Ali Hassan Kuban

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Ali Hassan Kuban (* 1933 (1929?) In Gotha near Aswan , Egypt ; † 2001 in Cairo ; Arabic علي حسن أحمد كوبان, DMG ʿAlī Ḥasan Aḥmad Kūbān ) was a Nubian singer, composer and band leader .

Life

He was born in Gotha, Egypt , a small village in central Nubia near Aswan . Like many other boys in the region, he began his musical career as a singer on the boats that crossed the Nile near Aswan. In 1942 he moved to Cairo with his parents and became a member of the Nubian Boys Scouts. There he learned to play numerous instruments, including a. the clarinet and the girba - a local variant of the bagpipes . He did his apprenticeship with a tailor. The Nubian community in exile in Egypt in the Abdeen district offered numerous opportunities for his musical engagement. In 1949 he worked as a clarinetist in Aida at the Cairo Opera. Additionally he worked in a traditional Nubian band in the clubs of Cairo, Alexandria and Aswan.

The appearance of a jazz band with black musicians from Harlem in Cairo's Gezira Sporting Club was formative for him . Just as the color of his skin connected him to these musicians, so should his music. He translated Nubian song lyrics into Arabic to make them accessible to a wider audience. After playing in traditional Nubian groups and wedding bands for a while, Kuban formed his first own group of eight. This was the first regional band to have a brass section in addition to traditional instruments. Based on the rhythms and pentatonic chants of Nubia - the Kaf music - the band also adopted new elements from outside, such as the electric guitar , Cuban rhythms and the music of James Brown ( funk and jerk rhythms ).

In 1964, the construction of the Aswan Dam drove 100,000 Nubians out who wanted to listen to Nubian music while in exile. There was enough work for Kuban's band. Kuban quickly became very famous and became a cultural icon of Nubia in Egypt. He played at wedding parties and performed at religious festivals, sold millions of tapes. The album "From Nubia to Cairo" contains original recordings that were previously only available on cassette. His Abdeen office became the cultural center of the Nubians from Egypt and Sudan . Numerous musicians could be found here, who, depending on the needs and the occasion, got together in different formations. Kuban himself often performed several times in one night in different locations.

With increasing popularity beyond Nubia, he was invited to larger appearances. For example, he played at the wedding of the former Egyptian President Sadat . His first international appearance took place in 1989 at the Berlin Heimatklänge Festival . In the 1990s, Kuban made various recordings for the international market and went on international concert tours. Known as “Captain” or “Godfather” of Nubian music, he played with up to seven different bands and employed up to 60 musicians. It was said that no Nubian wedding party would be complete without his appearance. Percussion , accordion and saxophone dominate the orchestras .

Ali Hassan Kuban died in Cairo in June 2001 shortly after his last album "Real Nubian" was released on Piranha Records.

Discography

  • From Nubia to Cairo
  • Walk like a Nubian, 1992, number 1 in the annual ranking of the European World Music Charts
  • Nubian Magic, 1997
  • Real Nubian, 2001

Web links

personal data
SURNAME Kuban, Ali Hassan
BRIEF DESCRIPTION nubian singer
DATE OF BIRTH 1929 or 1933
PLACE OF BIRTH Gotha near Aswan , Kingdom of Egypt
DATE OF DEATH June 2001
Place of death Cairo , Egypt