So, who am I, after all? Let
me say it in discrete points:-
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My name is Hosam Adeeb Nashed
Fahmy, I'm Egyptian, born on August 1st,
1958, single and male.
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You can't really consider me a normal
person (!); as a child, I never liked to play with other children of my
age; nor did I ever learn, or wanted to learn, riding bicycles or football
(the mediterranean variety, i.e. soccer, not the American one).
The only thing I'd do is read. About most anything.
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When I got a high mark at the General
Certificate of Education (=secondary or high school), 95.5% to be exact,
my family (especially my father) was adamant: no matter what wishes I had,
I had to join the Faculty of Medicine; that was it, case closed.
Trouble was, I had other ambitions; I wanted to study higher mathematics
- my biology grades were awful, anyway. Still, as the battle wasn't exactly
between equals, my personal dreams for my own future were forced into the
great beyond. And so was my scholastic brilliance, too, I'm afraid.
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Still, it was during those college
years that I met with a lot of people who helped shape my musical future.
I always yearned to learn music as a teenager; I even could compose little
songs at school, but the idea of hiring a music teacher or frequenting
one, or even going to a local music centre never crossed the mind of the
timid child that I was. But once started, the flame would only go ever
more violent, and the hunger insatiable!
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I had to start completely on my own;
with the help of many good books I taught myself how to read music, and
music theory in general. Later, a public library donated to the Middle
East Church Council in Egypt by some American Women Fund, simply
changed my entire musical life. I devoured every book on which I could
lay my hands; harmony, composition, orchestration, conducting, ... you
name it!
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Reading, listening and trying is fine,
and great fun, but can't make up for the lack of a good teacher. At one
point, I felt stuck; unable to get better - I knew almost everything there
was to know, but couldn't put everything I knew to good use! It was one
of those many occasions during my life where divine guidance came
into play: one of my early religious songs gets performed by our church
choir, someone praises that choir in front of a great composer, who asks
for a meeting to be arranged with whoever shared in writing that music
... And there I was, for the first time in my life, in the presence of
the greatest teacher of all, the only one with whom I met face to face,
anyway.
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Aziz El-Shawan
somehow just let me teach myself under his supervision; meaning he never
tried, not once, to influence me or make me think or act like he did. He
was the kind of teacher to respect his pupils' talents, never to attempt
to mould them.
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Unfortunately, I never could take music
as a profession; I was too old to start studying in the Conservatory,
which meant it would always be extremely hard for me to get accepted within
the (closed!!) Circle of the Pro's! I was an alien to them, and
that wouldn't change. Furthermore, I had another love to take care of:
computing. This is the thing I do, not just for living, but
for loving. I still compose, mainly for the Church, but I don't regret
my situation.
