Photo: kafrawy
Born in Cairo, Egypt, Nadah El Shazly is now based in Montreal. Her recent album Laini Tani blends Egyptian improvised music, manipulated vocals, deft electronic production and acoustic percussion. Who’d have thought she began her career in a Misfits cover band?
Nadah El Shazly: Writing music in a live setup with an audience dancing brings the joy of playing. The reaction of the audience becomes your guide.
At the moment I can’t stop listening to
At the moment I can’t stop listening to keyboard players. Specifically Abdelsalam, who is a legendary keyboard player from Egypt — he is famous for his live shows and his arrangements. I keep going on YouTube rabbit holes of his videos, listening to him play the keyboard with his band for hours. As a keyboard player myself, I keep learning from him, how he switches between scales with such grace. And he just keeps coming up with new sounds on the keyboard, all the time! He plays with so much emotion, sometimes only one or two notes are enough. He’s also writing music on the fly as he improvises his way through the night! Writing music in a live setup with an audience dancing brings the joy of playing. The reaction of the audience becomes your guide. It reminds me of how some songs on Ahwar, my debut album, were initially written. At that time I was also finishing my studies and I didn’t always have time to work on music at home. So I would book live shows to keep playing the songs, and pressure myself to finish them onstage during the show.
The artist I’d most like to collaborate with
Miramar Al Nayyar, the Iraqi painter and artist who designed the Arabic typography of my album Laini Tani. She is currently making incredible paintings layering white paint shades, and studying letters and their meaning and their shadows. I just see myself collaborating with Miramar again and again. I first visited her at her studio in Amman last year, and it was very special to sit in front of her paintings. At that time they were still in progress, and I could already lose myself in her work! As I kept in touch with her and her progress, her paintings became... three‑dimensional. The illegibility of the letters started creating their own dance. I could start hearing the sounds they made as I was looking at them.
The first thing I look for in a studio
Radwan Ghazi Moumneh! Radwan has been behind every recording I’ve made in the past four years, and I just love being with him in the studio. We enter a creative space together, completely open to play and experimentation. His mastery when it comes to capturing instrument sounds and imagining where they can go: that pushes our process forward and makes it all so fun. Recording vocals at the Hotel2Tango studio with Radwan always feels like a dream. He sets me up with the Soyuz 017 Tube and I feel so comfortable in his presence to sing through the songs. He has a project, Jerusalem In My Heart, which I just love so much; the textures he creates, the way he pushes the buzuq, the electronic sounds... He’s also an incredible performer. He’s been a great influence on me and an inspiration, both inside the studio and outside it. We recorded some music together last year and played a live show at Hotel2Tango. Hopefully those recordings will see the light of day soon.
The person I would consider my mentor
Having not studied music myself, and because my family doesn’t work in the arts, there were a lot of things that I had to teach myself, things I had to learn from experience, from making a lot of mistakes along the way. And sometimes getting things right on the first go! I think my main inspiration and sense of community comes from my friends and fellow musicians who I’ve known since I was 18 years old, and we’ve kind of found our way together — or tried to — since then. That group of artists includes Maurice Louca, ZULI, Msylma, Maryam Saleh, Ayman Asfour, Abdullah Minyawi, Deena Abdelwahed, 1127, and many more. I’ve since had the honour of meeting people like Alan Bishop, Sam Shalabi and Kamilya Jubran, who have all been great influences on me in so many ways. Alan taught me how to finish a song — because there will always be a next one. Sam taught me to work anywhere at any time. Kamilya taught me about the tools that I have in my hands and ears, and how to defend my work.
My go‑to reference track or album
I am the type who listens and re‑listens! I keeps going back to tracks and albums that I’ve been obsessed with. You learn so much from listening, from taking it all in. I get obsessed by different elements in different tracks. Monogamy by Land Of Kush: I just love the sound of the big ensemble, and the percussion specifically. The writing and singers on this album are so good. It touches your bones. Also the Sun City Girls album Torch Of The Mystics. I just love Alan Bishop’s voice so much, how he interprets the lyrics emotionally with his voice. The band is playing from the heart, painting rhythms with blood pumped from the heart! Lastly, Kamilya Jubran’s ‘Ankamishu’. That song is so genius: it uses a classical Arabic beat in 14/4, but in such a way that is so beautiful and fragile and powerful. The idea of taking classical concepts into modern music is simply at its best in that song.
