WHEN his golden fingers skilfully manoeuvre his bow, the sound of his music fills the place, inspiring his listeners and invigorating everything. While playing, he swims in a “sea of tunes” and angelic voices echo in his ears. He is the internationally renowned Egyptian violinist Abdo Dagher, of whom a Dutch critic once said: "The celebrated Egyptian violinist Abdo Dagher is unique. Although he has had no formal musical training, he plays the violin like a genius, better than anyone else." Dagher was born in 1936 in the Nile Delta town of Tanta, where his father ran a music institute and a factory for manufacturing musical instruments, which meant that his son grew up in a musicloving atmosphere. When he was ten, Dagher joined a musical troupe in his hometown. "When I was 13, inspired by religious hymns and Qur'anic chanting I'd learned from the sheikhs, I started teaching myself how to play the oud [Arab lute], but it was the brilliant 20th century Ukrainian violinist David Oistrack who attracted me to the violin," he told The Egyptian Gazette in an interview. Dagher then began playing the violin, which he describes as an "old intimate friend with whom I can honestly discuss my feelings and emotions". In 1955, Dagher moved to Cairo, where he got involved in many famous Arab orchestras. He worked with the legendary Om Kolthoum and Mohamed Abdel-Wahab, who encouraged him to do some composing. "I started composing musical pieces, which expressed the Egyptian spirit. These compositions included El- Mashrabia, El-Nil [The Nile], Layali Zaman [Nights of the Past], Neda' el- Salam [Call for Peace] and Bint el-Heta [Daughter of the District]," he said. Hoping for an Arabic music revival, Dagher and the Egyptian composer Abdel-Halim Nowera helped found the Arabic Music Band in 1965. He has devoted his whole life to bringing up a generation of musicians devoted to improving Arabic music. "After talking on the radio about founding an Arabic music troupe, I received funding from then Minister of Culture Tharwat Okasha. He really liked my idea,” he recalled. "Not only have I taught many Egyptian musicians to play the violin, but foreigners too," Dagher said. In 1992 he started doing concerts in Europe. His first stop was Germany, whose people were impressed by his music. The Germans erected a statute of Dagher in the Garden of the Immortals, beside those of Beethoven, Bach, Mozart and Handel, likening him to Germany's most celebrated musicians. Dagher has also performed in Austria, France, Italy, Switzerland and Holland. The European media have described him as "a shining star in the musical sky". The wonderful reception that Dagher has got from abroad reflects the fact that the West appreciates Oriental music. Dagher is proud of a book published in German, which contains a photo of him alongside that of the prominent 20th century Egyptian composers Mohamed Abdel-Wahab and Riyad el-Sonbati. Another page is wholly devoted to a photo of Om Kolthoum, the Arab world's most famous singer of the 20th century. "People everywhere are the same in spirit; no matter what language we speak, what colour we are, good music is something we are all touched by," Dagher said. Known as ‘Malik el-Taqassim' (the King of Improvisation), Dagher has a wealth of music in his repertoire, but he cannot read or write music. Dagher is disappointed that people in his country and the Arab world are concerned with Western rather than the Oriental music, and he blames the media for this. "The radio and TV pay little attention to Arabic music. They do little to encourage the public's interest in their country's greatest music. All they do is broadcast old musical programmes," he said despairingly. “Cultural centres should hold concerts for instrumental music, as well as founding a music institute and organising workshops for training amateur musicians to play instruments.”
