Summary
Da’ud Husni (1870–1937), Karaite composer, the most famous Jewish musical figure in Chapter 3 of The Dispersion of Egyptian Jewry — composer of the first Egyptian opera and collaborator of Sayyid Darwish, commemorated annually in Egypt into the republic’s first years, whose conversion to Islam and Muslim second wife did not stop the Karaite community claiming him as evidence of its own Arab and Egyptian cultural identity (The Dispersion of Egyptian Jewry: Culture, Politics, and the Formation of a Modern Diaspora, lines 1287-1291).
Details
- Husni was associated with the first generation of Egyptian nationalist composers including Sayyid Darwish and Kamil al-Khula’i; he composed the first Egyptian opera, “Samson and Dalilah”; Husayn Fawzi wrote the libretto for another of his operas, “Cleopatra’s Night”; and he collaborated with Darwish, the leading figure in the revival of Arabic music in Egypt, on “Hoda,” an operetta left unfinished by Darwish’s death (The Dispersion of Egyptian Jewry: Culture, Politics, and the Formation of a Modern Diaspora, lines 1287-1289).
- The editor of Al-Kalim was Da’ud Husni’s son (Chapter 2, note 40), and the paper devoted an article to his life and work every December on the anniversary of his death; non-Jewish Egyptian aficionados also observed the anniversary with performances and musicological conferences, and in December 1949 al-Misri, al-Balagh and al-Zaman all carried commemorations; a 1951 Akhir Sa’a article noted the nationalist spirit of his music; on January 10, 1953 the Institute of Arabic Music in Cairo celebrated the bronze anniversary [as printed] of his death; and until at least 1955 state radio aired a special program of his music annually on his memorial date (The Dispersion of Egyptian Jewry: Culture, Politics, and the Formation of a Modern Diaspora, lines 1289-1290).
- “Husni’s music is revered to this day in Egypt, though public acknowledgment of his Jewish origins seems to have diminished after 1948”; he converted to Islam and his second wife was a Muslim, which “would ordinarily have excluded him from recognition as a Jew, yet the Karaite community proudly claimed him as one of their own and embraced his musical accomplishments as evidence of their own Arab and Egyptian cultural identity,” while his non-Jewish aficionados were content to overlook his Jewish origins — “avoiding a sharp determination of Husni’s ethnoreligious identity served multiple purposes and enhanced his appeal” (The Dispersion of Egyptian Jewry: Culture, Politics, and the Formation of a Modern Diaspora, lines 1291-1292).
Related pages
The Dispersion of Egyptian Jewry: Culture, Politics, and the Formation of a Modern Diaspora, Karaites, Al-Kalim, Layla Murad