Modern Heliopolis Modern Heliopolis Modern Heliopolis ' onMouseout='HidePop("39840")' href="http://www.absoluteastronomy.com/topics/Cairo_University">Cairo University
Cairo University is an institute of higher education located in Giza, Egypt....
) in 1945 with a degree in
agricultural engineeringAgricultural engineering is the engineering discipline that applies engineering science and technology to agricultural production and processing. Agricultural engineering combines the disciplines of animal biology, plant biology, and mechanical, civil and chemical engineering principles with a...
, while also studying, performing, and composing music on an informal basis. Although his main income was derived from his job as an agricultural consultant, he achieved recognition in Egypt from the mid- to late 1940s for his innovative compositions and piano technique. Following a well received 1949 performance at the All Saints Cathedral in Cairo, he was invited by an official of the U.S. embassy to study in the United States.
Move to the United States
Coming to the United States in 1950 on a
FulbrightThe Fulbright Program, including the Fulbright-Hays Program, is a program of grants for international educational exchange for scholars, educators, graduate students and professionals, founded by United States Senator J. William Fulbright....
fellowship (as expanded to include Egypt via the
Smith-Mundt ActThe US Information and Educational Exchange Act of 1948 , popularly referred to as the Smith-Mundt Act, specifies the terms in which the United States government can engage in public diplomacy....
of 1948), El-Dabh studied composition with
John Donald RobbJohn Donald Robb was an American composer, ethnomusicologist, arts administrator, and attorney from New Mexico. He was a professor at the University of New Mexico in Albuquerque, New Mexico, and served as Dean of the university's College of Fine Arts from 1942 to 1957...
and
Ernst KrenekErnst Krenek was an Austrian and—from 1945—American composer. He explored atonality and other modern styles and wrote a number of books, including Music Here and Now , a study of Johannes Ockeghem , and Horizons Circled: Reflections on my Music .- Life :Krenek was born in Vienna as the son of a...
at the
University of New MexicoThe University of New Mexico is a public university in Albuquerque, New Mexico, USA. Founded in 1889, it offers bachelor's, master's, doctoral, and professional degree programs in the arts, sciences, and engineering...
; with
Francis Judd CookeFrancis Judd Cooke was an American composer, organist, cellist, pianist, conductor, choir director, and professor....
at the
New England Conservatory of MusicThe New England Conservatory in Boston, Massachusetts, is the oldest independent conservatory in the United States.The conservatory is home each year to 750 students pursuing undergraduate and graduate studies along with 1400 more in its Preparatory School as well as the School of Continuing...
; with
Aaron CoplandAaron Copland was an American composer of concert and film music, as well as an accomplished pianist. Instrumental in forging a distinctly American style of composition, he was widely known as "the dean of American composers". Copland's music achieved a balance between modern music and American...
,
Irving FineIrving Gifford Fine was an American composer. Fine's work assimilated neo-classical, romantic and, later, serial elements...
, and
Luigi DallapiccolaLuigi Dallapiccola was an Italian composer known for his lyrical twelve-tone compositions.-Biography:Dallapiccola was born at Pisino d'Istria , to Italian parents....
at the
Berkshire Music CenterTanglewood is an estate and music venue in Lenox and Stockbridge, Massachusetts and is the home of the annual summer Tanglewood Music Festival and the Tanglewood Jazz Festival. It has been the Boston Symphony Orchestra's summer home since 1937.- History :...
; and with
Irving FineIrving Gifford Fine was an American composer. Fine's work assimilated neo-classical, romantic and, later, serial elements...
at
Brandeis UniversityBrandeis University is a private research university with a liberal arts focus, located in Waltham, Massachusetts, United States. It is located in the southwestern corner of Waltham, nine miles west of Boston. The University has an enrollment of approximately 3,200 undergraduate and 2,100 graduate...
.
El-Dabh soon became a part of the New York new music scene of the 1950s, alongside such like-minded composers as
Henry CowellHenry Cowell was an American composer, music theorist, pianist, teacher, publisher, and impresario. His contribution to the world of music was summed up by Virgil Thomson, writing in the early 1950s:...
