Mısırlı Ahmet

Mısırlı Ahmet — Biography

Born Ahmet Yıldırım on 26 November 1963 in Ankara, Mısırlı Ahmet is a Turkish musician celebrated for his virtuosity on the darbuka and other percussion instruments.

He began his musical life playing darbuka in the traditional Turkish style before travelling to Egypt to study with leading regional musicians such as Omar Khayrat, Mohammed Fuad and Amr Diab. During this period he developed a distinctive, extremely fast playing technique using separated finger strokes, which has since become a subject of academic study. Known in Egypt as "Ahmed el Turkî," he came to be called "Mısırlı Ahmet" (the Egyptian Ahmet) after returning home.

He has toured internationally and led workshops around the world, recorded numerous solo albums, and contributed to many other artists' recordings; in 2017 he performed at the Kremlin as the only Turkish musician on the bill. In 2007 he founded a percussion school in Istanbul that continues to draw musicians of many nationalities.