What brought composers AR Rahman, Hisham Nazih together?

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Tue, 07 Dec 2021 - 02:03 GMT

BY

Tue, 07 Dec 2021 - 02:03 GMT

 

 
During the events of Cairo Film Industry Days, which are organized within the framework of the Cairo International Film Festival, where a unique dialogue was held between the composers, the Indian Ar Rahman and the Egyptian Hisham, at the Egyptian Opera House, and given the march of the two, we find many common stations, and made them one of The most important music composers in their countries.
To lose music and then music finds you
Imagine you are born to a father who is a musician, who introduces you to the world of music when you are almost four years old, yet destiny deprives you from this world. Imagine that inorder to please your parents you decided to study something very different from the music you are passionate for. This is exactly what happened to A.R Rahman and Hesham Nazih, where the the former had to leave music when his father died while the latter consented to his family’s wishes to get a college degree in Engineering. Yet both of them found their way back to music, where Rahman composed his first soundtrack for “Roja”film in 1992, when he was only 25, the same age that Nazih composed his first soundtrack for “Hysteria” film back in 1998.
 
Back to the origins to make music
Despite the great difference between India and Egypt yet they are somehow similar in terms of their rich cultural diversity and the presence  of the ancient old languages and various origins have an impact on the music, and this is what Rahman and Nazih have realized while composing their own music. Take their Drama projects and films that are based on heritage music, like Hesham Nazih used the coptic Hymns as a main musical reference to make the music of Al-Ahd series. He reintroduced the hymns in a different way by using modern music instruments that gave it a modern twist. This is exactly what A R Rahman did in many of his films such as “Tamasha” where he used classic indian music notes and infused it with modern notes. Among the most outstanding of such music infusion was the  medley “Azeem-O- Shaan Shahenshah”, from the film Gouda Akbar, the one where he was celebrating the diversity and richness of the Indian Culture, which is what he managed to convey through his music composition by using modern musical instruments that gave a modern touch to the whole music piece despite it’s authenticity
Sufi culture has no boundaries
Sufism flourished in its present form as one of the sects of Islamic Religion with an aim to purify the heart and soul and unite with the world and its creator. Yet from a wider perspective, it is affiliated to the ancient civilizations, where it intersects with the beliefs of Buddhism and  Hinduism, and this is another common belief between Rahman and Nazih. For where Rahman takes sufism as his general concept of life, Nazih’s music has also been influenced by sufi poetry that is deeply rooted in Egyptian culture.  Both were influenced by the Sufi culture in their music in “Gouda Akbar”by Rahman and “Sabaa Wasaya”television series by Nazih.
 
Mile stones
The development of an artist is not done overnight. It's an ongoing process reflected in continuous projects. However such development is reflected in mile stones the artist’s career like the work of Hesham Nazih in” Al Selem w Al Teban” then “Al Fil Al Azraq 1”, followed by “Al Sabaa Wasaya” series, which changed the type of projects he works on, only to lead him to be selected to compose the music of the Pharaohs Golden Parade last April.
As for Rahman, he went through a creativity sprout after attaining his two oscars for best authentic soundtrack of “Slumdog Millionaire” film and “Jai Ho”song. It was his kick start for international projects such as collaborating with Hanz Zimmer in composing the main theme for the Oscars 84th round , and the music theme of “Dubai Expo 2020”. A R RAhman is one of the most famous music composers worldwide and Hesham Nazih is following the same path.

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