Album Notes

Reda Darwish is one of the premier drummers in the San Francisco bay area where he has lived for 20 years. His music contains wonderful authenic rhythms and incorporates the old with the new. Many dancers use his music.
Reda is originally from Egypt He grew up in Cairo and Alexandria where the middle eastern rhythms flowed all around him. His older brother bought him his first drums at the age of 7. Reda received a lot of encouragement from his brother who told Reda that "he had hands of silk". when he played the drums. At the age of 9, Reda was performing on Egyptian TV. At the age of 13 he was playing in egyptian nightclubs at night and attending school during the day. At the ripe old age of 15, he quit the nightclub scene and began playing with one of the finest orchestra in the middle east. It was called Hani Mahana.
They toured Europe, the Gulf states and the Middle east. At that time thee also did a lot of studio recordings.

Reda graduated from Law school at Cairo University in 1980. He first toured the USA in 1982. In 1984 he moved here. He records, teaches and plays in various venues around the San Francisco Bay area. He won the International Academy of Middle Eastern Dance award for music in 2001 for his CD "Halawah". He music can be found on "the Rough Guide to Belly Dancing" that was released this year.

His latest release is called "Ya Salaam."