Basem Darwisch

Basem Darwisch
Composer, Producer and Oud Soloist

Basem Darwisch was born in Bani Mazar, El Minia, Upper Egypt, where he learned music as a child in his Coptic community. He studied German linguistics at Ain Shams University and at the same time music at the Arab Music Institute in Cairo. In 1990 he went to Germany , where he studied Egyptology and Islamic Studies at Heidelberg University. In 1995 he made a career shift and began studying air traffic management in Frankfurt, specializing in airline IT, and later on becoming a business consultant and an IT consultant also for music software programs such as Steinberg VST (Wizoo famous percussions software, Darabuka).

Darwisch lives in Germany since 1990, where he launched his musical career in 1992. In 2002, together with the German pianist Matthias Frey, he founded the group Cairo Steps.

Considered the ambassador for the Egyptian music in Germany, Darwisch developed his own style mixing jazz harmonies, Arab-Nubian melodies, Latin and traditional rhythms embedded in his unique technique and subtle improvisation. With his long years of experience as music consultant for cinema, television, music and IT productions, he is one of the most recommended Egyptian music experts in Europe.

In Cairo Steps, Darwisch plays the role of the umbrella that has different musical genres and experiences merged together all the way from spiritual chants to modern classics with their own flavor. He pursues the vision of crossing cultural, political and religious borders, building bridges between the occident and the orient. Basem Darwisch’s vision is to present the audience with a tense spiritual musical experience as language that can help them transcend over their earthly matters. Advocating the motto “music is the bonding force,” during the concerts, Darwisch’s aim is to create an atmosphere of tolerance and acceptance of other and different cultures.

Darwisch composed more than 120 compositions and produced five music albums for Cairo Steps; he also played oud in more than 30 Albums and 10 Movies. He worked with the Upper Egypt’s folklore legend Raiees Metq’al El Qenawi, the Egyptian star maker Nasr Mahrous and the mega star Mohamed Mounir for whom he produced three songs: Min Awl Lamsa, Ana Menek Etalemt and Elly Ghayeb.

Darwisch’s also worked with a number of renowned creative figures and artists, to name but a few: the famed German novelist, poet, playwright and Nobel Prize in Literature winner (1999), Günter Grass; the famous German cinema and TV actress, Ulrike Kriener; and the German quartet ‘Quadro Nuevo’.

His work with Cairo Steps has brought him the Golden German Jazz Award (2018) for the album Flying Carpet and for his cooperation with Quadro Nuevo, he was awarded the Golden German Jazz Award (2021) for the album MARE.

Awards

German Jazz Award 2018        Cairo Steps & Quadro Nuevo  Album  Flying Carpet 

German Jazz Award 2021       with Quadro Nuevo Album Mare   / Track  Cafe Groppi 

Gear

Oud s  made by the Egyptian Luthier Maurice Farouk Shehata 

DPA 4099 

Ehrlund  Pick up 

InEar  accoustic Germany