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NADAH EL SHAZLY

AHWAR (CLEAR VINYL)
Label NAWA RECORDINGS
Catalog NAWA007LPX
Format LP
Discs 1
Category WORLD/OTHERS/REGGAE
Street Date 2017-11-10
Description
Starting out singing Misfits covers in a local punk band, then moving on to producing her own electronic tracks and making a name for herself in Cairo’s underground scene, Nadah El Shazly’s backstory is not that unusual. Her debut album on the other hand, is an entirely unexpected story.Two years in the making, Ahwar (Arabic for marshlands) is an otherworldly record, not unlike an abstract mythological tale. Opening with the filtered vocals of the album’s lead track Afqid Adh-Dhakira (I Lose Memory) like an alien dream, the drones of a bowed double bass lead into a drum groove that lays the groundwork for El Shazly’s sultry and captivating presence, singing: (I am) coming, from a time far away. Going, escaping. Alone in the wilderness.The Arabic prose lingers over interjections of slap-back delayed guitar twangs and an avant-garde arrangement of dissonant winds, horns and random drum fills, ending with an eerie soundscape that wouldn’t feel out of place in a Giallo classic. A daring and potent statement that sets the foundations over which the rest of the album can unravel. Composed, written and produced by El Shazly herself in collaboration with Maurice Louca and Sam Shalabi on co-composition and arrangement duties, the album features the crème of Montreal’s contemporary-classical and improvised music scene, most of whom are members of Shalabi’s own Land of Kush ensemble. Alongside five original tracks, there is an abstract cover version of Sayyid Darwish’s classic Ana ’Ishiqt (I Once Loved). El Shazly’s haunting vocal floats over kalimba and harp arpeggios which intertwine with a bowed double bass improv to nestle within the breaks between Younes Al-Qadhi’s verses of love and betrayal. Imagine the worlds of Björk and Annette Peacock Arabic as their mother tongue, re-approached through acoustic avant-jazz harmony and re-constructed with a dash of Kamilya Jubran’s modern styling of Arabic maqam and you may be somewhere close. Recorded and mixed by Thierry Amar at Hotel2Tango the album
tracklisting
1. Afqid Adh-Dhakira (I Lose Memory)
2. Barzakh (Limen)
3. Palmyra
4. Ana Ishiqt (I Once Loved)
5. Koala
6. Mahmiya (Protectorate)
 

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