Rare Tracks on Anniversary of Return from Egypt

By David Lemieux

In September, 1978, musical worlds collided when renowned Egyptian oud player Hamza El Din, along with the Nubian Youth Choir, joined the Grateful Dead onstage during all three concerts they performed at the foot of the Pyramids of Egypt. The collaboration resulted in the hypnotic, polyrhythmic tune “Ollin Arageed,” written by Hamza himself. It was a true meeting of two completely divergent, yet totally complementary, musical styles. After the Egypt concerts, the Dead returned to America as triumphant, world-travelling heroes, and at the final two of their five night return engagement at Winterland, Hamza joined the band onstage to introduce the song to the American masses. Over the next seven years, Hamza would perform “Ollin Arageed” with the Grateful Dead live four more times, with the final collaboration in March, 1985.

Fast forward to 2004. We were searching through the vault for bonus material to feature on the reissue of “Shakedown Street” to be included in the Beyond Description boxed set, when we came across a studio session reel with a remarkable item at the end of it. It was a rehearsal recorded on August 11, 1978 at the Grateful Dead's Front Street studio, featuring Hamza on oud, Mickey Hart on the tar, and Jerry Garcia on acoustic guitar. They were working out the arrangement for Ollin Arageed. In addition to a good, short version of the tune, they also proceeded to play an interesting, Middle Eastern-inspired song. And now, for the first time, those recordings are available to Dead Heads. It is truly our pleasure to be able to share these two studio rehearsal tracks with you in celebration of the 30th Anniversary of the “From Egypt With Love” concerts.

Listen to all the tracks

Track 1

Track 2