Echoes of Rain - Past & Present

Hey All,

For those of you keeping up with my info, you'll know that i'm climbing up the charts over at Reverbnation.

The song in question is one of my own personal favorites and is a fan favorite aswell. The piece in question is "Echoes of Rain", and is from the "Silent Echoes" album.

Generally music is interesting in how it unfolds, and changes over the time, in reflection of the artist and their art so to speak. The piece has changed a fair amount, as my musicianship increased, and I guess from being in the moment with an audience and taking that improvisational leap into the unknown.

The first video from when I was working on the piece for the album (2007)


A performance at The American University Of Cairo, New Cairo Campus, Malak Gabr Theatre


And finally, a Private performance for you all, 2010, With a proper audio recording of how I play the piece now with all the sounds I create using Guitar Rig 3


I'm glad I caught this performance on camera. It was 90 degrees and dry... But as I started to perform this piece, this strong breeze just came out of nowhere.... And seemed to react to my playing intensity... Was a special moment & I'm happy to share it with you all.

ReverbNation

Hey all,

Quick update. I've been focusing more on my web presence & promotion, primarily with ReverbNation, since I'm actually No.6 on the charts for my region!

So for those of you who have blogs, I'd appreciate it if you're a fan if you can place one of these Banners on your page to help promote my music:




To get the code for these, either copy them directly from this post, or to make your life easier, go to this page and pick the ones you want and it'll give you the code:

http://www.reverbnation.com/page_object/page_object_banners/artist_346422

Once again, Thanks guys, you've made a big difference, and your support over the years has been very encouraging & inspiring. There are times where it seems like making a career out of music is a shot in the dark & hopeless, but then every once in awhile, people like yourselves come out & make us realize that anything is possible.

And for those of you who are interested, here's my video for the excellent Shred this 3 competition:


Thanks to Laurie Monk & Brett Garsed for this, The backing track is awesome & i'm going to enjoy practicing on it for many years to come.

Till the next update, keep spreading the word!

DFZ

Summer update

Greetings one and all. It’s been a looooooooooooooong time since I updated, and I apologize for that. I’ve been incredibly busy & have just had very little time to devote to my online endeavors. I’ve shelved 2035 for now, since I’ve been too busy to really work on it properly, but I’ve been busy with other things. In the coming months there will be some interesting music being released, involving interesting collaborations.

I made some important fixes to my website, and will be adding new content in the next few weeks. Including information on my instruments and current setup.

Stay tuned for more info!

DFZ

Divine Ratio: Progressive Music That’s actually worth listening to

For fans of progressive music, you should check these guys out. They have some great songs and some great production, and are doing some really cool music.

Be sure to check out their page on Facebook for previews of their music.

http://www.facebook.com/pages/Divine-Ratio/46437948508?ref=ts

They’ll be releasing their much awaited album this summer finally!

for more info check out http://www.divineratio.com/

March Update

Greetings all! it certainly has been awhile since i updated this blog. In all honesty, i needed a break to return to a clear mind & refresh myself from all the work of the semester.. and the recording of Failure To Adjust.

Last few months have been very productive & fruitful, I’ve acquired a new laptop for producing music (a nice Acer timeline), and also gotten my hands on some nice Duduks & flutes.

Musically, I've been on a long break, but have slowly started making work on 2035. I was aiming for a summer release, but in all honesty i will wait and see how it goes.

I’m also looking at putting a group (or groups) together to start performing live, since usually during the summer, i don’t have much work & instead of taking a holiday, I’d rather make use of the time playing my music for an audience.

Pictures & more details to come soon,

Stay tuned,

DFZ

A World Of Music

Greetings all! It’s been an interesting period of time, with all that’s going on. I wish i could say i’ve gotten much done, but i haven’t. Although that’s not completely true, i have been working allot actually, just more on the academic side then the artist side of things.

I’m very fortunate to be sharing an office with an individual who plays a very special and wonderful instrument called The Kora, which is a 21 string harp from Mali. Dr. Ryan Skinner is currently teaching the world music class at AUC, and as an Ethnomusicologist, has much to offer in terms of musical perspectives.

Ryan can be seen playing the Kora in this video taken in our office last week:

http://www.youtube.com/v/LiFI5p8S0zc

He’s also written a wonderful childrens book called Sidikiba's Kora Lesson

And here’s his official website: www.ryanskinner.org

Stay tuned, since there are definite possibilities of the pairing of the Duduk & Kora in the near future….

Failure To Adjust – Out Now!

Well Folks, My second solo album is finally out, after a long wait, what i consider my strongest & best work to date is out and available to buy at all good online music distributors.

To see the list of available places to purchase my album go here: http://www.dreamfullofzen.net/Music.html

The album is available on Itunes, Napster, Limewire, Amazon and will be available soon on Emusic & the Nokia music store.

3 Songs have been posted up on my Myspace page, including the title track “Failure To Adjust”, The mystical sounding “mirage & lastly the haunting and evocative “The Number 5”.

To visit my Myspace page, go here: http://www.myspace.com/Dreamfullofzen

I’m couldn’t be happier with how the album turned out, and I am sure it will be well recieved by my current fanbase, and hopefully broaden out and get the attention of some new listeners, Since “Silent Echoes” was a free website album, and didn’t get the exposure that F.T.A will get. And the INFINITY soundtrack wasn’t really an album as it was just a body of work i did and decided to make available online, and had practically no guitar on it whatsoever.

For more details about the album visit the F.T.A page on my site: http://www.dreamfullofzen.net/FTA.html

The Fall 2009 semester has started at A.U.C, and i have an interesting semester ahead & much work to do to keep my students on their toes, and there is talks of a guitar festival, so chances are there will be a performance by myself in November. As always more information will be posted in the not too distant future….

Till then, Be good….

DFZ