By Khalifa Hemed
Published September 14, 2019
A percussionist who has been travelling the world to perform, educate in the art of dance, arrange music for international artist, release albums and produce music for artists from all around the world over the past 30 years has died.
Hossam Ramzy, an Egyptian percussionist and world music star, passed away at the age of 65 in Brazil where he was undergoing treatment for a heart condition on September 10, 2019.
A statement from world and folk music specialists, ARC Music Productions International of Britain, says the late Ramzy ‘travelled the world, educating in the art of true Egyptian dance. His philosophies of dance and rhythm helped tens-of-thousands of dancers and percussionists perfect their crafts. During this time, he somehow found the time to release some thirty albums of Egyptian dance and world music, and produce countless more for artists from all around the world.’
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Known as Egypt’s Ambassador of Rhythm, his goal of injecting Egyptian rhythms into public consciousness led him to arrange music for (among others) Jimmy Page & Robert Plant (Led Zeppelin), Shakira, Ricky Martin and AR Rahman, feature on recordings by Peter Gabriel and Jay-Z, and compose music for numerous films, ARC Music says.
Born in Cairo in 1953, Ramzy’s musical career is said to have begun at the age of three when he was given his first drum – an Egyptian tabla. His passion for percussion was noted by his family who encouraged him to master his craft by studying with the leading music teachers of Egypt. A move to Saudi Arabia introduced Hossam to many of the Bedouin tribes who gave the young Hossam a rich insight into the cultural origins of Middle Eastern music that became the inspiration for many of his later rhythmic directions.
In the mid-1970s Ramzy moved to England, and enjoyed great success as a jazz and Latin style drummer working with many highly respected jazz musicians like Andy Sheppard and Geoff Williams. But, as he began looking for new dimensions of percussive sounds, he found himself turning full circle, back to his first love, the Egyptian drums, and the thrilling dance rhythms of the Middle East.
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The distinctive sound of Hossam Ramzy’s percussion and the exciting rhythms on his albums caught the imagination of Peter Gabriel who invited him to perform on his albums, Passion and Us.
Ramzy went on to work with many top musicians, including Joan Armatrading and Mari Wilson.
In 1994 Robert Plant and Jimmy Page (Led Zeppelin) invited Hossam to bring together a band of Arabian musicians and work on their reunion album No Quarter – Unledded, which was certified triple platinum. This led to Hossam joining Page and Plant on their historic reunion 1995/96 world tour.
Since then, Hossam toured extensively with various artists, such as Pino Daniele of Italy as well as many of the top Arabian singers, like Cheb Khaled, Rachid Taha, Faudel and Yeşim Salkım, one of the most popular female singers from Turkey. Hossam released some thirty albums and two DVDs of Egyptian dance and world music, with many of them dedicated to percussion and rhythms of the world, and produced countless others.
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He has also collaborated in composing and performing many award-winning film soundtracks, such as Stargate, Wings of a Dove, The Saint, The Hunchback of Notre Dame, Stealing Beauty, The Last Temptation of Christ, Stardust, Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time, Conan The Barbarian 3D and The Dictator.
Hossam Ramzy performed with Sting on the Michael Parkinson TV Show. He won the New Age Voice Award for “Best Contemporary World Music” for his album Immortal Egypt in collaboration with Phil Thornton. He also joined the Masters of Percussion from Africa Ensemble for a concert at the Royal Festival Hall in London featuring the world famous Brazilian percussionist Airto Moreira. In 2007 he played a live show with the legendary Grammy Award winners Chick Corea, Isaac Hayes and Mark Isham. He composed and arranged music for Shakira’s album She Wolf (EPIC) as well as the single Empire.
In 2011 Ramzy released the biggest album of his career, Rock The Tabla, a collaborative project featuring some of the world’s top musicians including A.R. Rahman, Billy Cobham, Omar Faruk Tekbilek, Manu Katché and Joji Hirota. Rock the Tabla earned Hossam a nomination for Best Artist in the Songlines Music Awards 2012.
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Hossam Ramzy was honoured in 2014 with the prestigious Taichi Traditional Music Awards (Chinese Institute of Music) for his project Bedouin Tribal Dance, depicting the traditional wedding rituals of nomadic Bedouins.
More recently, he toured with Joe Bonamassa, including two special nights in New York recorded live for the “Joe Bonamassa Live at Carnegie Hall – An Acoustic Evening” special, which went to No.1 on the Billboard US Blues Album chart.
2019 was capped by a special performance alongside Loreena McKennitt at London’s iconic Royal Albert Hall.
