A new Egyptian collective by the name of Kahareb has just announced their arrival in style – and you may recognise a familiar voice in their cheeky debut song, ‘El Sauce’, which comes complete with an equally cheeky and slick video. Yes, that’s none other than Youssef Atwan, fromer singer-songwriter of now dissolved satirical Egyptian band, Like Jelly, who at the height of their fame and popularity appeared on Bassem Youssef’s Al Bernameg, as well as Arabs Got Talent.
Like Jelly abruptly disappeared in 2016 leaving many of their fans confounded as to the reasons behind this hiatus. While their satirical style of music has been largely missing from the Egyptian music circuit since then, Atwan seems to have brought witty lyrics and catchy tunes back with his newest project.
However, Youssef is not alone in this project, in fact he’s joined by a host members who are all part of other projects including Sharmoofers’ Moe Arkan on drums, saxophonist Ahmed El Dahan of Sukoon and the Bastet Jazz Quartet, Mokhtar El Sayeh on bass and Soli on trumpet.
Kahareb are those colorful fairy lights you commonly see at shaabi weddings or store openings around Egypt and, as the name might suggest, the lyrics of their debut song seems to poke fun at the widening socioeconomic class gap in the country and the impact of this gap on either ends of it. Or something.
Follow Kahareb on Facebook and Soundcloud.
