Massar Egbari

Massar Egbari is an Egyptian band from Alexandria, Egypt.

The band, which formed in 2005, presents a kind of Alternative Egyptian Music, mixing rock, Jazz and Blues with Oriental music.^[1] "Massar Egbari" means "Compulsory Track", a name intended to reflect how society forces people to lead their lives in a particular way.^[2] Massar Egbari presents music and songs talking about social problems. Love is not the main concern although it represents a part of their songs.

Performances

In 2007 the band started to perform in Europe as it participated in Malta Arts Festival (Valletta-Malta),^[3] Barisa Rock Festival - Rock for Peace (Istanbul-Turkey).^[4]

In 2008, the band played in The Biennale of young artists from Europe and the Mediterranean (Bari-Italy)^[5] In 2009, Massar Egbari played at a festival in Cairo in support of the people of the Gaza Strip,^[2] then at the International Adriatic-Mediterranean Festival in Ancona, Italy^[1] and at the Fesival of the Mediterranean in Alexandria.^[6] In the same year, Massar Egbari invited as special guests to perform in the Bienale of young artists in Skopje to perform with Monistra band from Macedonia in their Common project Alexsopje (Alexandria- Skopje) 5 months after their concert in Alexandria. In 2010, Massar Egbari performed for the first time along with other artists from Africa in Sauti Za Busara Festival in Zanzibar. Massar Egbari members (nationally and internationally) attended several workshops, won several prizes, and performed in many concerts, as well as composing music for a number of movies. Massar Egbari will appear by the end of 2010 in El-Hawi, a film by Ibrahim El-batout (director of “Ein-Shams”) about people living in Alexandria, and in “Microphone”, a film by Ahmed Abdallah El-Sayed (director of “Heliopolis”) in a film taking about under-ground artists in Alexandria with Khaled Abo El-Naga, Menna Shalaby, Yosra El-Lozy and Alexandrian underground artists.^{[dated info]}

Members

Hani El Dakkak : The Guitarist and lead singer, he was influenced by Blues and Rock guitarists like Eric Clapton and Mark Knopfler, and also by the great Egyptian composer and singer Sayed Darwich, Hani created his own style; mixing Blues and Rock with pure Egyptian melodies. Hani played with many bands like “El-Resala” and Khaled Shams where he added his touch on their music. Hani is interested in Sound Engineering and he worked as a Sound Engineer in Bibliotheca Alexandrina.

Ayman Massoud : Ayman (keyboards) started his musical career in “El hob wel Salam” one of Egypt’s best independent bands- where he played for more than 6 years. As he is interested in Sound and in discovering new styles of music, Ayman participated in lots of workshops on Sound techniques, electronic music, oriental jazz. Ayman played with lots of musicians like the German Blues Guitarist Jurgen Schubert and joined 16 young musicians from Egypt and other Arabic countries in REMIX workshop organized by Fathy Salama (Winner of The Grammy Award 2005), In 2005 Ayman decided to start his new project “Massar Egbari” with his old friends Toussy and Hafez.

Ahmed Hafez : Hafez (bass) is a musician, potter, sculptor, Hafez started his actual musical career by forming “El-Refak” band with Khaled Wafik, Khaled Shams and Safey from 1992 to 1997 when there wasn’t almost any independent music band in Egypt (Sequencer age), then joined El-Hob Wel-Salam from 1997 to 1999, then with "Khaled Shams & The Sea Friends" from 2001 to 2004, and since 2005 he is the bassist of Massar Egbari from the very beginning, in 2005 Hafez Composed the sound track of the movie “Garconiera”(75mn. directed by Hazem Metwaly) where the theme (mixed by Ayman Massoud and with the voice of Boustan, Hafez’ wife) won a special mentioning prize from Euro-med Café in Other Songs contest 2006 http://www.euromedcafe.org/swinners.asp?year=2006&lang=ing ,then in 2007 Hafez Composed the soundtrack of an interactive educational web-cartoon project between children from Arles-France and children from Alexandria-Egypt which was organized by l’Afriche. In 2009 Hafez composed and recorded the musical short animated movie “Zlezla” (13mn. directed by Sherif Sherif), an animated movie based on an Egyptian folk story where drawings and singing (with the help of Boustan Hafez’ wife) were all done by children from 6 to 11 years old (including Hafez' daughters),“Zlezla” won 2 golden prices in 19th Cairo International Festival for Children’s Cinema. As a potter and a curator in Bibliotheca Alexandrina, Hafez organizes and teaches children pottery ,sculpture, and how to make simple musical instruments.