Nadah El Shazly: I just really love being at the studio; whether it’s to record vocals, to record a soundtrack, to record with other musicians… The idea is simply to remain open and playful.
My secret weapon in the studio is...
There is no secret weapon, really! I just really love being at the studio; whether it’s to record vocals, to record a soundtrack, to record with other musicians… The idea is simply to remain open and playful. To keep the ears open, to be present, to catch something that you like, and build your way from there. To be open to surprises, I guess, and to accidents. I work a lot with guided improvisations, for instance using phrases and situations that would influence a musician’s playing. Like, driving with no traffic lights! Jumping from one scale to another. Or, sometimes I’ll over‑use effects on instruments, and end up only using the wet channel. The studio really is the place where I can be open and creative, but also focused.
The studio session I wish I’d witnessed
The recording of Maurice Louca’s Benhayyi Al‑Baghbaghan [Salute The Parrot] album. This album is one of my all‑time favourites. I attended almost every show that Maurice played of this album. Every time you hear it, it hits you as if you are hearing it for the fist time. The layered keyboard lines, these beautiful melodies that each have their own character and personality yet all come together so seamlessly. All set against Tarek El Shabah’s drums and Mahmoud Waly’s anchoring bass lines. There are certain decisions in this album that Maurice made that are so genius. His polyrhythms throughout the album, but specifically on ‘Tasaddu’. His obsession with percussive instruments that can also make melodies, and finding sweet spots between two different scales... like on ‘Sharraq Rah Tegharrab’, setting the piano against Alaa 50’s voice and then the screaming saxophone sounds with the legend, Alan Bishop! And then closing the album with ‘Spineless’, or ‘Malnash Diyah’!
The producer I’d most like to work with
3Phaz! We have already worked together on my album Laini Tani, and it was such an inspiring process, it was so smooth and enjoyable. And we both felt that there are still more songs where that came from. I visited Ismail [Hosny, aka 3Phaz] at his place in Cairo to catch up and listen to what he’s been working on, and left with at least four beats that I arranged and wrote lyrics to, and worked on them at the studio with Sarah Pagé on harp and Patrick on percussions and hydraulophone. That was ‘Banit’, ‘Kaabi Aali’ and other songs on the album like ‘Eid’ and ‘Laini Tani’. The way his beats are so fierce and bass‑heavy, relentless and impolite, so fragile and playful at the same time. For example when you hear how he uses the sagat, it’s just so inspiring and rips you apart at the same time! Every time I hear his melodies and beats, I immediately hear my vocal lines, and start writing and imagining the arrangements.
The studio experience that taught me the most
In 2016 I made a decision which was pretty life‑changing for me: to write, produce and record my debut album, Ahwar. I had been writing the songs while studying and working the years before, and then came a point when I thought, “I need to think of these songs as an album, one vision, and take it to the studio.” At that time I met Sam Shalabi at a party in Cairo, and he told me about the music scene in Montreal, and about his incredible ensemble Land Of Kush, which I was already a big fan of. We talked about how we felt we approach Arabic music in a similar way, from different angles, and we dreamed of arranging together and collaborating on each other’s music. This dream came true in 2016, when I went to Montreal and recorded my album there with Sam and Land Of Kush at Hotel2Tango studio, the beginning of an ongoing relationship with Montreal: the snow, feelings of displacement, but also the nurturing of a stronger and deeper connection to music and writing. Ahwar, which was released in November 2017, changed my life for good, and I put my foot down as a full‑time musician with my first tour after the release.
The advice I’d give myself of 10 years ago
I would reassure her. I would encourage her to not be scared of making the switch to music. I would tell her to not be scared of her emotions, and that making art is going to save her in so many ways.