Salah Ragab formed the first jazz big band in Egypt in 1968, and was also the leader of the Military Music Departments in Heliopolis. On this recording the band consists of five saxophones, four trumpets, four trombones, piano, bass, drums and percussion. Western jazz musicians have been fascinated with the world of Islam for many years, and it was therefore inevitable that musicians of the Arabian North African area would be equally influenced by western music.