Nadah El Shazly

Nadah El Shazly functions as an experimental Egyptian vocalist, composer, multi-instrumentalist, and record producer whose output thoroughly transforms early-20th-century popular music from her native country while probing fresh sonic and harmonic territories.

Before she reached school age, her non-musician mother required her to begin piano studies and general music lessons; she additionally trained as a soprano. At 17 she led Sick Gdrch, the punk band devoted to Misfits covers. In 2009, determined to avoid confinement to one style, she auditioned for and obtained a vocalist role in a jazz-covers ensemble at a Cairo hotel. Shortly afterward she concentrated her first sustained work in electronica with Shorba, the short-lived yet cult-adored group. She participated in numerous projects on Egypt’s close-knit yet ceaselessly inventive indie circuit, where musicians across genres routinely cross-pollinated.

Recognition arrived through her electronic productions. In late 2015 she started work on her debut album, which she produced herself while recruiting keyboardist/guitarist Maurice Louca of indie supergroup Lekhfa and Sam Shalabi, two-thirds of Dwarfs of East Agouza (the third member, Alan Bishop, did not appear on the LP). Recorded in Egypt and Montreal with engineer Thierry Amar of Godspeed You! Black Emperor, the set contained five originals plus a radically re-envisioned cover of Sayyid Darwish’s 1940s pop standard “Ana 'Ishiqt (I Once Loved)” and was completed by an extensive roster of reed, woodwind, string, and percussion players. Self-released as Ahwar in November 2017, the album drew universal press acclaim and landed on numerous year-end best-of lists.