Hamza El Din

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Hamza El Din
حمزة علاء الدين
Born(1929-07-10)July 10, 1929
Vocalist
Instrument(s)Oud, Tar (drum)
Years active1960s – 2000)
LabelsVanguard Records, King Records, Sounds True, Water Lily Acoustics
Websitewww.hamzaeldin.com

Hamza El Din (Arabic حمزة علاء الدين) (July 10, 1929 – May 22, 2006) was an Egyptian Nubian composer, oud player, tar player, and vocalist. He was born in southern Egypt and was an internationally known musician of his native region Nubia, situated on both sides of the Egypt–Sudan border. 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, the Kronos Quartet and the Grateful Dead.

Early life

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

governorate of Aswan,[1] 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
in the 1960s.

After working in

Nubian language
.

His performances attracted the attention of the Grateful Dead, Joan Baez, and Bob Dylan in the 1960s, which led to a recording contract and to his eventual emigration to the United States. In 1963, El Din shared an apartment in the San Francisco Bay Area with folk musician Sandy Bull.[2]

Career

Following his appearance at the

minimalist composers, such as Steve Reich and Terry Riley, as well as by Grateful Dead percussionist Mickey Hart.[1] He also performed with the Grateful Dead, most famously during their Egypt concerts of 1978.[1] In this period, he also mentored a number of musicians, including Sandy Bull and Windham Hill recording artist Scott Cossu. Later, he released albums for Lotus Records and Sounds True. In 1992, he performed with the Kronos Quartet on an arrangement of his piece Escalay on their album Pieces of Africa.[3] His pieces were often used in ballet performances and plays.[citation needed
]

El Din held a number of teaching positions on

biwa in Tokyo.[4] After that, he eventually settled down in Oakland, California. In 1999, he released his last album, A Wish, with Hani Naser
.

Death

El Din died on May 22, 2006, after complications following surgery for a gallbladder infection at a hospital in Berkeley, California.[3]

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
As sideman or guest artist

References

  1. ^ a b c Hamlin, Jesse (2006-05-26). "Hamza El Din -- Nubian musician who played with Grateful Dead". SFGate. Retrieved 2019-03-26.
  2. ISSN 0362-4331
    . Retrieved 2019-03-26.
  3. ^ . Retrieved 2019-03-26.
  4. ^ . Retrieved 2019-03-26.

External links

Obituaries

Video