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John Erlich
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Hamza El Din's obituary from the San Francisco Chronicle:
Hamza El Din -- Nubian musician who played with Grateful Dead
- Jesse Hamlin, Chronicle Staff Writer
Friday, May 26, 2006
Hamza El Din, the celebrated Nubian musician whose rich fusion of Arabic and Nubian sounds entranced audiences worldwide and inspired colleagues like
the Grateful Dead and Kronos Quartet, died Monday at a Berkeley hospital from a gallbladder infection. He was 76.
A longtime Oakland resident, Mr. El Din was a subtle master of the oud, the Arabic precursor of the lute, and the tar, the single-skinned drum that
originated in Nubia, the ancient upper Nile land that was largely submerged after the Aswan Dam was built in the 1960s. Mr. El Din sought to preserve
his native culture, singing Nubian songs and stories in a warm, reedy voice that merged with his instrumental overtones to create music of quiet
intensity and beauty.
"It was mesmerizing. Hypnotic and trancelike,'' said Grateful Dead drummer Mickey Hart. "Hamza taught me about the romancing of the drum. His music
was very subtle and multilayered.
"He was a deep listener,'' added Hart, who practiced daily for six years to master the tar Mr. El Din gave him. Sometimes the music they played
together was so soft "we could hardly hear ourselves. He'd just suck you into this vortex, and all of a sudden what was quiet seemed loud in its
intensity. He suspended time.''
Mr. El Din, who created music for "The Black Stallion" and other films, first played with the Dead in '78 at Egypt's Great Pyramid of Giza and joined
the band a few months later at San Francisco's Winterland with a group of Sufi drummers. He was a serenely joyous man whose glowing black face was
framed by his flowing white garb and headdress.
"He was sweet, gentle soul,'' said Hart, who recalled that night at Winterland when Mr. El Din had the whole crowd clapping the 12-beat rhythm of the
Nubian number "Olin Arageed.'' "If you took the time to visit his sonic universe, he'd welcome you with open arms. It was a joyous experience. Jerry
(Garcia) just loved to play with him.''
So did Joan Jeanrenaud, the cellist who first met Mr. El Din in the 1980s when she was a member of the Kronos Quartet. It was in Tokyo, where he was
living and teaching at the time. He played his signature composition "Escalay: The Water Wheel'' for the group. "It was a heart-touching experience,''
said Jeanrenaud, who played with Mr. El Din many times, as a member of Kronos -- which featured "Escalay'' on its hit 1992 recording "Pieces of
Africa'' -- on Mr. El Din's discs and on her own.
"He put himself into the music so completely that when he played, it would take you away to another place. You went on a journey to this very
peaceful, emotional, beautiful place. He was a mentor to many of us.''
Born in Toskha, Nubia, in Egypt, Mr. El Din began playing oud while studying engineering at the University of Cairo. He also studied at the King Fouad
Institute of Middle Eastern Music. Learning of plans to build the Aswan Dam, he quit his engineering job in Cairo and set off to preserve Nubian music
before the people were dispersed. With his oud, an instrument unknown in Nubia, he traveled from village to village by donkey, gathering songs. He was
playing in traditional Arabic style; it wasn't until his music acquired a distinctly Nubian flavor that it caught on.
"One day I felt the oud had a Nubian accent,'' Mr. El Din told The Chronicle in 1995. "I played for people in my village and they were mesmerized. I
knew I had something.''
He had studied Western music at the Academy of Santa Celia in Rome, expanding his sense of harmony and musical form. After moving to the United
States, he taught at various universities and then settled in the Bay Area. At Mills College, he met the esteemed composer Terry Riley, who learned
something about understatement from a comment Mr. El Din made to him about singing softly.
"Through very simple means, Hamza could create a spell on an audience. His music spoke directly to the heart,'' said Riley, whose groundbreaking
minimalist music has some of the same hypnotic quality. "Audiences leaned in toward his music," he said. "It wasn't in their faces.''
Riley introduced Mr. El Din to Kronos. "He opened doors for a lot of people, doors between different forms of music,'' said Kronos violinist and
founder David Harrington. "We lost a great musician and a great man.''
