There’s wonderful news from Egyptian composer, producer and vocalist Nadah El Shazly who is teasing a forthcoming album with a new single called ‘Bānit’. Haunting and bewitching, ‘Bānit’ conjures up emotions through her sensual and powerful voice. The track comes in the shape of a video performed live at Colors Studio. We’ll keep our eyes peeled for more info but for now watch the video below.
Cal Folger Day's strength and talent as a songwriter, composer and multi-instrumentalist is utterly impressive. Folding a myriad of references and influences into her style, her music is quirky, beguiling and thoughtful and always tells a story. Day released one of our favourite records this year, the conceptual avant-pop Piece-Dye. So we asked her to put together a mixtape with some of the artists and bands that have inspired her and we're stoked to unveil this gem opening a window onto her musical world.
[Smockadoll Förlag] 00:00[KRUT] 01:36[Duke Street Records] 05:59[RVNG Intl.] 10:15[Basta / Setanta] 12:59[Nawa Recordings] 15:06[Ideologic Organ] 10:04[Septic Tiger Records] 24:34[Warner Bros. Records] 27:45[RCA Victor] 31:08[ATO Records] 34:02 [BB*ISLAND] 37:15[Motown] 39:30[Prestige Records Ltd.] 41:53[TER Limited / MCA Classics] 44:01[Unseen Worlds] 44:26[Witter On] 51:19[Westwood Recordings] 53:13[Aura] 55:36
Photo: Thomas Boucher
You have probably already heard us gushing about Land of Kush, the large orchestral ensemble assembled and directed by composer and musician Sam Shalabi. Their much anticipated new album, Sand Enigma, will see the light of day in a couple of weeks and they had already shared two magnificent tracks from it, ‘Safe Space‘ and ‘Domyat 1331’. As we get close to release day on November 8th through Constellation, Land Of Kush are offering another cut from the record, ‘Trema’, featuring lyrics and vocals by Nadah El Shazly. Take a listen now.
Nadah El Shazly has unveiled a video to accompany ‘Mahmiya’, the stunning and moving closing track from her debut solo album Ahwar, released last year. Egyptian artist Marwan El-Gamal, who had previously worked on Nadah’s album artwork, returns to create this befitting psychedelic tale of strange beauty. He explains how he developed the concept for the video:
“The idea for the animation came after internalising the soundscape and words of Nadah El Shazly’s ‘Mahmiya’. It had a sensibility that seemed soothing and warm – vital and at peace, yet vast and unconcerned, like a sea, long since dried and fossilised, wherein the listener is placed without bearings. This brought about a story, a character and landscape where time and location are not classified.
In this place there is a condition of symmetry between the inner world of the girl and the outer landscape. She morphs and changes through her surroundings, and through these interactions the world is animated and energised. The land evolves and vegetates and soars and crumbles. Things occur as they will, and force is not exerted, but rather the events unfold without effort.
Time becomes represented as fluctuating and dilating, and our girl breathes, plays, creates, grows, and becomes conclusively unrecognisable, then to be brought back to the beginning of a cycle.
There seems to be an indefiniteness to the events, and change is constant, and she plays her part with no concern to consequence. The girl may be an extension of the land, a force of creation, a mechanical machine, or a little girl vulnerable to this ambiguous place full of unfamiliar entities. Through this ambiguity I hope to provide a visual counterpart to Nadah El Shazly’s touching song.”
Watch the video for ‘Mahmiya’ below.
Ahwar is out now via Nawa Recordings.
Jerusalem In My Heart have always dazzled us with their powerful and entrancing compositions, exploring and merging traditional Arabic music with electronic influences. Founded over a decade ago by prodigious and adventurous musician, composer and producer-in-demand Radwan Ghazi Moumneh, they are currently a performative audio-visual duo with Charles-André Coderre creating live projections on 16mm film. Ahead of the forthcoming 11th edition of Le Guess Who?, for which they are one of the guest co-curators, we are thrilled and honoured to unveil this special mixtape lovingly assembled by Radwan. Serving as a window into their extraordinary curation, it features music from each of the unique artists they have invited to perform. Now it's time to listen.
[Atco][WaWa][Don Giovanni][New Samarkand][Nawa][Constellation][ECM][Sub Rosa][Hyperdub][Constellation]