Adel Shams El Din – Arabic percussion seminar

– Tenues et techniques ; ornementations, technique du riqq en particulier. Mais également darbuka, bendir (daf) : comme l’effectif reste réduit, Adel a tout le temps de s’occuper de chacun!
– Travail sur tout type de cycle rythmique, simples ou complexes, selon le niveau des stagiaires.
– ­Apprentissage des cycles rythmiques complexes.

ABOUT THE INSTRUCTOR

Already established with a reputation of master musician in his late twenties in Egypt, at the age of 30 Adel Shams El-Din left his double career as soloist with the Radio of Alexandria and mechanical engineer with the Egyptian railways to come to Europe and concentrate on his career as a musician. His exceptional technique, exquisite sound, and vast knowledge of rhythmic cycles from Middle Eastern music to jazz and flamenco, make him the most sought after riqq (classical Arabic tambourine) player on the international stage today. He insists on playing the traditional Egyptian fish skin riqqs because in his words, “The sound is the soul of the instrument; and that sound creates the soul of the music.”

Adel Shams El-Din was born in Alexandria in 1950. He is now considered one of the most talented riqq players on which he seems capable of resonating in turn each of the ten pairs of metal jingles around the instrument. He was introduced to percussion by his older brother Shams and made his stage debut at the age of 11. He studied with the brilliant composer and musicologist Fathi Guened who taught him not only the basic rhythms of percussion but also the Arab maqam and to read music, theory, and history.

El-Din made his professional debut in 1970 at the Alexandria radio, replacing the great master Samir Ben Yamine of the Opera Orchestra of Alexandria as riqq soloist. Arriving in France in 1979, he was quickly integrated into various oriental music groups, including Ensemble Al-Kindi, of which he is co-founder and with whom he has toured the world. He has also played with Syrian singers Sabri Moudallal, Adib Al-Dâyikh Omar Sarmini, and Hamza Abed Azrie Shakuur, with the grand master of Moroccan oud Said Chraibi, and with Tunisian singer Lotfi Bouchnak. He has also performed with international artists such as Jean-Michel Jarre, Michel Sanchez, and Zakir Hussein. He has recorded more than 50 CDs and has worked on a dozen film scores. He also recorded a solo album Forty Rhythms of the Middle East (Buda Musique).