Safaa Farid’s group, Fer’et el Negoum, have been playing in Cairo for over twenty years, first forming in 1982 and working for seven years with the famous dancer Zizi Mustafa. Since then they have gone on to play with other soloists, and began working with Yasmina in 1996. The core members of the band, Safaa Farid (singer), Reda Saad (accordionist), Ashraf Barsoum (keyboards) and Sayed Ibrahim (sagat player, comic and dancer in his own right!), are still together today, along with Ashraf Mousa (duff). Gamal Fouad (nai), Emad Sukkar (tabla), and Naser Abdou have been with the band and played with Yasmina for many years. Safaa Farid’s velvet singing voice can be heard on several dance CD’s, including ‘Layali Yasmina’, ‘Heya di Yasmina’, and Badia’s ‘Delaa el Helween’.  Dancers Mohamed Khazafy & Sayed Amar joined the group in October 2004 and have become an important part of the show offering the folkloric element.  They can also be seen on 'Journey of Desire' a new DVD about to be released which featues the musicians, singers & dancers of Feret el Negoum.  More details about the dancers can be seen if you click on the links. Safaa, Ashraf & Reda will be joined by percussionists Emad Sukka & master tabla players, Youssry el Hefni & Mohamed Mounir, joining us in Newcastle for the Farha Festival in July 2007. Funny man & sagat player, Sayed Tura (or Ibrahim) will also be there.

The musicians of Fer’et el Negoum have been the resident orchestra at Raqia Hassan’s Ahlan wa Sahlan Festival since its inception and for the past five years, entertaining the festival’s participants and accompanying ‘guest’ performers from around the world.

They have also travelled twice to Finland to perform at the Masrah International Oriental Dance Festival in Helsinki, first in 2002, then back again after popular demand in 2004, accompanying Mahmoud Reda and his troupe of male dancers as they teamed up with female counterparts from the Masrah dance company.

“The centrepiece of the whole spectacle was the El Negoum orchestra,” wrote one reviewer in ‘Ishtar’, the magazine for Finnish dance lovers. “The power and sometimes also the unexpectedness of live music gave enormous stimulation both to the new and experienced dancers. The intimacy of the music as well as the presence of the musicians carried the dancers through their numbers.”