Hossam Ramzy

Egyptian percussionist Hossam Ramzy is perhaps best known in the West as a purveyor of "belly dance" music, but he has a long and varied career as a musician in Egypt as well as in the West where he played jazz. The term "rai" is a reference to a movement across many Islamic countries to update traditional music and make it more accessible; Egyptian Rai is an attempt to bring together disparate elements both from Ramzy's life and from the region as a whole.

The current album thus covers a lot of ground. Take the piece "Othrak Ma-ak Othrak": Like many traditional Arabic pieces, it opens with a long solo for oud (lute) but soon percussion and even a trumpet and an accordion enter. The resulting exchanges, building on short phrases, are as much jazz as they are traditional Arabic music; they develop a nice groove. (That two such diverse musical styles can be blended has been proved repeatedly by such musicians as Rabih Abou-Khalil.) The sound is generally leaner and more varied than Ramzy's "belly dance" efforts, with fewer strings and less use of synthesizer, but still instrumental. The track "Wah Wah," with its funky bass and bang-on-a-can percussion opening, is one of several "party songs" on the album.

While Ramzy is always somewhat limited by his material, Egyptian Rai is a very good example of how two musical traditions can be fused without degrading either. Good fun. ~ Kurt Keefner, All Music Guide