1 Sep 2016
The opening event to mark the launch of the Masafat features collective live performances by Oren Ambarchi, Mark Fell, Will Guthrie and Sam Shalabi. They are joined by Nadah El Shazly (Egypt).
Mark Fell has been releasing music since the 1990s, combining his interests in computer-generated sound and dance culture. As one half of snd, he chews up rave rhythms until they were unrecognisable, and as Sensate Focus he turns house music inside out. Oren Ambarchi has a similar destructive approach to familiar musics, using his guitar to contort and mangle harsh noise, glacial minimalism, contemplative signal manipulation, free improvisation, krauty jamming, pummelling drumming and straight-up songwriting. Will Guthrie works across live performance, improvisation and studio composition using various combinations of drums, percussion, objects, junk, amplification and electronics.
Ambarchi and Fell are joined by Egyptian-Canadian musician Sam Shalabi, whose work has seen him fuse shaabi, noise, classical and free improvisation; as well as being an Australian drummer, Shalabi is an adept improviser who works with everything from traditional percussion to everyday junk.
Collaborating here for the first time, these are four performers that embrace mutating and shifting musical forms – and this performance promises a discombobulating musical experience.
Joining them is Nadah El Shazly, the Cairo-based singer, composer and producer. Her productions and performances display myriad influences, but her disarming voice is always front and centre.
Masāfāt Music Pass: attend all four Masāfāt music events for £40
Masāfāt is a two-part festival taking place in London and Cairo this September. The festival is designed to create an open-ended, international platform to foster artistic and professional exchange between independent artists and professionals across the Middle East, North Africa and the UK.