El Sayed Darwish El Bahr was a musician who began the renaissance of music in Egypt and the Arab world. El Sayed Darwish was born in Alexandria on 17 March 1892 and died on 10 September 1923.

He began by singing songs composed by Sheikh Salama Hijazi and Sheikh Hassan Al Zahiri. He then joined the Religious Institute in Alexandria in 1905 and sang in cafes.

In his short life he composed dozens of pieces of music, many of them different types, including operas. The Egyptian national anthem entitled ‘My Country,’ which he composed at the turn of the 20th century, is still the national anthem of Egypt today.