Biography
Ayman Massoud is an Egyptian keyboardist, music producer and sound engineer. He is most notably known for co-founding the award-winning rock band Massar Egbari, with which he has been performing since 2004.
Born in Alexandria in 1978, Ayman started dabbling with the keyboard at a young age. In the late 1990s, he joined El Hob Wel Salam, one of the earliest independent bands to emerge from Alexandria.
Ayman met French singer and trumpeter Benoit Fabry some years later, during his three-year stint in Alexandria. Fabry was looking to put together a band, so Ayman jumped on board. He introduced Fabry to two of his school friends — guitarist Mahmoud Siam and drummer Tamer Attallah — as well as his squash mate Ahmed Hafez, who is also a guitarist. They started off jamming on Hafez’s rooftop, and in 2004, along with singer and songwriter Hany El-Dakkak, the five men formed Massar Egbari. In the 15 years that followed, Massar Egbari went on to top the charts, cementing its place as one of the most successful bands in the region.
Internationally, he performed alongside Massar Egbari in more than 40 cities across Europe, North America as well as northern Africa and the Middle East, collaborating with music makers across the globe, including Fathy Salama, Mehdi Nassouli, Aziz Maraka, the Macedonian band Monistra Etno, and Luxemburg’s Deborah Lehnen, among others.
In 2011, against the backdrop of unfolding revolution, Ayman left his day job at a natural gas company to dedicate more time to music. He branched out into a new direction when he launched Teatro Eskendria Studio in 2013, a recording and jamming space that is considered a springboard for young Alexandrian musicians. It was also around that time that Ayman started producing music for films and TV commercials.
In 2020, Ayman joined famed Jordanian-Palestinian shamstep band 47 Soul as a guest guitarist during a performance at Quoz Arts Festival in Dubai.
Alongside playing the keyboards, Ayman continues to nurture his love for music and broaden his skillset. In 2008, he received a certificate in music theory from the London-based Associated Board of Royal Schools of Music and went on to complete a mixing and mastering course at Berklee College of Music. He participated in workshops in Egypt, Jordan, Macedonia, Italy, Luxembourg, and the UK, among others.
Beside being a musician and music producer Ayman is managing the band since 2020 with a new and fresh vision.
