Hani Naser is a musician from Jordan

Jordan

Jordan , officially the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan , Al-Mamlaka al-Urduniyya al-Hashemiyya) is a kingdom on the East Bank of the River Jordan. The country borders Saudi Arabia to the east and south-east, Iraq to the north-east, Syria to the north and the West Bank and Israel to the west, sharing...

. He specializes in the oud

Oud

The oud is a pear-shaped stringed instrument commonly used in North African and Middle Eastern music. The modern oud and the European lute both descend from a common ancestor via diverging paths...

 and hand percussion instruments, particularly the goblet drum

Goblet drum

The goblet drum is a hand drum with a goblet shape used mostly in the Middle East, North Africa, and Eastern Europe....

 and djembe

Djembe

A djembe also known as jembe, jenbe, djbobimbe, jymbe, yembe, or jimbay, or sanbanyi in Susu; is a skin-covered drum meant played with bare hands....

.

Considered a master in his field, Naser inspired Randy Lewis of the Los Angeles Times

Los Angeles Times

The Los Angeles Times is a daily newspaper published in Los Angeles, California, since 1881. It was the second-largest metropolitan newspaper in circulation in the United States in 2008 and the fourth most widely distributed newspaper in the country....

to call him a "Veritable Hand Drum Wizard." The breadth of Naser's talent has earned him the opportunity to perform and record with many of the most influential artists of this era including Nickey Hopkins (Rolling Stones), Jackson Browne

Jackson Browne

Jackson Browne is an American singer-songwriter and musician who has sold over 17 million albums in the United States alone....

, Bonnie Raitt

Bonnie Raitt

Bonnie Lynn Raitt is an American blues singer-songwriter and a renowned slide guitar player. During the 1970s, Raitt released a series of acclaimed roots-influenced albums which incorporated elements of blues, rock, folk and country, but she is perhaps best known for her more commercially...

, Ry Cooder

Ry Cooder

Ryland Peter "Ry" Cooder is an American guitarist, singer and composer. He is known for his slide guitar work, his interest in roots music from the United States, and, more recently, his collaborations with traditional musicians from many countries.His solo work has been eclectic, encompassing...

, Jim Keltner

Jim Keltner

James Lee "Jim" Keltner is an American drummer known primarily for his session work. He has contributed to the work of many well-known artists...

 (John Lennon

John Lennon

John Winston Lennon, MBE was an English musician and singer-songwriter who rose to worldwide fame as one of the founding members of The Beatles, one of the most commercially successful and critically acclaimed acts in the history of popular music...

's drummer), Steve Miller

Steve Miller (musician)

Steven H. "Steve" Miller is an American guitarist and singer-songwriter who began his career in blues and blues rock and evolved to a more popular-oriented sound which, from the mid 1970s through the early 1980s, resulted in a series of successful singles and albums.-Early years:Born in Milwaukee,...

, Los Lobos

Los Lobos

Los Lobos are a multiple Grammy Award–winning American Chicano rock band from East Los Angeles, California. Their music is influenced by rock and roll, Tex-Mex, country, folk, R&B, blues, brown-eyed soul, and traditional Spanish and Mexican music such as cumbia, boleros and norteños.-History:The...

, Violent Femmes

Violent Femmes

Violent Femmes were an American alternative rock band from Milwaukee, Wisconsin, initially active between 1980 and 1987 and again from 1988 to 2009...

, Don Henley

Don Henley

Donald Hugh "Don" Henley is an American singer, songwriter and drummer, best known as a founding member of the Eagles before launching a successful solo career. Henley was the drummer and lead vocalist for the Eagles from 1971–1980, when the band broke up...

, Hamza El Din

Hamza El Din

Hamza Alaa El Din was a Nubian composer, oud player, tar player, and vocalist.-Early life:Born in the village of Toshka, near Wadi Halfa in southern Egypt, he was originally trained to be an electrical engineer...

, Kazu Matsui, Jennifer Warnes, David Broza

David Broza

David Broza is a multi-platinum Israeli singer-songwriter and guitarist.-Personal life:The son of an Israeli–British businessman and a folk singer, Broza was born in Haifa, Israel. He was raised and educated in England and Spain, where he was schooled at Runnymede College, in Madrid...

, Paco de Lucía

Paco de Lucía

Paco de Lucía, born Francisco Sánchez Gómez , is a Spanish virtuoso flamenco guitarist and composer. He is considered by many to be one of the finest guitarists in the world and the greatest guitarist of the flamenco genre...

, Santana, Brian Ritchie, Tony Trischka

Tony Trischka

Tony Trischka is an American five-string banjo player.-Biography:Tony Trischka was born in Syracuse, New York, and graduated from Syracuse University with a B.A in Fine Arts, and was inspired to play the banjo in 1963, listening to the Kingston Trio's "Charlie and The MTA". Trischka was a...

