حمزة شكور

Sheikh Hamza Chakour, born in Damascus in 1947, was a muqri (Koran reader) and a munshid (hymnodist). He was the disciple of Saïd Farhat and Tawfiq al-Munajjid; his task was to assure the continuity of the repertory proper to the Mawlawiya order. He was also the choir master of the Munshiddin of the Great Mosque in Damascus and served at official religious ceremonies in Syria, where he was immensely popular. Shaykh Hamza was an impressively large, charismatic figure. His bass voice with its richly rounded timbre has made him one of the foremost perfomers of Arab singing. His art is uncompromisingly sober and introverted, to the exclusion of all affectation. He developed his improvisations within the framework of a centuries- old modal art, where orison blends with dance, and prayer with art. The Islam he represented, far from being fundamentalist, is that of mysticism and happiness in the Faith. Sheikh Hamza Shakkour passed away on February 3rd, 2009.