,
John CageJohn Milton Cage Jr. was an American composer, philosopher, poet, music theorist, artist, printmaker, and amateur mycologist and mushroom collector. A pioneer of chance music, electronic music and non-standard use of musical instruments, Cage was one of the leading figures of the post-war...
,
Edgard VarèseEdgard Victor Achille Charles Varèse, whose name was also spelled Edgar Varèse , was an innovative French-born composer who spent the greater part of his career in the United States....
,
Alan HovhanessAlan Hovhaness was an American composer of Armenian and Scottish ancestry.His music is accessible to the lay listener and often evokes a mood of mystery or contemplation...
, and
Peggy Glanville-HicksPeggy Glanville-Hicks was an Australian composer.- Biography :Peggy Glanville-Hicks was born Melbourne in 1912. At age 15 she began studying composition with Fritz Hart in Melbourne...
. He obtained U.S. citizenship in 1961.
Among El-Dabh's works are four ballet scores for
Martha GrahamMartha Graham was an American dancer and choreographer regarded as one of the foremost pioneers of modern dance, whose influence on dance can be compared to the influence Stravinsky had on music, Picasso had on the visual arts, or Frank Lloyd Wright had on architecture...
, including her masterpiece
Clytemnestra (1958), as well as
One More Gaudy Night (1961),
A Look at Lightning (1962), and
Lucifer (1975). Many of his compositions draw on Ancient Egyptian themes or texts, and one such work is his orchestral/choral score for the
Sound and LightSon et lumière , or a sound and light show is a form of nighttime entertainment that is usually presented in an outdoor venue of historic significance. Special lighting effects are projected onto the façade of a building or ruin and synchronized with recorded or live narration and music to...
show at the site of the Pyramids at
GizaGiza is most famous as the location of the Giza Plateau: the site of some of the most impressive ancient monuments in the world, including a complex of ancient Egyptian royal mortuary and sacred structures, including the Great Sphinx, the Great Pyramid of Giza, and a number of other large pyramids...
, which has been performed there each evening since 1961.
El-Dabh's primary instruments are the piano and
darabukhaThe goblet drum is a goblet shaped hand drum used mostly in Arabic, Assyrian, Persian, Balkan, Greek, Armenian, Azeri and Turkish music. Its thin, responsive drumhead and resonance help it produce a distinctively crisp sound...
(an Egyptian goblet- or vase-shaped hand drum with a body made of fire-hardened clay), and consequently many of his works are composed for these instruments. In 1958 he performed the demanding solo part in the New York City premiere of his
Fantasia-Tahmeel for darabukha and string orchestra (probably the first orchestral work to feature this instrument), with an orchestra under the direction of
Leopold StokowskiLeopold Stokowski was a famous orchestral conductor, well known for his free-hand performing style that spurned the traditional baton and for obtaining a characteristically sumptuous sound from many of the great orchestras he conducted.In America, Stokowski performed with the Cincinnati Symphony...
. In 1959 he composed several works for an ensemble of percussion instruments from India, for the
New York Percussion TrioThe New York Percussion Trio was a three-member musical group consisting of two percussionists and one pianist, active in the New York City area from the early 1950s until the mid-1970s....
.
Also a pioneer in the field of
electronic musicElectronic music is music that employs electronic musical instruments and electronic music technology in its production. In general a distinction can be made between sound produced using electromechanical means and that produced using electronic technology. Examples of electromechanical sound...
, El-Dabh first conducted experiments in sound manipulation with
wire recordersWire recording is a type of analogue audio storage in which the recording is made onto thin steel or stainless steel wire.-History:The first wire recorder was the Valdemar Poulsen Telegraphone of the late 1890s, and wire recorders for law/office dictation and telephone recording were made almost...
in Cairo in 1944. In 1959, he was invited by
Otto LueningOtto Clarence Luening was a German-American composer and conductor, and an early pioneer of tape music and electronic music....
and
Vladimir UssachevskyVladimir Kirilovitch Ussachevsky was a composer, particularly known for his work in electronic music.-Biography:...
to work at the
Columbia-Princeton Electronic Music CenterThe Computer Music Center at Columbia University is the oldest center for electronic and computer music research in the United States. The Center was founded in the 1950s as the Columbia-Princeton Electronic Music Center....
