Ammar Ali Mohamed Ibrahim Ali Al Sherei ( ar, عمار علي محمد إبراهيم علي الشريعي) or more commonly known as Ammar El Sherei (16 April 1948 – 7 December 2012) was an Egyptian music icon, performer and composer.

Early life and education

Sherei was born blind on 16 April 1948 in the village of Samalot, 25 km from Minya in

Upper Egypt Upper Egypt ( ar, صعيد مصر ', shortened to , , locally: ; ) is the southern portion of Egypt and is composed of the lands on both sides of the Nile that extend upriver from Lower Egypt in the north to Nubia in the south. In ancient E ...

, to a large family of Al Shereis. His father was the mayor of the village. His paternal grandfather was Muhammad Pasha Al Sherei, a member of the

Parliament of Egypt The Parliament of Egypt is the bicameral legislature of the Arab Republic of Egypt. It is composed of an upper house (the Senate) and a lower house (the House of Representatives). The Parliament is located in Cairo, Egypt's capital. Under t ...

during King Fouad I's reign, and his maternal grandfather was Mourad Al Sherei who was one of the companions of Saad Zaghloul during the revolution of 1919. His eldest brother, Muhammad Ali Muhammad Al Sherei, was the Egyptian ambassador to Australia. His family moved to Cairo when he was five years old. There he attended the Demonstration Centre for the Rehabilitation and Training of the Blind (DCRTB). He studied the English language and literature at the Faculty of Arts of

Ain Shams University Ain Shams University ( ar, جامعة عين شمس) is a public university located in Cairo, Egypt. Founded in 1950, the university provides education at the undergraduate, graduate and post-graduate levels. History Ain Shams University was ...

and graduated in 1970. He continued his studies in the US and in Britain. He attended

the Royal Academy of Music ''The'' () is a grammatical Article (grammar), article in English language, English, denoting persons or things already mentioned, under discussion, implied or otherwise presumed familiar to listeners, readers, or speakers. It is the definite ...

in London. He also received three PhDs, including one from the Sorbonne in France.

Career

After graduation, Sherei worked as an accordion musician. He performed in Cairo's nightclubs and then in the Golden Music Band that was a famous band at that time in Egypt. He became a composer in 1975. He played piano, harp, keyboard and oud. Sherei arranged and wrote soundtracks and scores for movies, television series and

soap opera A soap opera, or ''soap'' for short, is a typically long-running radio or television Serial (radio and television), serial, frequently characterized by melodrama, ensemble casts, and sentimentality. The term "soap opera" originated from radio drama ...

s. His notable television series include; ''

The Return of the Spirit The Return of the Spirit also known as The Soul Return ( arz, عودة الروح, aliases: Return of the Spirit or Return of Soul or The Return of Consciousness, translit: ''Awdat Al-Roh'', French: ''Retour de l'Esprit'') is a 1977 Egyptian ...

'' (1977). He was also host of a radio and television show, A Diver in A Sea of Tunes. He composed more than 150 songs for most of the leading music stars of the Arab World, including Warda,

Latifa Latifa or Lateefa is a feminine Arabic (لٓطِيفٓة) given name which means "gentle" or "pleasant". It corresponds to the masculine Latif. Notable persons Lateefa * Lateefa Al Gaood, Bahraini politician * Lateefah Simon, American activis ...

and Ali El Haggar. He was also an assistant professor at the Academy of Arts.

Personal life

Sherei married at the age of 43. He had a son.

Death and funeral

Sherei died of heart failure at the age of 64 at Cairo's Al Safa Hospital on 7 December 2012. His funeral was organized on the night of 10 December 2012 in Al Rahman Al Rehim mosque in Cairo with the attendance of several high-profile figures, government officials and artists.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Sherei, Ammar 20th-century Egyptian male musicians 21st-century Egyptian male musicians 1948 births 2012 deaths Ain Shams University alumni Alumni of the Royal Academy of Music Blind musicians Egyptian academics Egyptian composers Egyptian film score composers Egyptian musicians