Episode 79. Omar Hakim, Part 2!

We’re back with the drumming legend Omar Hakim and pick up right where we left off in Part 1. We start with the wild story of how he met Sting while recording Brothers In Arms with Dire Straits… ON AN ISLAND. This story blows my mind.

From there, we continue through his career with Sting, Miles Davis, Madonna, and the crazy story of making the Daft Punk hit "Get Lucky." This episode is full of rare backstories, industry gems, and lessons in creativity and innovation.

We talk about Omar being an early adopter of electronic and acoustic hybrid drum setups. As the drummer for Madonna in her stadium-filling heyday, Omar blended cutting-edge sampling, triggers, and MIDI controllers to deliver on recordings’ impossible sounds in a live setting, building custom rigs and using expression pedals for real-time sound bending.

This preceded today's standard in pop touring, marking him as a pioneer for the next generation of drummers. We also get into the business side of touring and recording and where Omar is at today. I hope you enjoy Part 2 of my conversation with the man, Omar Hakim!

‘Go with Elmo Lovano’ is a weekly podcast where Elmo interviews creatives and entrepreneurs in music on HOW they push forward every day, got where they are in their careers, manage their personal lives, and share lessons learned and their most important insights.

(0:00:00) INTRO  

(0:03:34) HOW OMAR MET STING  

(0:08:13) SESSIONS WITH STING  

(0:10:30) STINGS FIRST SOLO TOUR  

(0:11:07) “BRING ON THE NIGHT” FILM  

(0:14:58) THE “BRING ON THE NIGHT” BAND  

(0:17:19) MILES DAVIS  

(0:18:36) HANGING WITH MILES DAVIS  

(0:20:52) MILES KNEW OMAR’S DAD, JAMAICA QUEENS  

(0:33:09) MADONNA, LIONEL RICHIE  

(0:39:20) MICHAEL BEARDEN  

(0:40:08) LUIS CONTE, MADONNA BAND  

(0:41:24) DAFT PUNK, “GET LUCKY”  

(0:48:47) JOHN JR ROBINSON  

(0:51:20) THE 80’S MUSIC BUSINESS MODEL  

(0:59:21) MARKET RATES FOR MUSICIANS  

(1:02:11) SONIC BOOM SQUAD, RACHEL Z, LIFE TODAY

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