. He worked there sporadically until 1961, creating several tape works including at least two in collaboration with Luening. His electronic drama
Leiyla and the Poet (released in 1964 on the LP
Columbia-Princeton Electronic Music CenterColumbia-Princeton Electronic Music Center was an album of electronic music released in 1961. It was the recording of a concert performed at the McMillin Theatre at Columbia University on May 9 and 10, 1961. The stereo version was MS 6566 and the monophonic version was ML 5966...
) is considered a classic of the genre. A definitive collection of El-Dabh's electronic work was restored by
Mike HovancsekMike Hovancsek is a multi-instrumentalist, visual artist, and writer from Kent, Ohio, United States. He collaborated with Egyptian composer Halim El-Dabh since the late 1980s , and is a former member of the multicultural experimental group, Pointless Orchestra...
. This CD, titled
Crossing into the Electric-Magnetic, includes a collaboration with
Otto LueningOtto Clarence Luening was a German-American composer and conductor, and an early pioneer of tape music and electronic music....
, environmental recordings, and wire recordings that the liner notes cite as "arguably the earliest example of electronic music."
Like
Béla BartókBéla Viktor János Bartók was a Hungarian composer and pianist, considered to be one of the greatest composers of the 20th century, and regarded, along with Liszt, as his country's greatest composer...
before him, El-Dabh has also conducted numerous research trips in various nations, recording and otherwise documenting traditional musics and using the results to enrich his compositions and teaching. From 1959 to 1964 the most significant of these trips included investigations of the musics across the length and breadth of
EgyptEgypt , officially the Arab Republic of Egypt, is a country mainly in North Africa, with the Sinai Peninsula forming a land bridge in Western Asia...
and
EthiopiaEthiopia , officially the Federal Democratic Republic of Ethiopia, is a landlocked country situated in the Horn of Africa. Ethiopia is bordered by Eritrea to the north, Sudan to the west, Kenya to the south, Somalia to the east and Djibouti to the northeast. Its size is 1,100,000 km² with an...
, with later fieldwork being conducted in
MaliMali, officially the Republic of Mali , is a landlocked nation in Western Africa. Mali is the seventh largest country in Africa, bordering Algeria on the north, Niger on the east, Burkina Faso and the Côte d'Ivoire on the south, Guinea on the south-west, and Senegal and Mauritania on the west...
,
SenegalSenegal , officially the Republic of Senegal, is a country south of the Sénégal River in western Africa. Senegal is bounded by the Atlantic Ocean to the west, Mauritania to the north, Mali to the east, and Guinea and Guinea-Bissau to the south, and it also encircles The Gambia on its three sides,...
,
NigerNiger , officially the Republic of Niger is a landlocked country in Western Africa, named after the Niger River. It borders Nigeria and Benin to the south, Burkina Faso and Mali to the west, Algeria and Libya to the north and Chad to the east...
,
GuineaGuinea, officially Republic of Guinea , is a country in West Africa formerly known as French Guinea . The country's current population is estimated at 10,211,437 ....
,
ZaireThe Republic of Zaire was the name of the present Democratic Republic of the Congo between 27 October 1971, and 17 May 1997. The name of Zaire derives from the , itself an adaptation of the Kongo word nzere or nzadi, or "the river that swallows all rivers".Known as the Belgian Congo up until its...
,
BrazilBrazil , officially the Federative Republic of Brazil , is a country in South America. It is the fifth largest country by geographical area, occupying nearly half of South America, the fifth most populous country, and the fourth most populous democracy in the world. Bounded by the Atlantic Ocean...
