Arab artists in our catalogue

Hossam Ramzy

Egyptian percussionist and arranger who brought Arabic rhythm to Jimmy Page and Robert Plant's No Quarter.

Hossam Ramzy (1953–2019) was an Egyptian percussionist, composer and arranger, born in Cairo, and one of the best-known ambassadors of Arabic rhythm in the West.

In 1994 Jimmy Page and Robert Plant asked him to assemble an ensemble of Arabic string players and percussionists for their reunion album No Quarter – Unledded, and he toured with them through 1995. He also arranged for artists including Shakira, Ricky Martin and A.R. Rahman, and his recording of Abdel Halim Hafez's "Khosara" was sampled on Jay-Z's "Big Pimpin'".

In the Audio Network catalogue he co-wrote the album Arabic Lifestyle with Michael and Maryann Tedstone, blending Arabic percussion, oud and ney with contemporary production.

Omar Fadel

Film composer raised in Dubai, behind the Oscar-nominated short Day One and Netflix's first Saudi original, Six Windows in the Desert.

Omar Fadel is an Egyptian-American composer for film, television and video games, born in Houston and raised between Texas and Dubai. After studying at the University of Texas at Austin he moved to Los Angeles, and in 2016 he was a fellow of the Sundance Institute's Film Music Composers Lab.

His credits include The Dictator (with Erran Baron Cohen), the Academy Award-nominated short Day One, Assassin's Creed IV: Black Flag (with Brian Tyler) and the Emmy-nominated documentaries The Judge and Belly of the Beast. Much of his work returns to the Arab world: Yomeddine, the Egyptian film that competed at Cannes, Disney's Arabic-language feature The United, and Six Windows in the Desert, Netflix's first original programming from Saudi Arabia.

In the Audio Network catalogue he writes with Dario Forzato: contemporary electronic tracks built for picture.

Tarek Elazhary

Cairo-based oud player and composer, trained under the Iraqi oud master Naseer Shamma.

Tarek Elazhary is an Egyptian oud player, composer and teacher based in Cairo. He trained at the Arabic Oud House under the Iraqi oud master Naseer Shamma and has taught oud in Cairo.

He co-founded the band Dokkan, which brings Arab music together with contemporary sounds, and recorded the album So Far We Have Come with British multi-instrumentalist Tamsin Elliott, exploring the links between Egyptian and English folk music.

For Audio Network he co-wrote Minaret Vistas with Michael Tedstone: Saudi-inspired folk fusion built on oud, qanun, reed woodwind and traditional percussion.

Louai Alhenawi

Syrian composer and ney soloist who leads the London Syrian Ensemble.

Louai Alhenawi is a Syrian composer and ney soloist who studied and taught at the Damascus Conservatoire. He leads the London Syrian Ensemble and was musical director of Umm Kulthum, the first Arabic musical staged in the UK, which premiered at the London Palladium.

In the Audio Network catalogue, where he is credited as Louai Henawi, he co-wrote the album Maghreb with Glenn Sharp: North African chaabi and Arabic dance music with ney, oud, qanun and Egyptian accordion.