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Hossam Ramzy's "Rock the Tabla" Released Aug. 30 in North America by Naxos of America, Inc. and Arc Music Productions

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Hossam Ramzy, Legendary Percussionist, Assembles All-Star Cast Including Billy Cobham Jr., Manu Katche, A.R. Rahman, et al. “Rock the Tabla" Debuts in the U.S. and Canada on August 30

Legendary percussionist Hossam Ramzy realizes a 10-year dream with the release of Rock The Tabla. For this album, Hossam decided to invite some of his friends and the musicians that he most respects and admires to join him. The fact that A. R. Rahman, Billy Cobham, Manu Katche, and Omar Faruk Tekbilek were very keen to accept the invitation is testament to the respect that the musical world holds for Ramzy.

While Hossam has enjoyed a distinguished solo career as perhaps the leading exponent of Egyptian music of modern times, he has also dedicated a large part of his career to collaborations. From Led Zeppelin to Shakira, Hossam has worked with some of the biggest stars and most talented musicians in the world.

With Rock The Tabla, Ramzy turns the tables and invites some top musical talents to contribute to an album of his own. “You can expect music that is born out of love and respect for these artists and music that really just moves me personally," he says. The idea for Rock The Tabla was conceived some 10 years ago, and while it has been a huge part of Hossam's life and career for the last decade, in that time he has still managed to release more than a dozen other albums under his own name and perform on many more. He has travelled the world with his Egyptian dance concerts and workshops, worked with some of pop's biggest names (including Ricky Martin), and contributed to several motion picture soundtracks.

Selecting the musicians for Rock The Tabla was not a proposition Hossam took lightly. “Perfection takes time," he quips. So how did he come to choose the artists to invite to be part of the album?

“Billy Cobham is one of my biggest idols," says Hossam. “When I first heard his playing [on the Mahavishnu Orchestra album Birds of Fire], I thought 'Yes, this is what I want to do. I want to play like this, in my own interpretation, but at this quality.' He was a major source of inspiration for me, so how could I not invite him?"

“A.R. Rahman contacted me in 2002 out of the blue; he was doing a film called Meenaxi: A Tale of 3 Cities. I was so touched that he would come all the way to meet me in my home and ask me to play on the soundtrack. I fell in love with the guy and we became such good brothers. I don't think we have really discovered this man's dimensions or the full extent of his creativity yet."

Hossam had previously worked with Manu Katche on Peter Gabriel's albums and with Omar Faruk Tekbilek on a tour of Australia. “These are people I really have the highest musical, and human, respect for," he says.

Rock The Tabla is the highlight-to-date of a lifetime dedicated to music. Having left Egypt for England in the mid-1970s to ply his trade as a jazz drummer, Hossam soon found his way to working with Andy Sheppard and Geoff Williams. This set the course for a career of high-profile collaborations.

Returning to his first love of ethnic Egyptian percussion lead Hossam to work with Peter Gabriel, and in the mid-90s Jimmy Page & Robert Plant (Led Zeppelin) asked Hossam to assemble a band of Egyptian musicians and join them on their 'No Quarter: Unledded' reunion tour and subsequent album. Hossam would provide Arabic arrangements to Led Zeppelin classics such as “Kashmir" and “Four Sticks." In time, everyone from The Rolling Stones to Sting and Loreena McKennitt would invite Hossam to work with them. His desire and ability to inject Egyptian and Middle Eastern rhythms into popular music has earned Hossam the moniker 'Egypt's Ambassador of Rhythm.' With Rock The Tabla, the ambassador receives his guests on his home ground.

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