, Leftover Salmon

Leftover Salmon

Leftover Salmon is a jam band from Boulder, Colorado, formed in 1989. Their unique blend of bluegrass, rock, country, and Cajun/Zydeco, which the band calls "Polyethnic Cajun Slamgrass", has found favor with the jam band scene...

, Quick Silver Messenger Service, John Hiatt

John Hiatt

John Hiatt is an American rock guitarist, pianist, singer, and songwriter. He has played a variety of musical styles on his albums, including New Wave, blues and country. Hiatt has been nominated for several Grammy Awards - although he has never won- and has been awarded a variety of other...

, Warren Zevon

Warren Zevon

Warren William Zevon was an American rock singer-songwriter and musician noted for including his sometimes sardonic opinions of life in his musical lyrics, composing songs that were sometimes humorous and often had political or historical themes.Zevon's work has often been praised by well-known...

, Ruben Blades

Rubén Blades

Rubén Blades Bellido de Luna is a Panamanian salsa singer, songwriter, lawyer, actor, Latin jazz musician, and politician, performing musically most often in the Afro-Cuban and Latin jazz genres...

, Lou Reed

Lou Reed

Lewis Allan "Lou" Reed is an American rock musician, songwriter, and photographer. He is best known as guitarist, vocalist, and principal songwriter of The Velvet Underground, and for his successful solo career, which has spanned several decades...

, The Blind Boys of Alabama

The Blind Boys of Alabama

The Blind Boys of Alabama are a gospel group from Alabama that first formed at the Alabama Institute for the Negro Blind at Talladega, Alabama in 1939. The three main vocalists of the group and their drummer/percussionist are all blind....

, David Lindley

David Lindley (musician)

David Perry Lindley is an American musician who is notable for his work with Jackson Browne, Warren Zevon, and other rock musicians. He has worked extensively in other genres as well, performing with artists as varied as Curtis Mayfield and Dolly Parton...

, and many others. Naser is at home in a multitude of musical styles and has a reputation as an expert improviser and prolific songwriter.

As a child in the hills above Jordan, Hani remembers many mornings listening to his grandfather (ABU FARHAN), the village poet recite poetry while grinding fresh roasted coffee with a stick in a gourd like pot. Accompanied by the rhythmic crunching of the beans, his stories and songs provided a rich beginning for Naser's musical path. This unique influence is the source of Hani’s eclectic drumming style. Nowhere is this better revealed than in his recent collaborations with rock legend David Lindley. During the duo’s seven years of touring the world, they produced what Paul Harrar of The Union calls "One of the finest jam sessions in the music business." Reviewing a concert featuring David Lindley and Hani Naser, Los Angeles Times music critic Randy Lewis writes: "David and Hani make a convincing case for the essence of musical forms and in the process they have produced an enduring testament to the timeless flexibility and resonance of the Middle Eastern, Flamenco, Rock n Roll, Jazz, and Blues forms." Their album Live in Tokyo was chosen by Guitar Player

Guitar Player

Guitar Player is a popular magazine for guitarists founded in 1967. It contains articles, interviews, reviews and lessons of an eclectic collection of artists, genres and products. It has been in print since the late 1960s and during the 1980s, under editor Tom Wheeler, the publication was...

magazine as one of the top 100 albums of the last decade.

Naser was featured on Hamza El Din's latest album A Wish which topped the World Music charts. For Hani music doesn't have a perspective, or an opinion, it doesn’t allow for that. Music only allows for the moment. Throughout his life Hani has had a holistic sense of musical experience and the need to communicate that on a global level. He recently toured the war-torn Middle East with Israeli singer-songwriter David Broza to promote peace through music, a mission very close to Hani's heart. They were invited by the Israel

Israel

The State of Israel is a parliamentary republic located in the Middle East, along the eastern shore of the Mediterranean Sea...

i and Jordanian Governments to perform in concert during the peace signing between the two countries.

Hani has also lead intensive workshops entitled "The Healing Powers of Rhythm and Music." Naser's lifelong exploration of the spiritual dimensions of music has led him to the realization that "Every drum has its own voice." Going deeper into the mysteries of music he continues, "There is a universal rhythm that I am constantly trying to be in touch with. We are vibrations. Sometimes vibrations get out of sync. Music, I have found, brings back that balance."

Hani Naser continues to lead these workshops at the Esalen Institute

Esalen Institute

Esalen Institute is a residential community and retreat in Big Sur, California, which focuses upon humanistic alternative education. Esalen is a nonprofit organization devoted to activites such as meditation, massage, Gestalt, yoga, psychology, ecology, and spirituality...

and other institutions and has formed a band with Walfredo Reyes Jr., Armand Sabal-Lecco, and Craig Eastman.

External links

• Hani Naser official site
• Hani Naser page from ARTISTdirect site