Hossam Ramzy

Hossam Ramzy (Arabic: حسام رمزى ) is an Egyptian professional percussionist, composer and music arranger.

Hossam Ramzy
Hossam on Baladi Plus CD cover
Background information
Origin	Cairo, Egypt
Instrument(s)	tabla, drums, percussion
Website	[1]

Biography

Hossam Ramzy was born in Cairo, Egypt to a very prominent Egyptian family which emphasized education and art. Ramzy's musical career began at the age of three when he was given his first drum, an Egyptian traditional tabla. Hossam was encouraged by his artistic family to master his craft and studied under leading Cairo music teachers. When he moved to Saudi Arabia he joined several Bedouin tribes which gave him a rich insight into the cultural origins of Middle Eastern music and became the inspiration for many of his later rhythmic directions.

In the mid-1970s Hossam moved to London, England and enjoyed a lot of success as a jazz drummer, working with many respected jazz musicians including Andy Sheppard and Geoff Williams. As he began looking for new dimensions of percussive sounds, he turned back to Egyptian Drums, and traditional dance rhythms of the Middle East.

Hossam also creates many new sounds from the old traditional grooves and Arabian & North African samples and loops using his state-of-the-art digital studio in London.

Hossam's No. 1 hit Edony that topped the dance charts worldwide in 2001. His percussion, North African string arrangements and exciting rhythms caught the attention of Peter Gabriel who invited Hossam to perform on Passion and later Us. Hossam collaborated on eleven albums with Peter Gabriel since 2001.

Hossam worked with many musicians including Joan Armatrading and Mary Wilson. Hossam creates string arrangements and percussion, and produces many songs for world artists such as: Yesim Salkim, Celick Erici, Khaled, Tarkan, Rachid Taha, Faudel, The Gipsy Kings and Youssou N'dour.

Recording Artist Producer

Hossam Ramzy's friends call him The Egyptian Rhythm Ambassador. He recorded his first solo album, “An Introduction To Egyptian Dance Rhythms” in 1987. This album was a break from his career as one of the most sought-after session percussionists of his generation. His CV at the time read like a who’s who of 80s music - Boy George, Marc Almond, Peter Gabriel and Killing Joke were just a few of his clients. After achieving this success, Hossam decided to look deeply at his own musical roots. This decision became an artistic conversation that produced some of the most inspired Egyptian and Arabian beats ever recorded. Hossam said that his intention was to record, document, enhance and contribute to the rhythms and compositions of a musical and dance culture that was slowly being eroded by the desire for progress, modernisation and superficial Westernisation. Hossam was convinced that a vital musical and cultural tradition and heritage would be lost if many of the compositions that he knew and loved so deeply were not recorded for future generations. Hossam contributed his own compositions too and his record collection reached 22 CDs from 1987 to 2007.

These recordings fall into five loosely-woven strands that come together under the banner of Hossam Ramzy. These five strands are:

Egyptian Dance Music Recordings

The first strand looks very closely at the traditions of Egyptian dance music across the Middle East, titles like “RO-HE Classical Egyptian Bellydance” and “Baladi Plus” and “Best of Baladi and Saidi”.

Rythmic Tradition Recordings

The second strand looks at rhythmic traditions like “Egyptian Rai”, which is a politicised form of Middle Eastern self-expression. The word Rai literally means opinion as exemplified on the classic recording Egyptian Rai.

Recordings with Middle Eastern Artists

Then there are Hossam's collaborations with other Middle Eastern artists like Mohsen Allaam (Accordion), Rafat Misso (saxophone), Maged Sorour, Mohammed Naiem, Dalinda and the Gypsies of the Nile.

Tributes to the Great Singers of the Middle East

The fourth type of recordings looks at the great Middle Eastern composers like Abdul Halim Hafiz, Om Kolthoum (The greatest singer to come out of the Middle East), Farid Al Atrash and Mohamed Abdul Wahab. Hossam recorded tributes to these artists with his own Egyptian Ensemble which has 6 core members and sometimes plays concerts with 30 members.

World Music Recordings

There is also Hossam's original compositions, which fall broadly into the World/ Crossover camp as they hold the influences of his Egyptian childhood and his contemporary European lifestyle. These include titles like “Source of Fire”, “Secrets of The Eye” , “Gamaal Rowhany”, “Faddah”, “Sabla Tolo” and “Sabla Tolo II”.

Master Percussionist

As a professional percussionist, Hossam Ramzy has astrident, precise and unique style can be heard records made in the past 20 years. These include eleven Peter Gabriel albums, arranged the Egyptian strings and percussion on the Page and Plant / Unledded tour and unplugged session for MTV. Hossam collaborated with some of today's well known North African talents like Khaled, Rachid Taha and Faudel.

