El Din collaborated with a wide variety of musical performers, including Sandy Bull, the Kronos Quartet and the Grateful Dead.
Born in the village of Toshka in Southern Egypt, in the governorate of Aswan,[1] El Din was originally trained to be an electrical engineer.
El Din played the oud, the short-necked Arabian lute, as well as traditional percussion, and accompanied his compositions singing both in local Arabic and his native Nubian language.
His performances attracted the attention of the Grateful Dead, Joan Baez, and Bob Dylan in the 1960s, which led to a recording contract and to his eventual emigration to the United States.
[1] In this period, he also mentored a number of musicians, including Sandy Bull and Windham Hill recording artist Scott Cossu.