Egyptian Mahraganat Futurist Shah Returns on ‘El Forat’

Experimental mahraganat producer and Kafr-El-Dauwar records mainstay Shah is an essential part of the rag-tag out-of-cairo collective, and brings forth some of the most interesting and forward thinking sounds out of Egypt’s Mahraganat/rap underground. 

Following up from his futuristic debut album Al-Symillat, Shah is back with a new single ‘El Forat’, and steps deeper into the world of club music with a dark, undeniably hi-energy take on mahraganat, this time dropping via Cairo-based experimental club music label Sound of Noize.

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The distorted-synth main melody could come across as a bit orientalist, even pandering on cheesy but it doesn't detract from the song that comes through speakers with an incredible presence, and a mood fitting of a soundtrack to a fast paced robot-camel race in some far off dystopic future Egypt.

Percussion seems to be Shah’s forte, as subterranean drums, somewhere between metallic and organic, and splashes of frantic hi-hats hold down the rhythm and keep the energy pumped high over rumbling, bass-heavy kick drums. 

Despite most clubs and venues in Egypt being closed these days, tracks like ‘El Forat’ make us excited to hear the return of Shah and Kafr El Dauwar, hopefully on a massive sound system, somewhere, sometime.