(b Alexandria, 17 March 1892; d Alexandria, 15 Sept 1923). Egyptian composer and singer. He is the most popular figure in Egyptian music. He had a hard childhood, during which he learnt the Qur'an and religious chants, as well as picking up the current secular songs. For two years he studied Islamic theology at a branch of the Al Azhar mosque, but he then decided to make his career as a singer-composer. He had to sing at modest local cafés, and he attributed his early compositions to a famous composer. Under family pressure he was sometimes forced to take manual jobs, and his early marriage, the first of four, complicated matters. Once, while working as a builder and singing to entertain his fellow workers, he was heard by the Syrian brothers Attalah, who engaged him to sing with their drama troupe on a trip to Syria. During his travels he learnt a great deal about classical Arab vocal forms from the master ‘Uthmān al-Mawsilī.
Returning to Egypt he achieved some fame as a singer-composer. An important turning-point came when he went to Cairo, probably in 1917, and Salāma Hijāzī introduced him to his theatre public. This was the beginning of a brilliant career as a composer for the theatre. Although his first ‘operetta’, Faysouzshah, was a failure, he soon achieved success, becoming the favourite composer in this genre and even forming his own (short-lived) troupe. His 26 operettas opened up new vistas for Egyptian music: the slow, repetitive, over-ornamented vocal style was replaced by a light, truly expressive manner, making apt use of the choir, and he introduced some spontaneous counterpoint in Shahrazād. Darwīsh's operettas owed their immense popularity to their social and patriotic subjects, and their workers' songs. The telling musical characterization is essentially Egyptian and strongly reminiscent of folk music. Darwīsh may have been influenced by the Italian opera performed in Cairo: he admired Verdi and had planned, just before his early death, to study in Italy.
A prolific composer, he was a master of the old forms as well as the new theatre music; his ten dawr pieces and 21 muwashshah songs (another 17 are of doubtful attribution) are classics of the repertory, reflecting his deep understanding of the modal subtleties and rhythmic complexities of traditional art music. Many of his tunes have been orchestrated by younger composers such as Abū-Bakr Khayrāt and Gamāl ‘Abdal-Rahīm. In recognition of his importance, a concert hall in Cairo was named after him.
M.A. Hammād: Sayyid Darwīsh: hayāh wa nagham [Life and music] (Cairo, 1970)
M. El-Hefny: Sayyid Darwīish: hayātuhu wa athar ‘abqariyyatihi [His life and monuments of his genius] (Cairo, 1974/R)
H. Darwīsh: Min agl abī [For my father] (Cairo, 1990)
S. Darwīsh: Aldhikrā al-mi’awiyya li mīlād almūsīqār Sayyid Darwīsh [The centenary of the birth of the musician] (1992)
M. El-Sayyed Hilail: Tahlīl al-adwār al ‘ashara li Sayyid Darwīsh [Analysis of Sayyid Darwīsh's ten dawrs] (thesis, Cairo Academy of Arts, n.d.)
SAMHA EL KHOLY