To celebrate the final weeks of Ramses, join us for a concert of Egyptian music from the 20th century featuring Egyptian violinist Basma Edrees, oudist Sirvan Manhoobi, and Egyptian percussionist Reda Darwish.

Program 

• “Samai Kurd” by Abdo Daghir 
• “Bintilbalad” by Mohamed Abdelwahab 
• “Zikrayati” by Mohamed El-Qasabji 
• “Nourik ya Sit el kol” by Mohamed El-Qasabji 
• “Samra ya Samra” by Karem Mahmoud 
• “Shidd ilhizam ‘ala wistak” by Sayyid Darwish 
• “Elhilwa dee” by Sayyid Darwish 
  

About the artists 

Basma Edrees is an Egyptian violinist, performer, and educator. Passionate about introducing the world to the rich music of her upbringing, Edrees has given Arabic music workshops at UC Berkeley and Stanford. She has also taught Arabic music and Western counterpoint at the San Francisco Conservatory of Music and is on the violin faculty of Santa Clara University where she coaches SCU’s World Music Ensemble on Arab musical techniques. Edrees was the first female music director to lead the Bay Area’s Arabic Aswat music ensemble in a concert featuring music of Sudan and Nubia. She also served as the music director of the Aswat Women’s Ensemble, an all female Bay Area community ensemble specializing in Arabic music for four years. She has a master’s degree in violin performance from the Juilliard School in New York, and enjoys a career playing Western classical music with different orchestras around the Bay Area and in a duo with pianist Ava Nazar, a fellow Juilliard alumni.

Sirvan Manhoobi started his musical journey at age 13 studying tar/sehtar with Keivan Saket and Behrooz Hemati. He chose oud as his primary instrument and attended classes with Arsalan Kamkar. Other masters he has studied under include Mohammad Reza Lotfi (Radif Navazi-Iranian classical music repertoire), Mehran Rohani (principles and history of music), Siamak Jahangiri (improvisation and analysis of Radif Navazi). He has received Best Soloist awards at Iranian music festivals and formed the Bamdad Music Ensemble, focusing on Kurdish and Iranian classical music. He has a master’s of archaeology from Tehran University and currently lives in Oakland, performing, composing, and teaching Iranian and Kurdish music. 

Reda Darwish, a native of Cairo, has been playing various percussion instruments since childhood. At eight years old, he was featured weekly on Egyptian television. Soon after he was playing for Egypt’s most famous dancers and singers including Fayza Ahmed, Nagat Al Saghira, and Samira Said. He later toured with Hani Mahanna’s orchestra, including to the United States where Darwish has now made his new home. He has also recorded his own compositions and was commissioned to compose the soundtrack for Reader’s Digest’s Wonders Sacred and Mysterious series covering Egypt and Turkey.

Ticket info

This concert is free to attend. Seating is limited and unassigned. Program tickets are distributed on a first-come first-served basis in front of the Koret Auditorium an hour before the program begins. This does not include admission to the museum.

Contact info

Public Programs
publicprograms@famsf.org
415.750.7694