It’s all over the internet now, but for a time the music now known as Mahragan or Electro-Shaabi existed only on certain Yahoo user groups and a website run by a young man with the monikor ‘Mahmoud Matb33a’. Matb33a, a spin off from the Arabic word “Matba’a” means printing press, but the name was given…
This coming Saturday sees a music festival Dandin is very much looking forward to, boasting a lineup that includes some of the best live acts you would ever hope to see in Egypt. The Artivism Festival is the brainchild of a collective that aims to “use different art forms as tools to create social and cultural change.”…
The Student DJ Program set up by Electrum Records is currently in full swing for the third year running. A battle royale of up and coming DJs, with two squaring off against each other every week, the competition has developed into a fully fledged series of events, starting with a bootcamp for the contestants and…
We often speak of hidden gems in Cairo, places, nooks and crannies that are tucked away within the immensity of the city. It isn’t often you have a walking, talking hidden gem, but Cairo does sport such a thing in Alan Bishop, of Sun City Girls fame. The Sun City Girls were an American experimental rock band…
Hear the New Releases playlist here. Loads of new stuff on Dandin in this latest iteration of the New Releases playlist. First up is Dandin’s first Tunisian artist, Fusam, and his track The Dance of the Flickering Flame. Next up is the track Chaos in Japan off of BluFrank’s latest album. That’s followed by Karset Nevin…
ركز. لازم تكون موجود طول الوقت. موجود وحاضر. متحطش فلاتر على الحياة. الحياة خرة. وأنا أهه، واقفلها. متكلمنيش في السياسة. ماتقوليش رأيك في المجتمع والدين. وأهم حاجة: وحياتك، وحياتك، ماتضربليش سيجارتين حشيش بالليل وتكلمني عن الوحدة والشوق والحب – وتسمي ده شعر. كلمني عن إللي جواك. مبسوط؟ مستحيل. بتحب؟ مافيش حب من غير كره، من غير…
It’s been a year since the launch of Dandin as an audio platform for the Middle East. And it has been a joy to discover such varied talent along the way from a still nascent, but burgeoning, movement. Whether in music, poetry or other audio formats, the snapshot of this past year has been heady and wildly eclectic.…
Classic stylings inform the latest episode of the Dandin Show, which is all about modern takes on the traditional sounds that are resonant here. Combined, the five track selection offers a mix of strong vocals, virtuoso instrument playing and searing lyrics. The show begins with Fayrouz Karawya lending her voice to the writings of the tenth-century Sufi poet Mansur …
A new project, Fall Up is a collaboration between Amr Ezz and Youssef Aly. The result is a mesh of trip-hop and electronic ambience, with reverb-laden vocals and orchestral-type arrangements. Ezz is also one half of the Alexandrian duo Aqsa Alwasat with Tuqa McAwi, who are due to release an album of their remastered tracks in the…
We’re only a few days away now from the second iteration of the Cloud 9 Music Festival kicking off in Nuweiba Thursday. Never in need of an excuse to roll out a Dandin playlist but doing one with some of the artists from the three day lineup tickled our fancy. You can hear it here. It features some of our regular favourites…
Sour, dour and proud is the default setting at which we usually operate here deep in the recesses of Dandin towers so it’s exceedingly rare that we might find anything enchanting, rarer still that we’d admit it. The artist that has forced our hand on both counts is Nadah El Shazly and if anyone could disarm you thirty…
Life just got that little bit grander for us at Dandin towers upon learning of the upcoming Cloud 9 music festival taking place in Nuweiba September 4 – 6. The festival lineup is chock full of doyens and debutants of the contemporary Egyptian music scene spread across the three days (or waves as the organisers are…
Dandin 