Mahmoud Fadl - Nubian Master Drummer

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"A couple of years ago, at the Enjoy Parade in Berlin, it took a rather unique form-a drum & DJ project referred to as UNITED NUBIANS that spread the message of the 'Black Pharaohs' to the club circuit. The project survived the occasion and these days, on the dark stage, I at times travel household on a tribal house beat to the rhythms of my childhood."

Mahmoud Fadl

Mahmoud Fadl, the celebrated Nubian Master Drummer was born in 1955. He was raised in the cities of Assuan and Cairo in Egypt, and his Nubian background is rooted in the Griot culture of the "Battikol" people today. Mahmoud began out as a musician at Nubian and Arabic wedding events as well as a limbo dancer. He soon became a significantly sought after commodity, playing with the likes of Ahmed Adawia and Nubian legend Ali Hassan Kuban. Right after a quantity of international tours, Mahmoud Fadl secured a place for his music in Europe and began to create an international portfolio.

The Nubian people's legacy extends far into antiquity, predating Egyptian civilization. Some current finds by French archaeologists have suggested that Nubia pre-dated Egypt by as substantially as 3,000 years and is, in all likelihood, the source of Egyptian civilization. The flooding of the Aswan dam, forced Mahmoud Fadl and thousands of Nubians to leave their homeland in Nubia, which is located today in Northern Sudan and Southern Egypt and drowned old Nubia and countless Nubian monuments and historical web sites.

As a musical director, Mahmoud Fadl contributed to a 4 album project known as "Salamat", released on Piranha records, which focussed on the music of the legendary and suppressed Nubian culture. He has four albums released under his own name and on 1 of them pays a Nubian homage to deceased pan-Arabian diva Umm Kalthoum, showcasing the voice of Salwa Abou Greisha from the well-known Greisha family of Nubian musicians, with accompaniment from the Cairo Opera. Mahmoud's album "Drummers of the Nile", capabilities ancient music from along the nile, and he collaborates with fellow drummers Gaafar Hargal and Hamdi Matoul, Nubian wedding diva Salma and a large number of additional musicians. He has also collaborated with The Klezmatics (New York), Orientalist piano player Maurice El Medioni (Marseille/Oran) and the popular gypsy saxophone player Ferus Mustafov (Skopje). Mahmoud also introduced western audiences to the distinguished grandmaster of oriental trumpet, Samy El Bably, on an alluring album known as "Really like Letters from King Tut-Ank Amen."

Currently, Mahmoud travels in between Cairo and Berlin working on diverse projects. His existing tribal house project entitled "United Nubians" has earned him substantially international acclaim in the vibrant Berlin club scene. In addition to his work as a musician, film actor and fashion designer, Mahmoud Fadl regularly performs with the West-African Griot Ensemble, "Saf-Sap" on oriental wedding and musical workshops.

You can listen to Mahmoud Fadl and several far more African musicians at Kemet Music Radio.

Selected Discography:

Album: Drummers of The Nile In Town

Label: Piranha

Year: 2003

Album: Drummers of The Nile Go South

Label: Piranha

Year: 2001

Album: Umm Kalthoum 7000

Label: Piranha

Year: 2000

Album: Adore Letters From King Tut-Ank Amen

Label: Piranha

Year: 1998

Album: Ezzayakoum

Label: Piranha

Year: 1998

Album: Drummers of the Nile

Label: Piranha

Year: 1997

Album: Nubiana

Label: Piranha

Year: 1996

Album: Salam Delta

Label: Piranha

Year: 1995

Album: Mambo El Soudani

Label: Piranha

Year: 1994