Halim El-Dabh – Electroacoustic Music

The scope, diversity and depth of Halim El-Dabh’s work – which encompasses seven decades of scores of all genres, electroacoustic compositions, poetic, scholarly and philosophical writings, instrumental and vocal research, musicological field work, and much more – is poorly understood and completely undervalued until today. If at all, the name Halim El-Dabh is mentioned in the historiography of electronic music, and for a good reason: In 1944, he produced one of the earliest, if not the earliest known electroacoustic composition, “Taabir El Zaar” – the beginning of a long and abundant output in sonic experimentation. This evening aims at taking a closer look at El-Dabh’s most well-known – if still underexposed – legacy: his work as a pioneer of electronic music.