Jazz and Percussion Work in Europe

Hossam lived in the UK since the mid seventies. In his early days in the south UK, Hossam played drums for jazz musicians Andy Sheppard and Geoff Williams. Peter Gabriel described Hossam Ramzy to the Evening Standard in 1988 as “a very talented Egyptian percussionist”. Robert Plant of the rock group Led Zeppelin acknowledges him for his “diligence” on the No Quarter Unledded recordings and DVD, with The Chicago Times and said that Hossam Ramzy was “the fuel behind Robert Plant and Jimmy Page’s Unledded World Tour.”

Cinematic Credits

Hossam Ramzy's cinematic credits include “Wings of a Dove”, “The Hunchback of Notre Dame”, “The Last Temptation of Christ”, “The Saint”, “Stargate”, “The Governess”, “Meenaxi, The Tale of Three Cities”, “Goodbye Lenin” and “Stealing Beauty”.

Hossam's Recording Studios

Hossam has his own studio in Sussex and is building a large studio complex in the Egyptian desert 30 km outside of Cairo. For the last two decades he has recorded his music arrangements using the best Arabian string players in Egypt and North Africa. The historic “1-2-3 Soleils” concert and subsequent album show Hossam taking on the role of Orchestra Director, Arranger and Lead Percussionist on a project uniting the talents of Khaled, Taha and Faudel from Algeria, with well known guitarist and producer Steve Hillage.

Concerts Tours and Music Arrangements

Concert Tours

Hossam loves to go on concert tours. He has toured as a percussionist with Page & Plant, Peter Gabriel, Sting and many more artists.

Recordings and Music Arrangements

Hossam recently completed recording some string arrangements for Ricky Martin, they were commissioned by Sony for Ricky's new album. Hossam recorded them with his Egyptian Ensemble in Cairo. Hossam also recently completed recording sessions for Jay-Z. He played a live show a few months ago with Grammy Award winners Chick Corea, Isaac Hayes and Mark Isham. The beat certainly does go on for Hossam Ramzy, - in his case it’s poly rhythmic and with strings!

Discography

Hossam Ramzy Discography

• Bedouin Tribal Dance [2]
• Ro-He [3]
• Baladi Plus [4]
• Egyptian Rai [5]
• Best of Om Kolthoum [6]
• Best of Abdul Halim Hafiz [7]
• Best of Mohammed Abdul Wahab [8]
• Best of Farid Al Atrash [9]
• Source of Fire [10]
• Ahlamy [11]
• Gamaal Rawhany [12]
• Best of Baladi & Saaidi [13]
• Rhythms of the Nile [14]
• Secrets of the Eye [15]
• Sabla Tolo [16]
• El Amar [17]
• The Best of Hossam Ramzy [18]
• Faddah [19]
• Quanun El Tarab [20]
• A Tribute to Samy El Bably [21]
• Flamenco Arabe Hossam Ramzy / Rafa El Tachuela [22]
• Sabla Tolo II [23]
• Mohamed Naiem Master of the Arabian Flute [24]
• Enchanted Egypt - Phil Thornton & Hossam Ramzy [25]
• The Best of Hossam Ramzy, Vol II [26]
• Flamenco Arabe 2, Hossam Ramzy & Jose Luis Monton [27]
• Bedouin Tribal Dance [28]

Other Artists Produced By Hossam Ramzy

• Gypsies of the Nile

[29]

• Egyptian Sufi

[30]

• Dalinda - Turquoise

[31]

• Flamenco Arabe Hossam Ramzy / Rafa El Tachuela

[32]

• Azza - Music from Sudan

[33]

• Mohammed Naiem Master of the Arabian Flute

[34]

Awards

In 1994 Robert Plant and Jimmy Page (ex-Led Zeppelin) invited Hossam work on their reunion album 'No Quarter - Unledded' with other Arabian musicians, he was awarded a gold, then a platinum disc for his work on the album. This led to his joining Page & Plant on their historic reunion 1995/96 world tour.

Hossam was awarded a platinum disc for being a top selling artist of ARC Music Record Company, during their 25th Anniversary in 2001.

External links

• Hossam Ramzy's site
• Hossam Ramzy on Answers.com
• Fan site for Hossam Ramzy, The Sultan of Swing
• Hossam Ramzy's interview with ART+ on KDRT public radio

See also

• Egyptians
• List of Egyptians
• Belly Dance
• Tabla
• Ney
• Bedouin
• Flamenco
• Jazz
• Fusion_(music)

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