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Disclaimer: this is in no way a professional’s view or a very serious article about music theory or the like; I am nothing more than an Egyptian who loves music and wants to spread more of the beautiful yet unknown types.
As Egyptians, music has been sacred to us since basically the dawn of time. Our history is full of the greatest artists and composers; the big names, such as: Umm Kulthum, Sayed Darwesh, Abdelhalem Hafez, Abdelwahab, Baleegh Hamdy and more from ‘the golden age’, as our parents, and basically every other old person, says. Or maybe you’re more into the ‘modern’ pop music (Amr Diab, Hamaki, etc.) that has been repeating itself since the late 90s; the exact time I suspect they forgot to update the money-making-music machine of the capitalist regim- err not our topic for today! Though, the underground Egyptian music scene is full of wonderful artists, I hear! (Did you get the pun? no? I’m annoying? Thanks!). Bands such as Masar Egbari, Cairokee, and others have gained some popularity for FINALLY providing something different. “Leih Beydary Kda” is, of course, a genre of its own; humbly includes the classic 2000s music we adore.
Now after scratching the surface of almost all the popular and different types of music of Egypt (no, I’m not mentioning Shaaby music- dammit), we reach the conclusion: I’ll just stick to my English indie music playlist. But! before you go, I would like to go over the eras mentioned; 50s-60s classical old people music, late 90s-2020 repetitive pop music, 2000s-2010s cool underground music, 2000s “Leih Beydary Kda” (music historians hate me for this). But wait! Something is missing, if I can count correctly (I can’t), What about the 70s-80s? Where did the music go? Well, my wonderful readers, this is where the treasure is. “Old, actually original, Amr Diab music?” No, but close. The popular music at the time was either remnants of the past, or the beginning of the new future (not to mention the war going on, so; a lot of patriotic songs).
Yet, if you look really close you will find some hints that lead you to the mysterious genre that is: old Egyptian bands from the 70s-80s! That’s exactly how I found out about them: one song here, one mention there, and here I am-- absolutely in love.
The Black Coats and Les Petits Chats
Two of the most prominent pioneers of this era are The Black Coats and Les Petits Chat; these two had this huge rivalry that you can’t actually read about anywhere because it’s just that obscure-- so, unfortunately, no tea today. In my honest opinion, I think they were only called rivals just because they were the only ones active at the same time (late 60s, early 70s). The Black Coats were originally formed by Mosaad Zehny or ‘Miso’, who then left the band, leaving Ismael El Hakem, son of Tawfeq El Hakem (a much acclaimed writer), in charge. The band was mainly focused on rock music, ranging from blues, to hard rock, to some heavy metal.
As for Les Petits Chats, they were formed by Wagdy Francis, and included a lot of talented people whose names you might recognize; such as, Ezzat Abou ouf, Omar Khairat, Omar Khorshed, Hany Shnouda, and a lot more people. The band recently made a comeback in 2010. They were mostly a cover band; singing songs in many different languages like English, French, Spanish and more. Though, it is hard finding music for these bands; yet, it is fun knowing their history and influence.
El Masryeen
Moving forward a little bit, and to more original songs, 1977; Hany Shnouda, a wonderful, deservingly acclaimed musician and composer, formed the band to beat all bands; El Masryeen. El Masryeen consisted of Tahseen Yalmz, Iman Younes, Mona Aziz, Mamdouh Qasem, and Omar Fathy/Gawhar. Writing for them were Salah Jahin, Amr Batesha, and AbdelRaman Mansour. Now, these names may seem like nothing to you, but that combination produced music that was so mind-bogglingly beautiful. Whether it be the delightful music composed by Hany Shnouda, the amazing lyrics that were revolutionary for being the first to revolve around societal concepts, or the heavenly vocals; it all just made the music absolutely perfect.
A song that really encapsulates all of these aspects very well is “Lama Kan El Bahr Azraa”, a song about building and loving one’s self before falling in love with someone, and other more complex ideas that I‘m still figuring out till this day! Stunning lyrics, stunning vocals, stunning music-- just a very stunning song. Other songs of theirs include “Matehsboush Ya Banat” (one of their most popular songs), “Bahebk Laa”, “Mashya El Sanyora”, “Hezeny", "Mafatshi Leh”, “Edeny Aklak” (yeah I read it “give me your food” the first time too), “Asef Geddan”, and of course other ones that are actually available on Spotify!
Tiba
Onto a less popular band; Tiba, formed by Hussien and Mody El Imam. The band had Ahmed Ezz (aywa bta3 el 7aded) on drums before he succumbed to the system and became a businessman and the owner of Ezz Steel. Their music has a very peaceful vibe, known for simple lyrics. “Ana Baheb El Shams Wel Hawa”, a song of theirs that speaks of their love of the sun, the air, the flowers, and singing. It’s a very beautiful song, yet sadly, the only available recording of it is a bit distorted, and only available on Soundcloud and Youtube. You actually might know a song of theirs that got popular a while back called “Fatoma.” Another one of theirs, called “Beep Beep” talks about how loud and noisy football fans are, and how you hear Beep Beep everywhere when there is a match; a true nerd anthem. More of their songs include “El Donya Soghayara”, “Shaklek Matghayarshy”, “El Maghol”, “Eftekereny”, etc. Sadly though, their songs are not available on Spotify, they are, though, distributed over Soundcloud, Youtube, and Anghami.
More
Some other bands from that era: El Asdkaa, El Nahar, Four M (formed by Ezzat Abou Ouf and his four sisters. Yes, their names all started with M), The Jets, El Hob Wel Salam, and of course more that have not reached that much popularity to be on Wikipedia.
To conclude this trip into the forgotten genre, it is undeniable that most, if not all, of these bands play ‘foreign’ music with Arabic lyrics, and to be completely honest, it’s not that bad! There still is that Egyptian touch that just makes it perfect. Plus, you can add even more songs to your list of obscure music no one listens to that you use to show people how cool and special you are in hopes that they like you and- uh. You can check out our playlists on Spotify, Anghami, Soundcloud, or Youtube; each of them is a unique playlist since not all the songs are available on all the platforms.
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