Grateful Dead/Dead & Company drummer Mickey Hart and his longtime collaborator Zakir Hussain are among the performers who appear at a concert honoring Egyptian musician Hamza El Din. As the Nile Flows: A Celebration of Hamza El Din will take place on March 21 at the Presidio Theatre in San Francisco.
Joining Hart and Hussain at the event will be fellow percussionist and regular collaborator Sikiru Adepoju. Also performing will be percussionist C.K. Ladzekpo and longtime Kronos Quartet cellist Joan Jeanrenaud leading a cello quartet made up of Robert Howard, Alex Kelly and Theresa Wong who will perform Hamza’s “Escalay (The Water Wheel).” The tribute will also present excerpts from Hamza’s autobiography, anecdotes and memories shared by his friends such as Alonzo King.
The event coincides with International Water Day is produced by Nile Project director Mina Girgis and narrated by Dr. Arif Gamal. Proceeds from will support Hamza’s Nubian community. Tickets can be purchased here.
“Hamza was the master of quiet,” Hart stated. “He taught me the soft side of drumming and how to romance my drum.”
Hamza appeared with the Grateful Dead during their legendary 1978 concerts in Egypt that were held in front of the Great Pyramid of Gizeh. Hamza’s composition “Ollin Arageed” was performed by the Dead on several occasions that year and few times in subsequent years.
Hamza El Din died in 2006 at the age of 76. Born in southern Egypt, in the late-1960s he settled in northern California where he established himself in the Bay Area music scene. Along with the Grateful Dead and Kronos Quartet, Hamza’s collaborators included the San Francisco Ballet and Lines Ballet, among many others.
