Hi, welcome to my Middle Eastern drum page, I’m Eric Peterson.

Thanks to my mother and my Armenian grandfather, I was exposed to a variety of Middle Eastern music at a young age.  I was also very fortunate to have seen George Abdos’ band perform on a number of occasions - naturally, my mind was blown.  Steve Kouyoumjian was his drummer and my earliest influence.  His wife (at the time) was my mother’s belly dance teacher.  My mother was friends with many Armenian, Greek, and Arab musicians.  She loved to go dance and hear them play, so she often took me and my brother along on a Friday night.  You could say that I was marinated with this wonderful music.

For over ten years I have performed and instructed Middle Eastern and North African percussion in Atlanta and Boston.  It's been an amazing journey of highs and lows, curves and bends, and lots of learning and growing, both as a musician and as a person.  I've been a street performer.  I've played at weddings and Renaissance fairs, on radio and television, and in countless restaurants, bars, and nightclubs.  I've been a freelance drummer for belly dancers and at recording sessions.  I’ve contributed percussion to yoga and breath/movement workshops, modern dance projects, and spoken word performances.  Therein is the movement of music - when it’s combined with movement, voice, gestures, and poetry, the results can be magnificent.

As for teaching, in addition to private lessons, I have taught group workshops at Emory University,given lectures and performances at Georgia State, University of West Georgia, Georgia Perimeter College, Coastal Carolina College, Gainesville Federation of Music Clubs, and public schools such as Centennial Public School, Atlanta Speech School, Spruill Center for the Arts, and the Friends School.  My favorite audiences have been the kids - they have the most inquisitive minds and the most intelligent questions.  Their enthusiasm is always spiritually uplifting.

I've been part of many groups in Atlanta - Halfmoon Caravan, Gypsy Fire, Degah, Kinan, Kirmani, Emrah Kotan and the Sultans, Cypress, and the band I’ve enjoyed the most, Tesserae.  These guys were such nice people as well as fun musicians to work with.  We had some wonderful moments together.  My contributions to records include Transportal with Halfmoon Caravan, Intuitive Sound sampler with Degah, Emergence with Kinan, and Pouring Light and Diamond or Stone with Cypress.

I’ve always enjoyed playing traditional Middle Eastern music, but I also enjoy blending what I do percussively with other genres.  I’ve added my skills to singer-songwriter material, hip-hop and rap, techno, rock, Native American, and even bluegrass.  Some of it works and some of it doesn’t.  It mostly depends on how well you synch with your collaborators.  Music is music.  Generally, anything can be put together with something else.

I’ve had the pleasure of studying with some real incredible percussionists over the years: Hossam Ramzy, Souhail Kaspar, Layne Redmond, Armando Mafufo, and Karim Naji, to name a few.  I’ve been very fortunate to have played with many Turkish, Greek, and Arabic musicians, and have had lots of amazing moments, too many to list here.  I love to learn just as much as I love to perform.  I always look for more opportunities to become a better drummer, and I’ve been blessed with the teachers I’ve learned from.

Hope you enjoy my web-site and feel free to e-mail me:  [email protected]