Egypt’s El Waili Releases Psychedelic Shaabi Single ‘El Abd We El Waili’

Mysterious shaabi/mahraganat artist, El Waili, has teamed up with beatmaker Yucifer for ‘El Abd We El Waili’ a trippy take on Egypt’s runaway train of a genre, putting an emphasis on spacious, reverb-heavy atmospheres.

Dreamlike chords set the stage for El Waili’s reverb-soaked crooning, lulling the listener into a false sense of serenity before the beat aggressively kicks into full gear. Seemingly taking cues from the psychedelia-infused stylings of artists like Egypt’s ABOsahar, El Waili expands his sonic boundaries by incorporating frantic 808 kicks into conventional mahraganat percussion.

Obviously a passion project for the duo, the ‘unofficial visualizer’ for the track from Adham Hamdy, features repurposed scenes from The Weeknd’s ‘Blinding Lights’ music video, with a disorienting filter haphazardly thrown on top). We’re not sure why, exactly, but there’s something about it that lends itself well to the music.