Mr. El Din is survived by his wife, Nabra, of Oakland. A musical tribute is pending.
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DJdog
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I live in San Francisco. If you hear when a tribute is planned, I would greatly appreciate finding out about it. Steve Bayne(MRBAYNE@sbcglobal.net).
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John Erlich
Oud Junkie
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Hi Steve,
As soon as I hear anything about a public event for Hamza, I will post it.
Peace,
John
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John Erlich
Oud Junkie
Posts: 1463
Registered: 8-26-2004
Location: California, USA
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L.A. Time Obituary for Hama (slightly different info, especially birthplace!):
From the Los Angeles Times
OBITUARIES
Hamza El Din, 76; Musician Popularized North Africa's Ancient Traditional Songs
From Times Staff and Wire Reports
May 30, 2006
Hamza El Din, considered the father of Nubian music who helped expose the sounds of his North African homeland to a worldwide audience, has died. He
was 76.
El Din died May 22 at a hospital in Berkeley of complications from a gallbladder infection.
A composer and master of the oud, El Din became known to American audiences in the mid-1960s when he performed at the Newport Folk Festival and
recorded two albums for the Vanguard label.
His music drew the attention of such musicians as folk singer Joan Baez, the classical Kronos Quartet and the rock band the Grateful Dead. He
collaborated with the Kronos Quartet on the album "Pieces of Africa," and played with the Grateful Dead during its show at the Great Pyramids at Giza
in 1978.
Other collaborations followed, including one with director Peter Sellars for a version of the Aeschylus play "The Persians" at the Salzburg Festival.
Hamza's compositions also were performed by several ballet companies, including the Paris Opera Ballet and San Francisco Ballet.
Grateful Dead drummer Mickey Hart called El Din's music "mesmerizing, hypnotic and trance-like."
"Hamza taught me about the romancing of the drum," Hart told the San Francisco Chronicle. "His music was very subtle and multilayered."
El Din, who taught ethnomusicology at the University of Washington, Ohio University and University of Texas, lived for a time in Japan to study the
biwa, a Japanese lute.
Born in 1929 in the former Nubian town of Wadi Halfa in northern Sudan, El Din was an electrical engineering student at what is now the University of
Cairo when he took up the oud, an instrument similar to the lute, and the tar, a single-skinned frame drum from the Upper Nile.
At the news that his homeland would be part of the area to be flooded by Lake Nasser on the completion of the Aswan High Dam, El Din quit his
engineering studies and traveled the region by donkey to warn his people of the dislocation that would come about from the dam project.
He also acquired material for many of his songs. He wrote about love, childhood memories, a wedding and the water wheel in his home village.
By playing the oud, not a traditional Nubian instrument, he found ways to expand the boundaries of his native music.
He returned to Cairo to study Arabic music and later studied classical guitar and Western music in Rome at the Academy of Santa Cecilia.
Since the late 1960s, he has lived much of the time in the Bay Area and toured extensively. He offered quietly intense solo concerts and appeared at
major festivals throughout the world. He performed dressed in white robes and wore a white turban.
Critics say his most significant recordings were "Escalay: The Water Wheel," released in 1971, and "Eclipse," a 1982 release. His most recent album,
"A Wish," was released in 1999.
El Din's survivors include his wife, Nadra.
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Jameel
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I thought I would let a little time pass before I mentioned this, out of respect for Hamza and any of you who may be acquainted with him.
I'm concerned about the status of Hamza's Abdo Nahat oud. I would hate to see this incredible piece of history and art disappear into some closet or
dignitary's basement, so to speak. It should really be documented with measurements and some professional photographs. If there is anyone here that is
in a postion to pursue this, please contact me.
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Hosam
Oud Junkie
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While I am still thinking it is a little too early for this, I am sure that Mr. Hamza eldin may God rest his soul has left instructions what to do
with this timeless piece. By the way he used to take care of this oud, I can tell that collecting dust (again!) will not be the end of this unique
piece of art.
I would certainly love to see more detailed pictures and accurate measurements taken and published for this museum-quality oud. I have been preparing
for more than six month now for my first oud project which will be based on this oud. Thank you Jameel for your help during this phase.
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