Egypt Noir

In the last decades, Western archeologists unearthed the remains of an advanced Black African civilization thousands of years older than Egypt’s under the deserts of Sudan. But they could have just as easily discovered the funky echoes of this lost world at certain Cairo hotspots, by spending an evening with the rollicking music of the city’s Nubians. Driven from their homeland when the Aswan dam flooded a great stretch of the upper Nile that once was the kingdom of Nubia, these musical refugees hit Egypt’s big time starting in the 1960s as they fled to its cities. Just as their ancient forbearers contributed in untold ways to the flowering of Ancient Egypt, these modern Nubians discovered new niches in Cairo, absorbing the vibrant cosmopolitan possibilities of everything from Cuban beats to James Brown. Their sonic roots in village festivities, pentatonic scales, and unique rhythms were transformed by western instruments and urban weddings.