Maher Elghamry: Egyptian song transcriptions for piano

About Maher Elghamry

Maher Elghamry is a transcriber and arranger whose published work concentrates on Egyptian popular song. His titles sign the work with the Arabic word 'تدوين', meaning notation or transcription, and the uploads on his Internet Archive account describe the same project: scores for songs associated with Abdel Halim Hafez, Umm Kulthum, Mohammed Abdel Wahab, Shadia and Farid al-Atrash. No birth date, training or institutional post is recorded in the sources consulted, so this page does not supply one.

The catalogue shows the range. Most of the top titles name a singer or a film song, and the longest run several minutes, which accounts for 196 minutes across 36 files. The rest are arrangements of Western popular and film music. 'Mariage d'Amour' is the Paul de Senneville piece popularised by Richard Clayderman; the 'Elegy for the Victims of the Earthquake and Tsunami' is Nobuyuki Tsujii's response to the 2011 Tōhoku disaster, officially titled 'Elegy for the Victims of the Tsunami of March 11, 2011 in Japan'.

The metadata is thin. All 36 entries are unclassified by genre, keys and dates are rarely given, and the Arabic titles are not translated. The difficulty index is also a poor guide: 34 entries at index 0 sit beside dense two-hand piano writing, so check the page count and key before assuming a piece is elementary.

Listening and playing notes

These are piano reductions of vocal performances, so the melody carries the words even when no text is printed. Shape phrases as a singer would, with rubato placed at the end of a line rather than on every beat, and keep the accompaniment subordinate. The Arabic songs often change tempo and mood between verses; hear a recording before deciding where those shifts fall. In the Western arrangements, check whether the file follows the original key or transposes it for comfort.

Selected scores

1. على حسب وداد قلبي

   The most-viewed file: a transcription of Abdel Halim Hafez's song, with lyrics by Salah Abu Salem and music by Baligh Hamdi.

2. أول همسة

   A transcription of a Farid al-Atrash song, identified by the file title; second in view count.

3. Mariage d'Amour

   Paul de Senneville's piano piece, composed in 1978 and first performed by Richard Clayderman in 1979; it is often mistaken for Chopin.

4. أهواك

   An Abdel Halim Hafez song in what the title calls a new arrangement; the file does not give a key or date.

5. Elegy for the Victims of the Earthquake and Tsunami

   A piano arrangement of Nobuyuki Tsujii's elegy for the March 2011 disaster; the catalogue shortens the composer's longer official title.

6. Green, Green Grass of Home

   A transcription of the country song recorded by Tom Jones in 1966; the catalogue gives no arranger beyond Elghamry.

7. If You Go Away

   The English-language version of Jacques Brel's 'Ne me quitte pas', credited in the title to Elghamry.

8. فوق الشوك مشاني زماني

   Another Abdel Halim Hafez transcription; the file title carries the singer and the transcriber but no date.

9. السيمفونية الخامسة لبيتهوفن

   A piano arrangement of material from Beethoven's Fifth Symphony; the title does not say which movement.

10. رسالة من تحت الماء

    An Abdel Halim Hafez song transcribed for piano, with the singer and transcriber named in the title.