By Phillip Zonkel, Staff Writer

SHEIKH SAYYED DARWEESH is one of the most influential figures in modern Arab music; some even consider him "the father of modern Arab music."

The Egyptian composer radically modernized Arabic classical music by introducing Western instruments and harmony, and his lyrics blended working-class and patriotic themes. His "Biladi (My Homeland)" was adopted as the Egyptian national anthem.

He composed at least 100 documented songs spanning a wide range of genres during his brief seven-year career. He died in 1923 at the age of 31 from a drug overdose before achieving his goal of traveling to Italy to study opera.

Darweesh's songs and style have enchanted the Arab world since the early 20th century, yet many listeners don't know the man.

"Most Arabs are familiar with Sayyed Darweesh's music, but they are not aware that he is the composer," says Moroccan-born musician Hicham Chami. "We've known these songs since we were kids. We just assumed they were traditional melodies."

But Chami wants to change that impression and introduce the man behind the music.

In a bold musical revival, the 28-year-old and the Chicago Classical Oriental Ensemble (a multicultural group of musicians from the Windy City) have recorded 41 minutes of Darweesh's music and released it on the CD, "The Songs of Sheikh Sayyed Darweesh: Soul of a People."

The group also has hit the road for a seven-city national tour, which stops tonight at the La Mirada Theatre for the Performing Arts.

Chami says part of his motivation to undertake the CD and tour is to keep a tradition of music alive and the other is personal.

"I'm doing this very selfishly. I enjoy this music. It's music that I enjoy playing," says Chami, a qanun (zither) virtuoso. "It speaks to me more than any other type of music. It's my music. It's what I grew up with. This music uses microtones that are extremely moving to my ear."

The Chicago Classical Oriental Ensemble tour is dedicated to authenticity. To re-create the standards of Darweesh's era, musicians are dressed in tuxedos, and microphones are used minimally.

Although the CCOE has 20 members, the La Mirada show will feature five musicians playing Oriental instruments such as qanun, ud (lute), riqq (Arab tambourine) and nay (flute) and Western classical instruments such as violin and cello, as well as a female and male vocalist, 74-year-old Syrian singer Youssef Kassab.

"When we decided to record this music, we decided to do it very authentically," Chami says. "I wanted to make sure nobody would show up after a show and say, 'Why did you do it this way? It wasn't supposed to be like this.' "

Born in Alexandria, Egypt, Darweesh was trained as a reciter of the Koran. He abandoned a career as a religious man — working a number of odd jobs, from laying bricks to working as a clerk at a furniture store — to support his family.

He began singing in cafes and traveled to Syria, where he learned Arabic, Persian and Turkish music and started composing his own works.

After World War I, Darweesh settled in Cairo and was immersed in the theatrical world, helping write seven operettas.

Darweesh's music crossed boundaries of style, history, geography and genre. It suggests a country reflecting on its identity, seeking to reconcile tradition and modernity, multicultural elements and class and gender disparities.

Many of Darweesh's songs have traditional folk themes and speak to the common person, but a number of his songs deal with progressive subjects — women's rights, independence, nationalism and social justice.

His lyrics also were infused with a variety of languages.

"Darweesh's popular songs used language, such as colloquial Arabic, that was very clever and innovative," Nagi says. "He often invented words and phraseology. He mixed in token English and Greek phrases to capture the multicultural character of Egypt at the time.

"His subjects captured the mood of a nation in transition and appealed to the masses of Egypt as well as the intelligentsia," Nagi says. "The songs spoke of their daily lives, concerns, needs and paranoias."

Six years ago, Chami's daily life revolved around school. He moved to Chicago and garnered an M.B.A. at DePaul University. Chami studied music on the side, until he decided four years ago to jettison his day job, marketing shampoos and detergents, and pursue Arab music full time.

In 2003, he founded CCOE, which now consists of 20 musicians from nine different countries: United States, Morocco, Egypt, Israel, Palestine, Syria, India, Russia and France. The ensemble performs traditional instrumental and vocal music from an Arabic, Sephardic, Egyptian, Levantine, Turkish and Armenian repertoire.

They took on the project partly to keep a fading tradition alive, and partly to promote the idea of a pan-Arab influence that connects the nations of North Africa and the Middle East through an adventurous, multicultural music.

Playing and promoting Darweesh's music is part of that mandate.

"I was making good money and enjoying (marketing consumer products), but I'm enjoying what I'm doing a bit more," Chami says.

"I'm adding something to the culture here in the United States. I'm making something available that was not before. It's tremendously fulfilling and rewarding to say it took 70 years for someone to come up and do what I'm doing."