god of the dead who makes a journey to the underworld in the show, but the visual themes were toned down.

Not everyone’s a fan of all elements of Egyptian culture.

“We had some families that had some concerns that it wasn’t an appropriate subject,” Tietjen said.

The dark themes made some members of religious communities concerned, said people familiar with the decision to tone it down.

“Remember years ago when Lewis and Clark had that big blowup?” Tietjen said.

That year, community members took offense at the depiction of American Indians in a piece that partially re-enacted General George Custer’s last stand.

“The press got a hold of it, and everyone made a big stink about it,” Tietjen said. “We decided, heck, we don’t need all that aggravation and all that pain. It’s no big deal. It’s just musical theater.”

Regardless, the students will be able to embrace another culture through the music, Hartse said.