, and several other nations. During the 1970s, El-Dabh served as a consultant to the Smithsonian Institution and conducted research on the traditional puppetry of
EgyptEgypt , officially the Arab Republic of Egypt, is a country mainly in North Africa, with the Sinai Peninsula forming a land bridge in Western Asia...
and
GuineaGuinea, officially Republic of Guinea , is a country in West Africa formerly known as French Guinea . The country's current population is estimated at 10,211,437 ....
.
El-Dabh served as associate professor of music at Haile Selassie I University (now
Addis Ababa UniversityAddis Ababa University is a university in Ethiopia. It was originally named "University College of Addis Ababa" at its founding, then renamed for the former Ethiopian emperor Haile Selassie I in 1962, receiving its current name in 1975....
) in
Addis AbabaAddis Ababa is the capital city of Ethiopia...
,
EthiopiaEthiopia , officially the Federal Democratic Republic of Ethiopia, is a landlocked country situated in the Horn of Africa. Ethiopia is bordered by Eritrea to the north, Sudan to the west, Kenya to the south, Somalia to the east and Djibouti to the northeast. Its size is 1,100,000 km² with an...
, professor of African studies at
Howard UniversityHoward University is a federally chartered, non-profit, private, coeducational, nonsectarian, historically black university located in Washington, D.C., United States....
(1966-69), and professor of music and
pan-AfricanPan-Africanism is a sociopolitical world view, philosophy, and movement which seeks to unify native Africans and members of the African diaspora into a "global African community"...
studies at
Kent State UniversityKent State University is a public research university located in Kent, Ohio, USA. The university has eight campuses around the northeast Ohio region with the main campus in Kent being the largest...
(1969-91); he continues to teach courses in African studies there on a part-time basis. Among the awards and honors he has received are two
FulbrightThe Fulbright Program, including the Fulbright-Hays Program, is a program of grants for international educational exchange for scholars, educators, graduate students and professionals, founded by United States Senator J. William Fulbright....
awards (1950 and 1967), three
MacDowell ColonyThe MacDowell Colony is an art colony in Peterborough, New Hampshire, founded in 1907 by Marian MacDowell, pianist and wife of composer Edward MacDowell. She established the institution and its endowment chiefly with donated funds...
residencies (1954, 1956, and 1957), two
Guggenheim FellowshipGuggenheim Fellowships are American grants that have been awarded annually since 1925 by the John Simon Guggenheim Memorial Foundation to those "who have demonstrated exceptional capacity for productive scholarship or exceptional creative ability in the arts." Each year, the foundation makes...
s (1959-60 and 1961-62), two Rockefeller Foundation fellowships (1961 and 2001), a Meet-the-Composer grant (1999), an
Ohio Arts CouncilThe Ohio Arts Council is an agency serving the U.S. state of Ohio.Established in 1965, its mission is to "foster and encourage the development of the arts and assist the preservation of Ohio's cultural heritage." Each year it awards grants to arts organizations and individuals throughout the state...
grant (2000), and two honorary doctorates (Kent State University, 2001; and New England Conservatory, 2007).
El-Dabh is probably the best known composer of Arabic descent and his works are highly regarded in Egypt, where he is considered the foremost living composer among that nation's "second generation" of contemporary composers. He was invited back to his homeland in April 2002 for a festival of his music at the newly constructed
Bibliotheca AlexandrinaThe Bibliotheca Alexandrina is a major library and cultural center located on the shore of the Mediterranean Sea in the Egyptian city of Alexandria...
in Alexandria, Egypt; most of the compositions presented were heard by the Egyptian public for the first time.
Many of El-Dabh's scores are published by the C. F. Peters Corporation and his music has been recorded by the
FolkwaysFolkways Records is a record label that documents folk and world music. It is now owned by the Smithsonian Institution.-History:The Folkways Records & Service Co. was founded by Moses Asch and Marian Distler in 1948 in New York City. Asch sought to record and document sound from the entire world....
and Columbia labels. The first biography of the composer,
The Musical World of Halim El-Dabh by Denise A. Seachrist, was published by the Kent State University Press in 2003.
