(headline image: The number of semsemia strings on Farasan Island © Talal Ayeel, Saudi Arabia, 2023) The semsemiah (also known as sensemia, semsemeya or simsimiyya)…
Um Kulthum [also written Umm Kulthum, Oum Kolthoum, Oum Kalsoum, Omme Kolsoum, and Oum Kulthoom] was one of the greatest vocalists in Arabic music during…
Sheikh Yaseen el Tuhamy, from Cairo, is one of Egypt’s best-loved and most compelling Sufi singers (munshid). Sheikh Yaseen’s songs are based on the sacred…
Riad Abdel-Gawad was born May 9, 1965 in Cairo, Egypt. He composes music and performs on the violin, which, although does not fit easily into…
Qanun virtuoso Hosam Shaker studied music at the age of fourteen at the Egyptian Academy of Arts in Cairo, obtaining his Master’s Degree in 1989.…
Born in Cairo, on December 15, 1953, Hossam Ramzy’s musical career began at the age of three when he was given his first drum, an…
Fathy Salama is a well known Egyptian composer, arranger and musician. Fathy is the former creator of jeel music. He composed hits during the 1980s…
El Tanbura are a collective of veteran master musicians, singers, fishermen and Sufi philosophers. For the past years they have been keepers to some of…
Amr Abd El-Basset Abd El-Azeez Diab, better known as Amr Diab, was born in Port Said, Egypt on October 11, 1961. He grew up in…
Recognized worldwide as a leader of the movement to popularize jeel, Hakim is an innovator who has revolutionized the genre of sha’bi. His music adds…