Wust El Balad

Hani Adel

“The downtown area has been a big influence on us. We used to hang out there a lot. We first met there. At one time, we all lived in the same building downtown. Asaad is a resident of downtown.

It has influenced us because most of our rehearsals took place in the coffee shops downtown, among all the people. This intermingling of people has always happened there. You can meet foreigners and people from all social classes. Some are there as tourists to discover Egypt. Others are interested in the current situation. The only place you can find the whole of Egypt is downtown.

It has influenced our music. Each one of us likes a different kind of music. When we met and started to work together, we came up with a mixture of musical styles, using oriental music and Arabic language.

We’re now preparing a new album. We’re trying to focus on it but we’re addicted to performing live.

That’s why we play concerts in small clubs. We get energy from these concerts. Then we go back to the studio to record. This is what happens everyday.”

Ehab Abd El-Hameed

“We are all influenced by each other. When artists produce music, they reflect the mix in which they live, the reality they exist in.

This reality is reflected in their performance and their musical culture. Whether they are musicians or any other type of artist.

Reality and people affect them.”

Imran

“Our goal was to play music together. And in a spontaneous way each one of us contributed his own musical style.

Asaad plays flamenco well, Hani is good in the blues, Omar plays African music, as well as Mizo. Bob plays flamenco, Adham and myself play oriental music. And that’s how it is.”

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