Mısırlı Ahmet

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Mısırlı Ahmet (born Ahmet Yıldırım, 1963 in Ankara, Turkey) is a Turkish virtuoso darbuka player. His music spans various genres and carries influences from Indian, Arabic, Latin American and jazz music.

Ahmet Yıldırım started his music life playing a Turkish-style darbuka. He states that he was a fairly ordinary player before his travel to Egypt, to play with and learn from some of the best darbuka players; most of all "to find the meaning of his existence" and "to discover the rhythm". Yıldırım lived in the desert-bound valley of Cairo, during which he developed his unique technique, now known as the split-finger technique, which allows for very quick playing.

Yıldırım came to be known as "Mısırlı Ahmet" (Ahmet of Egypt) after his journey. He is called "Ahmed el Turkî" (Turkish Ahmet) in Egypt.

Contents

[edit] Solo Albums

  • Great Masters of Mediterrenean / Natural Moments (2005)
  • The Search (2001)
  • Mel de Cabra (2000)
  • Oriental Dance and Percussion (1993)

[edit] Featured Albums

  • The dZihan & Kamien Orchestra / "Live in Vienna" (2004)

[edit] Quotes

  • You have to lose the rhythm first in order to discover it.
  • I found myself in darbuka. I may be the best darbuka player, but it's not enough, I want to be darbuka!
  • I became obsessed with Egyptian musicians, listening to their CDs, I thought "These guys are out of this world! What do I have to tell them?" I started with saying "There should be something you can tell", and created a new technique. This is a milestone in darbuka. I heard very interesting tones in the desert. You can hear your own heartbeat there. After the 90s, there was nothing more to inspire me on darbuka so I took up doholle (bass darbuka). I too am surprised with the sounds coming out of the doholle; I think "God, do I have enough time? Will I be able to wrap this up?". Life is too short, I don't have any time. My biggest ideal is to perform a great solo before I die, like "He played so great just two hours ago, and now he's dead. Here's his shirt, it hasn't even dried yet."
  • (In response to the question, "Do you practise 3 hours a day?") Yeah, that should be enough for warming up.

[edit] References

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