He has been a frequent performer and speaker at both the WinterStar Symposium and the
Starwood FestivalThe Starwood Festival is a six-day Neo-Pagan, New Age, multi-cultural and world music festival presented in mid- to late July, currently in Sherman, New York. Approximately 1,500 people attend including staff, speakers and entertainers. The Starwood Festival is a camping event which holds workshops...
, where he performed with life-long friend and master drummer
Babatunde OlatunjiBabatunde Olatunji was a Nigerian drummer, educator, social activist and recording artist.- Biography :Olatunji was born in the village of Ajido, a small town near Badagry, Lagos State, in southwestern Nigeria. A member of the Yoruba people, Olatunji was introduced to traditional African music at...
in 1997, and where El-Dabh's concert of traditional sacred African music was recorded in 2002. In 2003 he was part of a three-day tribute to the late Olatunji called the SpiritDrum Festival, with
Muruga BookerMuruga Booker is an American drummer, recording artist, and Greek Orthodox Priest.- Biography :...
,
Badal RoyBadal Roy is a tabla player, percussionist, and recording artist known for his work in jazz, world music, and experimental music.-Biography:...
,
Sikiru AdepojuSikiru Adepoju is a percussionist and recording artist from Nigeria, primarily in the genres of traditional African music and world music. He plays a variety of instruments and styles.- Background :...
, Jeff Rosenbaum, and
Jim DonovanJim Donovan is a professional drummer and percussionist, a recording artist, writer, teacher and lecturer. He is best known as the drummer and one of the founding members of the band Rusted Root. He plays both standard drum kit and African hand drums such as the djembe, ashiko and talking drum...
of
Rusted RootRusted Root is a band from Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania known for their fusion of Grateful Dead style bluegrass rock with a strong percussion section that draws from African, Latin American, Native American, Indian influences.-History:...
http://murugabooker.com/ace.html. In 2005 he performed and ran workshops at Unyazi 2005 in
JohannesburgJohannesburg also known as Jozi or Jo'burg, is the largest city in South Africa. Johannesburg is the provincial capital of Gauteng, the wealthiest province in South Africa, having the largest economy of any metropolitan region in Sub-Saharan Africa...
http://www.southafrica.info/what_happening/conf_expo/unyazi2005.htm, which was the first electronic music symposium and festival to be hosted in Africa.
He lives with his wife in Kent, Ohio, and has three grown children.
Audio
- 1957 - Sounds of New Music. New York: Folkways
Folkways Records is a record label that documents folk and world music. It is now owned by the Smithsonian Institution.-History:The Folkways Records & Service Co. was founded by Moses Asch and Marian Distler in 1948 in New York City. Asch sought to record and document sound from the entire world....
.
- 1964 - Columbia-Princeton Electronic Music Center. New York: Columbia Masterworks.
- 1989 - The Self in Transformation: A Panel Discussion. Cassette tape: Features Donald Michael Kraig
Donald Michael Kraig is an occult author and ceremonial magician. He graduated from UCLA with a degree in philosophy and studied public speaking and music at other colleges and universities. After a decade of personal study and practice, he taught courses in Southern California on topics including...
, Jeff Rosenbaum, Joseph Rothenberg, and Robert Anton WilsonRobert Anton Wilson became, at various times, an American novelist, essayist, philosopher, polymath, psychonaut, futurist, libertarian and self-described agnostic mystic...
. ACEThe Association for Consciousness Exploration LLC is an American organization based in Northeastern Ohio which produces events, books, and recorded media in the fields of "magic, mind-sciences, alternative lifestyles, comparative religion/spirituality, entertainment, holistic healing, and related...
.
- 2000 - Gilbertson, Nancy. Mediterranean Magic. Moravia, New York: Nancy Cody Gilbertson. Includes Mekta' in the Art of Kita, Book 3.
- 2000 - Olatunji Live at Starwood - Babatunde Olatunji
Babatunde Olatunji was a Nigerian drummer, educator, social activist and recording artist.- Biography :Olatunji was born in the village of Ajido, a small town near Badagry, Lagos State, in southwestern Nigeria. A member of the Yoruba people, Olatunji was introduced to traditional African music at...
