Despite whether Mahraganat is necessarily your genre of choice, the subculture’s meteoric rise to commercial success is certainly undeniable. Rather than taking the approach of looking at Cairo from a traditional cultural or anqitquities lense, this new mini-documentary from one of the biggest online travel platform's in the world, Beautiful Destinations, showcases a different, newly emerging side of Egypt; the musical boom of the past couple years, told from the perspective of some of Mahraganat’s youngest voices in 'Cairo: A New Era'
Filmed by Matias De Rada and Sage Stephens, the entire 4-minute production is incredibly shot, with sweeping drone-eye-views, intense close-ups, and a keen eye for detail. Rather than showing a glamorized, high-end vision of Egypt, the documentary is mostly street-level, taking us through packed marketplaces and dusty side streets. Featuring a voiceover from, and appearances by, Mahraganat artists Wezza Montaser, 3enaabb, and Said Fatla — alongside dancer Abdala Sadam — the video presents and impassioned take
“This was such a unique story that I was able to tell during my time in Egypt", creator Matias De Rada says about the video, "This story is a look into how a group of musicians are innovating within a genre of music called "Mahraganat" which originated in underprivileged neighborhoods of Cairo, but is now getting the attention of the entire country.”
