Hossam Ramzy

Biography

Hossam Ramzy (حسام رمزي‎, Cairo, Egypt, December 15, 1953 - September 11, 2019) was an Egyptian percussionist and composer. He has worked with Western artists like Jimmy Page and Robert Plant as well as with Arabic music artists like Rachid Taha and Khaled. His musical career began as early as the age of three when he was given his first drum, an Egyptian traditional Tabla. Hossam was encouraged by his artistic family members to master his craft and studied under leading Cairo music teachers. W...

Hossam Ramzy (حسام رمزي‎, Cairo, Egypt, December 15, 1953 - September 11, 2019) was an Egyptian percussionist and composer. He has worked with Western artists like Jimmy Page and Robert Plant as well as with Arabic music artists like Rachid Taha and Khaled.

His musical career began as early as the age of three when he was given his first drum, an Egyptian traditional Tabla. Hossam was encouraged by his artistic family members 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 1970's Hossam moved to England, and enjoyed great success as a Jazz drummer working with many respected Jazz musicians including Andy Sheperd and Geoff Williams. But 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's No# 1 hit "EDONY" that topped the dance charts worldwide back in 2001. His percussion, north african string arrangements and exciting rhythms caught the attention of Peter Gabriel and Hossam was invited to perform on PASSION and later US. Hossam has gone on to work with many top 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, Cheb Khaled, Tarkan, Rachid Taha, Faudel, The Gypsy Kings.

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 rewarded a GOLD then a PLATINUM discs 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. Hossam also creates many new sounds of the old traditional grooves and Arabian & North African Samples & Loops using his state-of-the-arts digital studio. Read more on Last.fm. User-contributed text is available under the Creative Commons By-SA License; additional terms may apply.