Amīn al-Buzarī

Biography

Amīn al-Buzarī was born blind, and his father made him join the Mawlawiyya monastery in Muqattim –Cairo where he learned nāy and memorized an extraordinary number of Arabic and Turkish Mawlawiyya instrumentals and songs.

He travelled between Mawlawiyya monasteries in Egypt, Damascus and Turkey and rumor has it that he also went to one in Iran. Despite being fond of singing, he did not play his music for singers. On the contrary, he had his own takht whose albums were released by many record companies in the first quarter of the 20th century during which he recorded numerous bashraf, samā‘ī, marches as well as taqsīm mursal and taqsīm ‘ala al-waḥda (on-the-beat instrumental improvisations). In addition to that, he recorded several taqsīm bashraf and taḥmīla to various maqām for many record companies such as Gramophone, Odeon, Baidaphon, and Polyphon. He is one of the rare musicians who gave purely instrumental concerts –without singing or dancing– in return for a fee that was not less than the fee paid to the most famous singers. He owes his unique playing to many factors including his high technical skills and his ability to hold high-pitched ranges on the nāy without letting go and without producing a disturbing screech.

As printed on the labels Amin Eff. Bouzari