Darwish remembered

ON 15 SEPTEMBER, 80 years ago, Sayed Darwish died in Alexandria at the age of 31. In this short life he had managed to bequeath a legacy of remarkable number and variety, including traditional song forms like the dor or muwashah, contributions to lighter genres and operettas, which scaled the depths and breadths of the Egyptian identity. An active supporter of the 1919 Revolution, Darwish's sense of national identity was far from narrowly political; and he composed songs representing different classes, trades and professions. He provided Egyptians with their national anthem and their best remembered love songs.

Born on 17 March 1892 in Komeddeka, Darwish worked as a bricklayer and shop keeper, among other professions, to help support his family and fend for himself. His talent became apparent when he was only five, when he displayed a remarkable ability to remember and repeat tunes. His contribution constituted no less than a musical revolution, however, which was not immediately accepted. Two visits to Syria, in 1909 and 1912, had taught him much about the Turkish and Persian musical traditions, yet well grounded as he became, he had a miraculously sensitive ear for the sounds of Egypt; many contend that his music was the first purely Egyptian contribution to the Arabic canon, drawn as it was from the sounds and rhythms of the streets and their inhabitants. His dream was to cross the Mediterranean to Italy, learn classical music and compose a homegrown opera. He strove to bring music out of exclusive spaces, spreading it among the people, and imbuing it with their spirit; not for nothing is he known as Fannan Al-Sha'b (the people's artist). Working with Naguib El-Rihani's theatre troupe, he would eventually found his own troupe and take Egypt by storm with operettas like Sheherazade and Al-Ashara Al-Tayiba (Ten of Diamonds).