Bailando Band Playing in Culture Wheel on May 23, 2009
Video Copyright Nejude Al-Ibrahim ,2009
Cairo, Egypt- Loud music, applauses, whistling, and singing, this was the reaction of the kids, teenagers and families to "Bailando band" who were singing in the River Hall in Sawy Culture Wheel.
"Seems that not only kids liked the music, but also the adults, " said Mohamed Abaza, leading guitarist in Bailando, after singing the lion sleeps tonight.
Many of the upcoming bands sing their original songs meaning that they compose their own lyrics and music like Wust El Balad and El Door el Awal. Others like to sing English and Arabic cover songs that are well-known like Bailando and Vybe.
“The kind of music we play is very different from what others play or listen,” said Mohamed Arkan, drummer of the Percussion Show band. “We compose our own music with its own lyrics and rhythm and this gives it our taste and style.”
Evolution of Independent Music
Arkan said that during the 1970's and 1980's in Egypt underground music started by Fathy Salama, a Grammy award winner, and Yehia Khalil a pioneer in jazz music in Egypt. Moving to the 1990's the independent music began to be well known and around 10-15 bands were playing in clubs in Cairo.
Since 2000 the independent music took a new form and audience. Many teenagers and youth started to hear some independent bands and they gained more popularity like Wust el Balad, El Door el Awal, and Nagham Masry. This resulted in having concerts sponsored by multinational cooperation.
Mohamed lofty, known as Ousso, guitarist who plays in many bands came with the idea of SOS Music Festival. It attracted 30,000 people who are fans of the different bands that took part in the last festival. In an interview with BBC News, Ousso describes how he is amazed that 15,000 attended the first SOS concert.
Vodafone, Opel and Virgin Mega Store are the sponsors of the SOS Music with the slogan "SOS: let's go original". The aim of these concerts is to encourage and support independent music bands and also to save the status of Egyptian music after the appearance of private music channels like Melody and Mazzika who are commercial channels.
These concerts are held on regular basis. Tickets are for free and the sponsors take care of everything including the financial part like renting fees, technicians, sound and lighting systems.
"We had our first concert in June 2007 in El Sawy Culture Wheel," said Sherif Magdy, percussionist in Bailando band. "We told our friends and families and we were shocked by the 200 people who attended."
"Underground Vs Commercial"
According to Moe, as his band calls him, underground music is different to mainstream music because it was founded by individuals spending from their own money not depending on music production companies.
For example, Wust el Balad started in 1999 by playing in the streets and cafes of Cairo and even sometimes in the Metro stations.
On the other hand, commercial music and singers depend on production companies in financing their career unlike independent bands. For a musician like Arkan, he thinks that independent bands represent the real music not singers like Amr Diab and Tamer Hosny. Arkan elaborates that underground music like theirs, focuses on the quality of the music they play and not on gaining money.
"Bands start by spending from their own money until they find a sponsor," Moe said. "Bands that play in SOS are paid ranging from 400-600 L.E per-members in band."
He also mentioned that the number of band members differ from one to another. For example, Percussion Show has 7 members, Wust el Balad has 8 members, and Wyvern has 5 members. They are all getting the same amount of money no matter how many they are in the band.
There is no support from the Ministry of Culture or the government. However, many places like El- Sawy Culture Center, Cairo Jazz Club and Al-Azhar Park started to give an opportunity to young Egyptian talents to be famous and produce their own music.
Magdy said that they're not thinking of being very professional because they have their main jobs and income, so they are taking it as amateurs or hobby.
Westernized Vs Oriental
Although the message of all independent bands is to save and enhance the Egyptian music status, most of them are using western names, instruments and genres. For example, Black Bulletz, Brain Candy and Davinci are all Egyptian bands that sing and play rock, electronic or metal songs, which is unusual in the Arab world.
" We wanted to have a name that reflects our music and at the same time catchy so we chose Bailando which is dancing in Spanish," said Abaza.
On the contrary, there are artists and bands that are showing the Arab or Egyptian identity in their instruments, names and music. For example, Naseer Shamma plays Oud and instrumental Arabic music. Also, Sahara, an Egyptian band sings Rai music and uses instruments like tabla and qanon, both Egyptian instruments.
Is it Successful?
Arkan said underground music in Egypt started to be very successful and people want to listen to new music and that’s why many bands like Wust el Balad, Eftekasat and Sahara produced their first albums and are gaining more success.
Abaza also thinks “ at a certain point, independent bands will turn commercial because if they are successful people will want to hear them all the time and this is when an album is produced.”
“ Concerts like SOS make the band very successful because thousands of people watch and listen to you, so of course it's successful," shared Magdy.
The first SOS concert was held on September 15th 2006 at the Chinese garden and the next concert will be in July 2009.
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