Hamza El Din (

Arabic Arabic (, ' ; , ' or ) is a Semitic languages, Semitic language spoken primarily across the Arab world.Semitic languages: an international handbook / edited by Stefan Weninger; in collaboration with Geoffrey Khan, Michael P. Streck, Janet C ...

حمزة علاء الدين) (July 10, 1929 – May 22, 2006) was an Egyptian

Nubian Nubian may refer to: *Something of, from, or related to Nubia, a region along the Nile river in Southern Egypt and northern Sudan. *Nubian people *Nubian languages *Anglo-Nubian goat, a breed of goat * Nubian ibex * , several ships of the Britis ...

composer,

oud , image=File:oud2.jpg , image_capt=Syrian oud made by Abdo Nahat in 1921 , background= , classification= * String instruments *Necked bowl lutes , hornbostel_sachs=321.321-6 , hornbostel_sachs_desc=Composite chordophone sounded with a plectrum , ...

player,

tar Tar is a dark brown or black viscous liquid of hydrocarbons and free carbon, obtained from a wide variety of organic materials through destructive distillation. Tar can be produced from coal, wood, petroleum, or peat. "a dark brown or black bit ...

player, and

vocalist Singing is the act of creating musical sounds with the voice. A person who sings is called a singer, artist or vocalist (in jazz and/or popular music). Singers perform music (arias, recitatives, songs, etc.) that can be sung with or without ...

. He was born in southern Egypt and was an internationally known musician of his native region

Nubia Nubia () (Nobiin: Nobīn, ) is a region along the Nile river encompassing the area between the first cataract of the Nile (just south of Aswan in southern Egypt) and the confluence of the Blue and White Niles (in Khartoum in central Sudan), or ...

, situated on both sides of the

Egypt–Sudan border The Egypt– Sudan border ( ar, الحدود السودانية المصرية) is 1,276 km (793 mi) in length and runs from the tripoint with Libya in the west to the Red Sea in the east. The eastern section of the border is subject to a ter ...

. After musical studies in Cairo, he lived and studied in Italy, Japan and the United States. El Din collaborated with a wide variety of musical performers, including

Sandy Bull Alexander "Sandy" Bull (February 25, 1941 – April 11, 2001) was an American folk musician and composer. Bull was an accomplished player of many stringed instruments, including guitar, pedal steel guitar, banjo, and oud. His early work blends no ...

, the

Kronos Quartet The Kronos Quartet is an American string quartet based in San Francisco. It has been in existence with a rotating membership of musicians for almost 50 years. The quartet covers a very broad range of musical genres, including contemporary classic ...

and the

Grateful Dead The Grateful Dead was an American rock music, rock band formed in 1965 in Palo Alto, California. The band is known for its eclectic style, which fused elements of rock, Folk music, folk, country music, country, jazz, bluegrass music, bluegrass, ...

Early life

Born in the village of Toshka in Southern Egypt, in the

governorate A governorate is an administrative division of a state. It is headed by a governor. As English-speaking nations tend to call regions administered by governors either State (administrative division), states or province, provinces, the term ''govern ...

of Aswan, El Din was originally trained to be an electrical engineer. Like much of Egyptian Nubia, his home village of Toshka was flooded due to the construction of the

Aswan High Dam The Aswan Dam, or more specifically since the 1960s, the Aswan High Dam, is one of the world's largest embankment dams, which was built across the Nile in Aswan, Egypt, between 1960 and 1970. Its significance largely eclipsed the previous Aswan Lo ...

in the 1960s. After working in

Cairo Cairo ( ; ar, القاهرة, al-Qāhirah, ) is the capital of Egypt and its largest city, home to 10 million people. It is also part of the largest urban agglomeration in Africa, the Arab world and the Middle East: The Greater Cairo metro ...

for the

Egyptian national railways Egyptian National Railways (ENR; ar, السكك الحديدية المصرية, Al-Sikak al-Ḥadīdiyyah al-Miṣriyyah) is the national railway of Egypt and managed by the parastatal Egyptian Railway Authority (ERA; ar, الهيئة الق� ...

