One year ago, on Feb. 11th 2011, the world was transfixed, watching live on TV as Egyptians in Tahrir Square celebrated in ecstasy the overthrow of Hosni Mubarak. Egypt's revolution has brought much to light, including a lot of music that's been percolating in hidden corners there, largely ignored by nearly all broadcast and print media. It turns out a musical revolution has been going on in Egypt well before the political uprisings of 2011.
On this program, guided by historian and musician Mark LeVine, we hear music that either was or still is "underground." We meet Cairo rock musicians from the band Wust Al Balad, and also from widely stigmatized heavy metal musicians who appeal to a small, passionate, and surprisingly wholesome audience. We also hear experimental music by composers out to break the orthodoxy of the Egyptian past, and sample new forms of sha'bi pop and Sufi music, bubbling up from poor urban neighborhoods where street weddings may offer a glimpse of Egyptian pop music to come. It’s all on “
Cairo Underground”. The lead producer is Afropop’s
Banning Eyre.
You can also
download a podcast about the surprising and adventurous electronic music scene in Cairo. As well as read
interviews, see
photos and
videos and more
“Cairo Soundscape”Hip Deep's Egypt program series kicks off with a sonic tour of Cairo from the chatter of car horns on jam-packed streets to the lulling waters of the Nile. We start with a focus on the city's spiritual life, the persistent call to prayer broadcast from mosques city wide, koranic recitation, Coptic hymns sung in ancient churches, and a Zar healing ritual in a working class Cairo neighborhood. This program introduces the themes and central characters for this unique Afropop program series, which takes the pulse of an ancient civilization in the midst of upheaval and historic change. and
“Cairo—Hollywood of the Middle East” By the mid 20th century, Cairo had become the unrivaled center for music and film production in the Middle East. Producers, writers, composers, actors, musicians, star singers, and creators of every stripe flocked here to take part in the city's fervent, international, progressive artistic milieu. This was the heyday of the diva Umm Kulthum, Mohamed Abdel Wahab, and the beloved singer and composer Abdel Halim Hafez. But events of the 50s and 60s signaled an inward turn for Egypt and Cairo. The 70s saw the rise of a rougher, more street-wise music--sha'bi--and films began to lose their edge. And the 80s saw the emergence of a slick new pop sound that has resonated in the Middle East ever since. We hear from artists, producers, and scholars in this unique Hip Deep edition.
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