About this concert
The first Aghani bel Arabi (“songs in Arabic”), the programme that became the choir’s second identity. Nayer Nagui arranged songs by Sayed Darwish (1892-1923), the father of modern Egyptian music, and by the composers Gamal Abdel Reheim and Awatef Abdel Kerim for mixed choir, giving well-loved Egyptian songs a concert-hall form. It was first heard in the lobby of the Cairo Opera House.
Programme
- Work
- Sayed Darwish, Gamal Abdel Reheim, Awatef Abdel Kerim, arr. Nayer Nagui
About the music
Sayed Darwish (1892–1923)
- Born in Alexandria in 1892, he died there in 1923, aged 31, and is called the father of Egyptian popular music.
- In barely a decade he wrote some 260 songs and 26 operettas.
- He set “Biladi, Biladi, Biladi”, now Egypt’s national anthem; his songs include “Salma Ya Salama”, “Ahu Da Illi Sar” and “El Helwa Di”.
Source (opens in a new tab) Gamal Abdel-Rahim (1924–1988)
- Studied composition in Germany with Harald Genzmer (1952–57).
- Founded the composition department of the Cairo Conservatory in 1971, the first in the Arab world.
- His music fuses traditional Egyptian elements with contemporary European writing.
Source (opens in a new tab) Awatef Abdel Karim (1931–2021)
- The first Egyptian woman to formally study composition.
- Led the composition and conducting department of the Cairo Conservatoire (1991–97), succeeding Gamal Abdel-Rahim, and received the State Merit Award in 2006.
Source (opens in a new tab) 