, he changed direction and began to study music at the

Cairo University Cairo University ( ar, جامعة القاهرة, Jāmi‘a al-Qāhira), also known as the Egyptian University from 1908 to 1940, and King Fuad I University and Fu'ād al-Awwal University from 1940 to 1952, is Egypt's premier public university ...

, and later continued his studies at the

Accademia Nazionale di Santa Cecilia The Accademia Nazionale di Santa Cecilia ( en, National Academy of St Cecilia) is one of the oldest musical institutions in the world, founded by the papal bull ''Ratione congruit'', issued by Sixtus V in 1585, which invoked two saints prom ...

Rome , established_title = Founded , established_date = 753 BC , founder = King Romulus (legendary) , image_map = Map of comune of Rome (metropolitan city of Capital Rome, region Lazio, Italy).svg , map_caption ...

. He also studied at Ibrahim Shafiq's Institute of Music and the King Fouad Institute for Middle Eastern Music, and traveled in Egypt on a government grant, collecting folksongs. El Din played the oud, the short-necked Arabian lute, as well as traditional percussion, and accompanied his compositions singing both in local Arabic and his native

Nubian language The Nubian languages ( ar, لُغَات نُوبِيّة, lughāt nūbiyyah) are a group of related languages spoken by the Nubians. They form a branch of the Eastern Sudanic languages, which is part of the wider Nilo-Saharan phylum. Initially, ...

. His performances attracted the attention of the

Joan Baez Joan Chandos Baez (; born January 9, 1941) is an American singer, songwriter, musician, and activist. Her contemporary folk music often includes songs of protest and social justice. Baez has performed publicly for over 60 years, releasing more ...

, and

Bob Dylan Bob Dylan (legally Robert Dylan, born Robert Allen Zimmerman, May 24, 1941) is an American singer-songwriter. Often regarded as one of the greatest songwriters of all time, Dylan has been a major figure in popular culture during a career sp ...

in the 1960s, which led to a recording contract and to his eventual

emigration Emigration is the act of leaving a resident country or place of residence with the intent to settle elsewhere (to permanently leave a country). Conversely, immigration describes the movement of people into one country from another (to permanentl ...

to the

United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territorie ...

. In 1963, El Din shared an apartment in the San Francisco Bay Area with folk musician

Career

Following his appearance at the

Newport Folk Festival Newport Folk Festival is an annual American folk-oriented music festival in Newport, Rhode Island, which began in 1959 as a counterpart to the Newport Jazz Festival. It was one of the first modern music festivals in America, and remains a foca ...

in 1964, he recorded two albums for

Vanguard Records Vanguard Recording Society is an American record label set up in 1950 by brothers Maynard and Seymour Solomon in New York City. It was a primarily classical label at its peak in the 1950s and 1960s, but also has a catalogue of recordings by a n ...

, released 1964–65. His 1971 recording ''Escalay: The Water Wheel'', published by

Nonesuch Records Nonesuch Records is an American record company and label owned by Warner Music Group, distributed by Warner Records (formerly called Warner Bros. Records), and based in New York City. Founded by Jac Holzman in 1964 as a budget classical label, Non ...

and produced by

Mickey Hart Mickey Hart (born Michael Steven Hartman, September 11, 1943) is an American percussionist. He is best known as one of the two drummers of the rock band Grateful Dead. He was a member of the Grateful Dead from September 1967 until February 19 ...

, has been recognized as one of the first world music recordings to gain wide release in the West, and was claimed as an influence by some American

minimalist composers In visual arts, music and other media, minimalism is an art movement that began in post–World War II in Western art, most strongly with American visual arts in the 1960s and early 1970s. Prominent artists associated with minimalism include Don ...

, such as

Steve Reich Stephen Michael Reich ( ; born October 3, 1936) is an American composer known for his contribution to the development of minimal music in the mid to late 1960s. Reich's work is marked by its use of repetitive figures, slow harmonic rhythm, a ...

and

Terry Riley Terrence Mitchell "Terry" Riley (born June 24, 1935) is an American composer and performing musician best known as a pioneer of the minimalist school of composition. Influenced by jazz and Indian classical music, his music became notable for it ...

