Ahwar

Albumbeschreibung

The new Cairo music scene never ceases to astonish with its abundant creativity. The Arab spring of 2011 seems to have melted the restraints of the Egyptian musicians, who found in this questioning of the old order the strength to invent a new and bold identity for themselves. To the dynamism of the chaâbi electro movement, to the expressive poetry of Tamer Abu Ghazaleh, Maryam Saleh and Maurice Louca—who is incidentally one of the producers of this disc—we must add the ambitious synthesis of Nadah El Shazly. In discovering her first album, it’s like we’re listening to music from a descendant of an impossible lineage blending Oum Kalthoum, Soft Machine, John Zorn and Aphex Twin! Recorded between Cairo and Montreal, Ahwar (swamps in Arabic) describes a world in constant evolution, halfway between light and darkness. Brass instruments, Arabic and Western strings, choruses and machines set the moving stages in which the voice filled with collected lyricism of Nadah El Shazly is a reassuring guide. Even if, in the middle of original compositions, we find an adaptation of Ana Ishiqt, penned by the revered master of Egyptian music Sayyid Dahwish and by the author of the national anthem Younes Al Qadhi, the feeling that we’ve never heard this before is tenacious throughout this precious disc. © BM/Qobuz