User:64joshua64/sandbox

Ricardo Abi Haila was born in 1992 in Lebanon, and started playing drums at the age of 10. In 2013, he began developing his drumming skills with his mentor, Christopher Michael Shaheen, while doing a Business Degree at USEK Holy Spirit University of Kaslik(Lebanon).

He then attended the Collective School Of Music in New York City, before completing a Bachelor in Jazz Studies at Notre Dame University(Lebanon), and a Masters in Middle Eastern Music at Antonine University(Lebanon).

While doing his studies in the US, he met and studied with some of today’s most significant drummers, such as: Mark Guiliana, Ari Hoeing, Dan Weiss, John Riley, Bob Breithaupt, Portinho, Daniel Glass, Steve Smith, Antonio Sanchez, Jojo Mayer, Chris Coleman, Peter Retzlaff, Ian Froman, Vince Cherico, Jason Gianni, Frank Katz, Adriano Santos, Tobias Ralph, Maciek Schejbal, Fred Klatz, Marko Djordjevic, Karim Ziad, and others.

In addition to being a drum set artist, Ricardo has a passion for his native Middle Eastern instruments like the qanoun, darbouka, riq, and frame drums, as well as for Brazilian percussion. Ricardo has taught drum set and Middle Eastern percussion at renowned institutes and workshops in Lebanon, and has been working with renowned artists such as: Ziad Rahbany, Omar Rahbany, Lebanese Philharmonic Orchestra, Jihad Akl, Abdou Cherif, Ziad Bourji, The Broken Wings Musical, and many local jazz artists. Unfortunately, Lebanon has been enduring many hardships in recent times, especially after the explosion of August 4, 2020. Consequently, Ricardo now resides in Paris, France.