Ḥamza al-Dīn

Biography

Hamza El Din was a Nubian singer and composer who played oud and tar.

Smithsonian’s catalogue connects his performance with Nubian vocal and rhythmic traditions. It identifies 1978 as Eclipse’s original release, while 1988 dates the catalogued reissue. His 1991 interview with Louis Werner describes theory and oud study at Cairo’s Arab Institute of Music, and guitar and harmony at Santa Cecilia in Rome. In Japan he worked with lute, drum and flute players; Nubiana Suite was recorded live in Tokyo with wadaiko and shakuhachi. His student Joseph Rowe recalls attending his University of Texas at Austin class in September 1971. Teaching combined modes, rhythm and stories of Nubian life; Rowe also took individual oud lessons. His recollection describes an approach connecting instrumental skills with lived cultural memory. The 1993 Persians programme dates a Japan Foundation grant to 1981, for studying the Japanese lute in comparison with oud. It describes touring in North America, Europe, Asia and Australia, and living between Tokyo and the United States when the programme was prepared.