A Rinse FM and 100 Copies Music production supported by the British Council
Part of Rinse FM’s International Underground series
100 Copies and UK based broadcaster, Rinse FM are proud to announce Cairo Calling, a programme supported by the British Council which will build bridges between Cairo's mahraganat and London's electronic music scene.
Five UK and four Egyptian artists formed a core group taking part in development workshops in both London and Cairo, showcasing individual talent from Egypt and the UK and sharing the best collaborative work at public events, the first of which took place in London on 15-19 January.
Celebrating new artistic and cultural movements in Egypt, Cairo Calling aims to support the young artists and independent organisations that are the engines of those movements. Rinse FM, will work with pioneers of the mahraganat music scene, or as it's more commonly referred to, 'electro-shaabi': an up-tempo take on Egyptian folk music incorporating traditional instruments sampled and spliced to frenetic time signatures that has become the soundtrack of Egyptian youth culture.
Cathy Costain, Head of Programmes Arts for British Council Egypt: “The British Council in Egypt is strongly committed to supporting artistic collaborations and professional development for musicians from Egypt and the UK. We support a diverse range of musical genres from contemporary classical to electro-shaabi in recognition of different tastes and interests. We’re delighted that the partnership between 100Copies and Rinse FM will help the musicians from both countries share their cultures and rich experiences with each other as well as contributing to the strengthening of the music industry in Egypt.”
Rinse FM and the British Council have been working closely with 100Copies and leading figures from the mahraganat scene in Egypt to develop a mutually beneficial relationship with capacity for creative growth on both sides. Mahraganat artists will receive support to grow, navigate and monetise their own industry and in return the UK participants will gain an unprecedented insight into both traditional and contemporary North African and Arabic music blueprints. Building on the reciprocal relationship formed at the first London workshop in January, UK artists will travel to Egypt in March 2014 to take part in the Downtown Contemporary Arts Festival (D-CAF) in Cairo.
The first collaboration of its kind on this scale, Cairo Calling will create an on-going series of takeovers and documentaries on Rinse FM, as well as a documentary introducing the shaabi/mahraganat scene to a western audience via Rinse TV. Rinse will release a project album of material produced mahraganat songs produced during the project. The London and Cairo workshops will allow creative and professional development through workshops, collaborations and masterclasses, including but not limited to studio techniques, song collaboration, utilising social media, marketing, managerial skills, event production and label management.
Egyptian participants
Figo
Sadat
Diesel
Knka
Figo
Sadat
Mahmoud Refat – owner of 100 Copies, prolific event promoter and revered underground music conduit
Noof Senary – artist management
UK participants
Kode 9
Artwork
Faze Miyake
Plus other artists from the Rinse FM roster, TBC
Mahraganat or, as it's otherwise known, electro-shaabi has been fermenting in regions of Egypt. A reinterpreted evolution of traditional Egyptian folk music, produced on laptops by musicians on the outskirts of the capital. Traditional radio outlets have not previously been open to Mahraganat producers but YouTube videos gathered views in the hundreds of thousands before the videos spread and demand grew within the new generation of Egyptian youth culture.
For more information
Rose marie Gad, Communication Manager, British Council Egypt
Tel: +(202) 3344 3076
Email: Rose.Gad@Britishcouncil.org.eg
100COPIES is what real Egyptian alternative music is all about.
100COPIES is at the avant-garde of the music movement in Egypt and is working at the heart of Egypt vibrant alternative music scene. 100COPIES is fostering collaboration with young musicians through the active programming offered by its ground-breaking alternative and independent music platform located downtown Cairo.
In 2006, 100COPIES was established as a record label by Mahmoud Refat in order to produce and distribute Egyptian experimental and electronic music. In 2007, the annual 100LIVE festival was launched in Cairo, presenting live musicians and visual artists in different venues and places in Egypt. In 2009 the label launched 100RADIO, an online radio willing to spread the good word on experimental and electronic music, by broadcasting old and new Egyptian productions.
100COPIES is engaged to program international festival, club concerts and radio shows in the US, in Europe and in the Arab world since 2006.
In July 2012, following a year of long-awaited changes in Egypt, 100COPIES opened its studio and live venue. This space is a unique platform welcoming the new Egyptian musical trends, offering them recording facilities, live shows and music workshops.
Our live stage hosted its first show on 27th July 2012 and is tucked away in an office building in Cairo, Talaat Harb street. It provides a fine platform for a wide range of alternative and experimental music - including free improvisation - that exists well outside the mainstream. Operating as a live music space in the evenings – every Friday and Saturday - it offers a relaxed, light and airy café just before the gigs. There's a strong emphasis on the more out-there of underground Egyptian artists, but you can expect to encounter everything from German dubstep dj’s, a young Egyptian Quartet or a talk on new poetry.
100COPIES music space is also a rehearsal and professional recording studio which is open every day.
Rinse FM
Tune into Rinse FM, and you lock into the heartbeat of a community. For over 18 years Rinse has been transmitting uncompromising and innovative music out of its East London heartland. Starting life as a pirate station, established by a group of friends wanting to share the music that inspired them, it has grown into one of London's most important and broad-minded grassroots musical organisations. But it remains anchored by the same ethics that prompted its founding: built by the community, for the community.
Like an aerial on a tower block, Rinse has acted as a focal point for successive musical waves, from jungle to UK garage, dubstep to grime, funky to house and beyond. Through its radio transmissions, club nights, label releases and compilations, it has inspired and nurtured young producers, DJs and MCs to create the music that they want to hear. The results speak for themselves. The genres that Rinse gave a first platform to now form the backbone of mainstream pop. The stars of those sounds, who cut their teeth on Rinse, are now household names.
Having been granted an FM community license in 2010, Rinse FM now forms the central node in a vast musical community. Just as in its pirate days, it thrives on interaction and collaboration, connecting together like-minded listeners, producers, DJs, MCs and clubbers, both in London and around the world. As genres, artists and scenes evolve around it, so Rinse remains locked to the pulse of the underground, nurturing young talent and fostering the next generation.
Rinse reaches a potential audience of 4+ million in London, with a website receiving 70k unique visitors per month.