, as well as by Grateful Dead percussionist Mickey Hart. He also performed with the Grateful Dead, most famously during their Egypt concerts of 1978. In this period, he also mentored a number of musicians, including

and

Windham Hill Windham Hill Records was an independent record label that specialized in instrumental acoustic music. It was founded by guitarist William Ackerman and Anne Robinson (née McGilvray) in 1976 and was popular in the 1980s and 1990s. The label was ...

recording artist

Scott Cossu Scott Cossu is an American New-age music, new-age pianist. He released a large number of albums on Windham Hill between 1980 and 1992, some to considerable sales success: 1987's ''She Describes Infinity'' reached number 24 on the U.S. Billboard ma ...

. Later, he released albums for Lotus Records and

Sounds True In physics, sound is a vibration that propagates as an acoustic wave, through a transmission medium such as a gas, liquid or solid. In human physiology and psychology, sound is the ''reception'' of such waves and their ''perception'' by the ...

. In 1992, he performed with the

on an arrangement of his piece ''Escalay'' on their album

Pieces of Africa ''Pieces of Africa'' is a 1992 studio album by the Kronos Quartet, containing works commissioned by the quartet, written by seven African composers. Track listing Critical reception According to AllMusic the Quartet avoids cultural imperialism ...

. His pieces were often used in

ballet Ballet () is a type of performance dance that originated during the Italian Renaissance in the fifteenth century and later developed into a concert dance form in France and Russia. It has since become a widespread and highly technical form of ...

performances and plays. El Din held a number of teaching positions on

ethnomusicology Ethnomusicology is the study of music from the cultural and social aspects of the people who make it. It encompasses distinct theoretical and methodical approaches that emphasize cultural, social, material, cognitive, biological, and other dim ...

in the United States between the 1970s until the 1990s. Some of these included

Ohio University Ohio University is a Public university, public research university in Athens, Ohio. The first university chartered by an Act of Congress and the first to be chartered in Ohio, the university was chartered in 1787 by the Congress of the Confeder ...

University of Washington The University of Washington (UW, simply Washington, or informally U-Dub) is a public research university in Seattle, Washington. Founded in 1861, Washington is one of the oldest universities on the West Coast; it was established in Seattle a ...

, and the

University of Texas at Austin The University of Texas at Austin (UT Austin, UT, or Texas) is a public research university in Austin, Texas. It was founded in 1883 and is the oldest institution in the University of Texas System. With 40,916 undergraduate students, 11,075 ...

. In the 1980s, he moved to Japan to study the

biwa The is a Japanese short-necked wooden lute traditionally used in narrative storytelling. The is a plucked string instrument that first gained popularity in China before spreading throughout East Asia, eventually reaching Japan sometime duri ...

Tokyo Tokyo (; ja, 東京, , ), officially the Tokyo Metropolis ( ja, 東京都, label=none, ), is the capital and largest city of Japan. Formerly known as Edo, its metropolitan area () is the most populous in the world, with an estimated 37.468 ...

. After that, he eventually settled down in

Oakland Oakland is the largest city and the county seat of Alameda County, California, United States. A major West Coast port, Oakland is the largest city in the East Bay region of the San Francisco Bay Area, the third largest city overall in the Bay A ...

, California. In 1999, he released his last album, ''A Wish'', with

Hani Naser Hani Naser ( ar, هاني ناصر; March 2, 1950 – November 16, 2020) was a Jordanian-American musician. He specialized in the oud and hand percussion instruments, particularly the goblet drum and djembe. Naser was considered by critics to be ...

Death

El Din died on May 22, 2006, after complications following surgery for a

gallbladder In vertebrates, the gallbladder, also known as the cholecyst, is a small hollow organ where bile is stored and concentrated before it is released into the small intestine. In humans, the pear-shaped gallbladder lies beneath the liver, although ...

infection at a hospital in

Berkeley, California Berkeley ( ) is a city on the eastern shore of San Francisco Bay in northern Alameda County, California, United States. It is named after the 18th-century Irish bishop and philosopher George Berkeley. It borders the cities of Oakland and Emer ...