& Drums of Passion (guest Halim El-Dabh). CD: Recorded at the 17th Starwood FestivalThe Starwood Festival is a six-day Neo-Pagan, New Age, multi-cultural and world music festival presented in mid- to late July, currently in Sherman, New York. Approximately 1,500 people attend including staff, speakers and entertainers. The Starwood Festival is a camping event which holds workshops...
in July 1997. ACEThe Association for Consciousness Exploration LLC is an American organization based in Northeastern Ohio which produces events, books, and recorded media in the fields of "magic, mind-sciences, alternative lifestyles, comparative religion/spirituality, entertainment, holistic healing, and related...
- 2001 - El-Dabh, Halim. Crossing Into the Electric Magnetic. Lakewood, Ohio: Without Fear.
- 2002 - Halim El-Dabh Live at Starwood - Halim El-Dabh (With: Seeds of Time) CD: Recorded at the 22nd Starwood Festival
The Starwood Festival is a six-day Neo-Pagan, New Age, multi-cultural and world music festival presented in mid- to late July, currently in Sherman, New York. Approximately 1,500 people attend including staff, speakers and entertainers. The Starwood Festival is a camping event which holds workshops...
in July 2002. ACEThe Association for Consciousness Exploration LLC is an American organization based in Northeastern Ohio which produces events, books, and recorded media in the fields of "magic, mind-sciences, alternative lifestyles, comparative religion/spirituality, entertainment, holistic healing, and related...
- 2002 - El-Dabh, Halim Blue Sky Transmission: A Tibetan Book of the Dead (original cast recording) Cleveland Public Theatre, Halim El-Dabh, and Raymond Bobgan
- 2006 - Fan, Joel
Joel Fan is a New York City–based pianist noted for his work with Yo-Yo Ma and the Silk Road Project, as well as his solo virtuosity and eclectic repertoire.-Life and career:...
. World Keys. San Francisco, California: Reference Recordings. Includes "Sayera" from Mekta' in the Art of Kita, Book 3.
Films
- 1960 - Yuriko: Creation of a Dance. Features a rehearsal of The Ghost, with score by El-Dabh
- 1967 - Herostratus
Herostratus is a 1967 film by the Australian director Don Levy, about a young man who wants to commit suicide in public by jumping off a tall building...
. Directed by Don Levy. One scene features audio of El-Dabh's Spectrum no. 1: Symphonies in Sonic Vibration
- 2000 - Olatunji Live at Starwood - Babatunde Olatunji
Babatunde Olatunji was a Nigerian drummer, educator, social activist and recording artist.- Biography :Olatunji was born in the village of Ajido, a small town near Badagry, Lagos State, in southwestern Nigeria. A member of the Yoruba people, Olatunji was introduced to traditional African music at...
& Drums of Passion (guest Halim El-Dabh). DVD: Filmed at the 17th Starwood FestivalThe Starwood Festival is a six-day Neo-Pagan, New Age, multi-cultural and world music festival presented in mid- to late July, currently in Sherman, New York. Approximately 1,500 people attend including staff, speakers and entertainers. The Starwood Festival is a camping event which holds workshops...
in July 1997. ACEThe Association for Consciousness Exploration LLC is an American organization based in Northeastern Ohio which produces events, books, and recorded media in the fields of "magic, mind-sciences, alternative lifestyles, comparative religion/spirituality, entertainment, holistic healing, and related...
.
- 2002 - Halim El-Dabh Live at Starwood - Halim El-Dabh (With: Seeds of Time) DVD: Filmed at the 22nd Starwood Festival
The Starwood Festival is a six-day Neo-Pagan, New Age, multi-cultural and world music festival presented in mid- to late July, currently in Sherman, New York. Approximately 1,500 people attend including staff, speakers and entertainers. The Starwood Festival is a camping event which holds workshops...
in July 2002. ACEThe Association for Consciousness Exploration LLC is an American organization based in Northeastern Ohio which produces events, books, and recorded media in the fields of "magic, mind-sciences, alternative lifestyles, comparative religion/spirituality, entertainment, holistic healing, and related...
.
External links
Listening