Origins and
the Revolution
Abdou Al-Hamouli and
Sayid Darwish
1882
To
1923
Abdou Al-Hamouli (1836-1901)
Modern Egyptian music traces its development to the reign of Khedive Isma’il Pasha. The taqtouqa, which was to play the most essential
role in that development, became the primary form of musical expression encouraged on by the royal
court and contributed to by not only Egyptian composers but by Turkish and Syrian musicians as well
The music would soon move away from its early pan-Arabian form to a distinctive new tonality.
Generally considered the primary figure of that early development, Abdou Al-Hamouli is the most
important Egyptian musician of the nineteenth century. Technically, Al-Hamouli would bring new
Maqams, such as Hijaz, Nahawand, Agam and Kurd, never before deployed in
the importance of incorporating elevated poetry by associating with the likes of Mahmoud Al Baroudi
and Isma’il Sabry. He was the first to compose for a Qasidah (Aby Ferass Al Hemdani’s
“Arak Asei Al Dam’a”). And, along with Salama Hegazy, he finalized the standard Egyptian Takht as
composed of Oud, Violin, Qanoun, Nay, Daf, Tabla and Rababa. It is Al Hamouli’s compositions
however that are his greatest legacy. These would heavily influence virtually all of the major Egyptian
composers of the late 19th and early 20th century and define the style of the major performers of that
same era. The second, and most pivotal, phase of the development of Egyptian Music, initiated by
Sayid Darwish, would not have come about without Abdou Al-Hamouli.
Sayid Darwish (1892-1923)
If Abdou Al Hamouli is credited with sowing the field of Egyptian music, then Sayid Darwish is its progenitor fruit. His influence on
Egyptian, as well as all Arabic music is without peer.
His compositions, written between 1917 and 1923 had a profound effect on all the great Egyptian
composers of the 1920’s, 1930’s and 1940’s. When one considers that it’s those three decades that
have effectively shaped Arabic music for the remainder of the 20th century, Al Sayid Darwish El
Bahr can be safely regarded as the father of modern Egyptian music.
Making a marked departure from the music of the previous fifty years, Darwish’s compositions are
simple, street-wise and approachable. No longer content with love as the sole appropriate topic for a
musical composition, Sayid Darwish’s works deal with every-day-life subject matter. Burning
with an imperative to articulate the anxiety, anguish, hopes and dreams of Egyptians, embroiled in a
struggle against internal social injustices as well as external resistance against colonialism, his works
became the anthems of an entire nation. The contemporary Egyptian poet Salah Jahin once said at a
gathering of the Sayid Darwish society that Sayid Darwish was the expression of a taut string,
plucked a thousand years ago.
In six short years, he wrote over 200 strikingly original compositions, invented a new Maqam and wrote 10 musicals which helped establish
the newly formed Naguib Al Rihani theater company as one of the first and most creative in Egyptian theater. Yet, his compositions are
rarely taught at Egyptian music conservatories. Instead he imbues the consciousness of any and all Egyptian composers.
