Artist page

Ahmed Hassan was a composer and musician born in Cairo, who passed away on January 12, 2011. He moved to Halifax with his family in 1969 and initially studied biochemistry at Dalhousie University. However, after meeting percussionist Ricardo Abreut of the Toronto Dance Theatre, he shifted his focus to music. Hassan drew inspiration from ancient music-making traditions, including breath work, harmonic overtone chanting, clapping, drumming, didgeridoo, caxixi, and berimbau. Largely self-taught, he also studied with Brazilian percussionist Nana Vasconcelos in New York. In the early 1980s, he relocated to Toronto to work with Desrosiers Dance Theatre, collaborating with composers such as John Lang and Jean Dorais. Together with Lang, he created the music for Desrosiers’ "Blue Snake" for The National Ballet of Canada, and their creative process was documented in the National Film Board documentary "Inner Rhythm."

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