Born and raised in Shubra El-Kheima, a bustling Nile metropolis on the edge of Cairo, Elkotsh got
his first taste of shaabi music at local wedding parties, where he’d take charge of the mic,
performing with a team of dancers. The genre emerged in the 1920s in Cairo, where it quickly
became the soundtrack to working class life, a way for urban Egyptians to vent their frustrations
or sardonically deconstruct day-to-day realities. And when electro-shaabi, or mahraganat (an
Arabic word meaning celebrations), materialized in the early ’00s, fusing classic shaabi elements
with ideas gleaned from reggaetón, hip-hop, techno and grime, Elkostsh knew immediately that
he’d found his niche.
HIZZ01 – Elkotsh – rhlt jdi
$19.99
Co-released by Cairo’s HIZZ imprint and Heat Crimes, Egyptian producer Elkotsh’s debut album skirts the experimental edge of mahraganat, disrupting electroid rhythms and dextrous live percussive workouts with acidic synth improvisations and warped instrumental vamps. Elkotsh’s kaleidoscopic, forward-thinking productions are representative of a vital new wave of Egyptian electronic music, alloying sounds that vibrate through the country’s street festivals and cafés with clubwise mutations from across the wider world.
In stock
| Weight | 6 oz |
|---|---|
| Dimensions | 13 × 13 × 1 in |
