- Gamal Abdel-Rahim
Gamal El-Din Abdel-Rahim (ArB|جمال الدين عبد الرحيم ArTranslit|Jamāl ad-Deen ‘Abd er-Reheem), known as Gamal Abdel-Rahim (ArB|جمال عبد الرحيم ArTranslit|Jamāl ‘Abd er-Reheem) (b.
Cairo , 1924; d.Königstein ,Germany ,November 23 ,1988 ) was anEgypt ianclassical music composer, educator, and pianist. His best-known work is the symphony "Osiris".Abdel-Rahim was born in Cairo to a musical father, and began playing the piano at an early age. His early musical studies were supported by the Music Society of the Faculty of Arts of
Cairo University (then called Fuad I University), graduating with a degree in history. In 1950 he began university studies in musicology at the Musikhochschule of Heidelberg inWest Germany , deciding on a career as a composer. From 1952 to 1957 he studied composition withHarald Genzmer (a pupil ofPaul Hindemith ) at the Musikhochschule of Freiburg inBreisgau .In 1959, Abdel-Rahim was appointed to teach theory and harmony at the newly opened Cairo Conservatory of Music. He was later appointed head of the composition department there (the first of its kind in the Arab world), which he founded in 1971. Abdel-Rahim was quite influential among Egyptian composers of the next generation, as the majority of them studied with him during his time at the Cairo Conservatory.
Abdel-Rahim's style fuses traditional Egyptian musical elements with contemporary European ones, focusing on Egyptian materials in his later works more than in his earlier ones. He composed many works for orchestra, chorus, and chamber ensembles, as well as songs and music for film, theater, and ballet. He was awarded the State Prize for Composition, as well as the Order of Arts, from the Egyptian government.
Abdel-Rahim was married to
Samha El-Kholy (1925-2006), a noted Egyptian musicologist and former president of the Academy of Arts in Cairo. Abdel-Rahim died inFrankfurt ,Germany .His notable students include
Ahmed El-Saedi ,Rageh Daoud ,Mona Ghoneim ,Sherif Mohie El Din , Ali Osman, andMohamed Abdelwahab Abdelfattah .Compositions
*"Kadni' l Hawa", choir and orchestra
References
*El-Kholy, Samha, and John Robison (1993). "Festschrift for Gamal Abdel-Rahim". Occasional Paper Series (Fulbright Commission in Egypt), v. 2, no. 2. Cairo: The Binational Fulbright Commission in Egypt. OCLC|31603044.
External links
* [http://www.gamal-abdelrahim.com/ Gamal Abdel-Rahim official site]
* [http://web.archive.org/web/20080130021434/http://phonoarchive.org/grove/Entries/S00026.htm Gamal Abdel-Rahim biography] by Samha El-Kholy
* [http://weekly.ahram.org.eg/2003/641/cu6.htm "Al-Ahram" English-language]ee also
*
List of Egyptian composers
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