Discography

;Albums *1964 – ''Music of Nubia'' (Vanguard) *1965 – ''Al Oud'' (Vanguard) *1971 – ''Escalay: The Water Wheel'' (Nonesuch) *1978 – ''Eclipse'' *1982 – ''A Song of the Nile'' *1990 – ''Journey'' *1990 – ''Nubiana Suite: Live in Tokyo'' *1995 – ''Lily of the Nile'' *1996 – ''Available Sound: Darius'' *1996 – ''Muwashshah'' *1999 – ''A Wish'' ;Contributing artist *1965 – ''The Newport Folk Festival 1964 - Evening Concerts, Vol. 2'' (Vanguard) *1987 - ''Robinson’s Garden'', OST (1ℓ Records) *1997 - ''

The Rough Guide to the Music of North Africa ''The Rough Guide to the Music of North Africa'' is a world music compilation album originally released in 1997. Part of the World Music Network Rough Guides series, the album contains five Algerian tracks, five Egyptian, two Sudanese, and two ...

'' (

World Music Network World Music Network is a UK-based record label specializing in world music. The World Music Network website features news, reviews, live music listings, and guide sections on world music. It also features an online "Battle of the Bands" compet ...

) *1998 - ''

Passion in the Desert ''Passion in the Desert'', or ''Simoom: A Passion in the Desert'', is a 1997 film from director Lavinia Currier based on the 1830 short story "Une passion dans le désert, A Passion in the Desert" by Honoré de Balzac. The film follows the ventures ...

'', OST (RCA Victor) *2006 - ''

Babel Babel is a name used in the Hebrew Bible for the city of Babylon and may refer to: Arts and media Written works Books *Babel (book), ''Babel'' (book), by Patti Smith * Babel (2012 manga), ''Babel'' (2012 manga), by Narumi Shigematsu * Babel (20 ...

'', OST (Concord) ;As sideman or guest artist *1964 - '' Spellbound'',

Ahmed Abdul-Malik Ahmed Abdul-Malik (born Jonathan Tim, Jr.; January 30, 1927 – October 2, 1993) was an American jazz double bassist and oud player. Abdul-Malik is remembered for integrating Middle Eastern and North African music styles in his jazz music.Kelsey ...

(Status) *1978 - '' Rocking the Cradle: Egypt 1978'',

The Grateful Dead The Grateful Dead was an American rock music, rock band formed in 1965 in Palo Alto, California. The band is known for its eclectic style, which fused elements of rock, Folk music, folk, country music, country, jazz, bluegrass music, bluegrass, ...

, released 2008 *1978 - '' Road Trips Volume 1 Number 4'', The Grateful Dead, released 2008 *1992 - ''

'',

The Kronos Quartet The Kronos Quartet is an American string quartet based in San Francisco. It has been in existence with a rotating membership of musicians for almost 50 years. The quartet covers a very broad range of musical genres, including contemporary class ...

(Nonesuch) *1995 - ''Venus Square Mars (Music For The Deep Night)'', David Philipson &

Mark Nauseef Mark Nauseef (born June 11, 1953), in Cortland, New York, is a drummer and percussionist who has enjoyed a varied career, ranging from rock music during the 1970s with his time as a member of the Ian Gillan Band and, temporarily with Thin Li ...

(MA Recordings)

References

External links

Official website
*

Allmusic biography AllMusic (previously known as All Music Guide and AMG) is an American online music database. It catalogs more than three million album entries and 30 million tracks, as well as information on musicians and bands. Initiated in 1991, the databas ...

Afropop bio

World Music Central biography

Obituaries

May 25, 2006
Obituary from the ''San Francisco Chronicle''
May 26, 2006
Obituary from the ''Los Angeles Times''
May 30, 2006

May 30, 2006

- In Memoriam: Hamza El-Din, May 25, 2006

Video

from Robert Garfias site {{DEFAULTSORT:El Din, Hamza Egyptian oud players Tar drum players Egyptian composers Egyptian people of Nubian descent Accademia Nazionale di Santa Cecilia alumni 1929 births 2006 deaths Nubian people