Salamat

ARTISTS

Salamat

Salwa Abou Greisha (by P.Romo)
  • country:Egypt
  • region:Orient
  • style(s):
    • Nubian
  • label:Piranha Records
  • type: Band
  • gender:male, female
  • instrumentation:instrumental, vocal

Just as open-minded to everything new under the cultural sun as his acquired hometown Berlin, with his Salamat outfit, master drummer Mahmoud Fadl set a perfect example of the concept of musical ‘tradimodernism’ – firmly rooted in his forefathers’ heritage, yet state-of-the-art, here-and-now in production and style.



The more things are missing, the more urgently present they can become! Large parts of the homelands of his forefathers were flooded once and for all by the Aswan Dam – that might well have been the final deciding argument for Mahmoud Fadl to cling to his Nubian roots and culture all the more.

It didn’t come as that much of a surprise, then, that when the migration that took Fadl from old Nubia and the cities of Aswan and Cairo through England to Berlin finally came to a temporary stop, one of the first things he did was set up a Nubian all-star ensemble to keep his people’s music alive. That is, really alive – complete with the roots, the history and all, yet having a passion for the contemporary young people’s version of the old heritage, too.

The project’s debut album Mambo el Soudani was recorded with Hassan Meky and Ahmed El Saidy, members of legendary Nubian singer Ali Hassan Kuban’s band, with Fathi Abou Greisha and Salma Abd Rady as featured singers. The album set the tradimodern pace – a thrilling revitalization of traditions which were united for thousands of years but became separated when the sound of the Nubian minority was transported to the teeming Cairo metropolis and gained soulful brasses and fascinating polyrhythmic grooves.

Salamat’s second album, Salam Delta, was recorded with members of the renowned Musiciens de Nil, together with singer Metqâl, teenage Arab star Ahmed Fathy and special guest gypsy brass genius Ferus Mustafov. Nubiana, recorded in Cairo with stars of the Nubian new wave, as well as Ezzayakoum, built around equally-celebrated Egyptian singers Sayed Khalifa, Hassan El Saghir, Salwa and Hassan Abdel Aziz, further continued in the vein.

Together, this quartet of albums stands strong as a particularly lively document of the fabled wealth of Nubian melodies – notoriously identified as the sound you will hear on entering paradise in the stories of One Thousand and One Nights.

Salamat are the perfect example of the concept of tradimodernism in music – old and new, restoring yet overthrowing, gone and not yet perceived…and sizzlingly alive in all of these forms.

Booking

Main Booking
Mahmoud Fadl
Fax: +49 (30) 623 28 11
eMail: mahmoud.fadl@gmx.net

Line up

  • Ahmed Astika (keyboard)
  • Ahmed El Saidy (alto sax)
  • Ahmed Faty (vocals, oud)
  • Hassan El Saghir (vocals)
  • Hassan Meky (accordeon, keyboards)
  • Mahmoud Fadl (djembe, tabla, conga, darabouka, dohola, marracas,)
  • Metqual Quenawi Metqual (vocals, rababa)
  • Mousa Hassan Khalil (oud, accordion)
  • Salma Abd El Rady (vocals)
  • Salwa Abou Greisha (vocals)
  • Sayed Khalifa (vocals)

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