Halim Abdul Messieh El-Dabh was an Egyptian-American composer and ethnomusicologist recognized as a pioneer of electronic music. In 1944, El-Dabh composed “The Expression of Zaar” (1944), one of the earliest known works of tape music. El-Dabh moved to the United States in 1950 on a Fulbright fellowship and studied with composers including Aaron Copland and Ernst Krenek. From 1959 to 1961, El-Dabh worked at the Columbia-Princeton Electronic Music Center, producing the electronic drama Leiyla and the Poet (1959). Other works include the score for the Martha Graham ballet Clytemnestra (1958) and the orchestral and choral score for the Giza pyramids Sound and Light show (1961). El-Dabh served as a professor at Kent State University between 1969 and 1991. El-Dabh died in 2017.
