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Sample Track 1:
"Ya Bahgat er-Roh" from The Songs of Sayyed Darweesh: Soul of a People (Xauen Music)
Sample Track 2:
"Bint el-Youm" from The Songs of Sayyed Darweesh: Soul of a People (Xauen Music)
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The Songs of Sayyed Darweesh: Soul of a People (Xauen Music)
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CD Review

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Upon seeing a photo of Giuseppe Verdi, someone once commented to Sheikh Sayyed Darweesh (1892-1923) that he and Verdi looked alike on account of their similar hairstyles. “That is because I am Egypt’s Verdi,” Darweesh replied. He sold everything he owned to go to Italy to study opera in the last year of his life, but never made it due to a fatal overdose at the age of thirty-one. Even with a mere seven-year musical career, Darweesh composed a repertoire of hundreds of songs and, for many, has earned the title of “the father of modern Arab music.” A complex character that might be described as equal parts Verdi, Jim Morrison, religious scholar, and bricklayer, he was the spokesman for a developing Egyptian identity at a key transitional time in history.

 04/07/06 >> go there
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