Daoud, Rageh (Sami)

(b Cairo, 23 Nov 1954). Egyptian composer. He entered the Cairo Conservatory at the age of nine, where he took piano lessons. He took graduate studies in piano with Ettore Puglisi and studied composition with Abdel-Rahim, with whom he also studied the Arab modal system. In 1977 he obtained a diploma in composition with distinction, and the following year he was appointed a composition teacher at the Cairo Conservatory. After receiving a state scholarship to continue his postgraduate studies in composition, he studied with Thomas Christian David and Francis Burt at the Vienna Hochschule für Musik (1981–7). After graduation he returned to Egypt to resume his teaching career at the Cairo Conservatory. In 1995 he won a state prize for chamber music. In the same year, he founded the Chamber Orchestra of the Hanager Centre, which he has conducted in performances of contemporary Egyptian music.

Almost all Daoud’s output is chamber music, some of which has been performed throughout Europe. He has composed scores for 25 films, several of which have won awards. In his earlier works, such as Glimpse of Egypt, the Piano Trio and the Piano Sonata, he writes in a modal style using the tetrachords, pentachords, irregular metres and rhythmic modes characteristic of Arab music. In some of his recent compositions he uses a simpler style with clear tonality, tonal harmony, traditional progressions and unchanging metres; an example is his Passacaglia for lute, organ and strings (1993).

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