Tamer Attallah : Known as Toussy. Toussy is the drummer and the "electronic man of the band". Influenced by Pink Floyd, he is trying to make a kind of electronic rock. Toussy is also a composer and he composed the soundtracks for many movies and video installations. Toussy released his track “Desert Bomb” in the first Egyptian Compilation CD for electronic music “ELECTRO EGYPT”.

Mahmoud Siam : Mahmoud joined Massar Egbari in 2008. He used to play in El Hob Wel Salam . Mahmoud is a guitarist and a pianist.

Mohamed Nabil : Known as Hamdoun, Hamdoun was last member to join Massar Egbari, he is the percussionist, and he is a member in some independent alexandrian mmusic bands

Shady AbdelAzim : Shady was the band's guitarist but left in 2008 in order to make his own project

Awards

Massar Egbari won the Prize for The Best Band Performing Original Songs in Arabic in the first International Occidental Music Competition held in Bibliotheca Alexandrina in 2006. The Juries were Dr.Rageh Daoud, Dr. Nevine Allouba, Yehia Ghannam, Mohamed Saas Basha and Sherif Nour.^[2] - Ayman Massoud won the prize for the Best Keyboard Player in the same competition. .

Ahmed Hafez won the prize for the best Bassist in the Second International Occidental Music Competition in 2007. Hany El Dakkak won the prize for the best Vocalist in the same competition.

Massar Egbari also won a Special Award in Other Songs Contest 2005 organized by the Euromed Café. 104 songs from more than 20 Mediterranean countries participated in the contest and the band's song Kol El Khal' (written by: Salah Jaheen and composed by: Hany El Dakkak) was selected to get a Special Recognition Award.^[3] Massar Egbari's song 'Taam el byout' (written by Abdel Rehim Mansour and composed by Ayman Massoud) won the same prize in the same competition in 2006.^[3]

The UNESCO awarded Massar Egbari the title of " Young Artist for intercultural dialog between the Arab and Western Worlds" in the ceremony held in the UNESCO headquarters in Paris on April 13th 2011.

Television appearances

-MAZZIKA TV (SOS Music Festival coverage and interviews). - Dream TV (SOS Music Festival coverage and interviews). - Nile Culture TV (Star Maker program) in 2005. - Nile Culture TV (An Egyptian Tale) in 2006. - CNN World (Barisa Rock Festival Documentary). - TRT (Barisa Rock Festival coverage and interviews). - OTV (Covering the recording session of the band’s song ‘ADDEF’ @ Ganub Studio). - Orbit TV (in the festival held to celebrate Fathy Salama’s Grammy award and BBc award). - OTV (Covering Massar Egbari’s concert @ El Sawy Culture Wheel-May 2007). - Modern Egyptian TV (Covering Massar Egbari’s concert @ El Sawy Culture Wheel - September 2007). - OTV (Covering Massar Egbari’s concert @ El Sawy Culture Wheel - September 2007). - Dream TV (Covering Massar Egbari’s concert @ El Sawy Culture Wheel - September 2007). - Maktoob TV (Interview with the band @ Cairo Jazz Club). - MBC TV (interview covering Bibliotheca Alexandrina 2nd world Music Festival) - Al Masry El-Youm (interview at Azhar Park - Art Beat Festival -June 2010) - OTV (interview at Azhar Park - Art Beat Festival-June 2010)

References

1. ^ ^{a b} "Ancona palcoscenico del Festival Internazionale Adriatico Mediterraneo" (in Italian). anconainforma.it. 28 August 2009. http://www.anconainforma.it/Cultura+e+Spettacolo/art16040/28_agosto_09/ancona_palcoscenico_del_festival_internazionale_adriatico_mediterraneo.html. Retrieved 1 April 2010. 
2. ^ ^{a b c} "An artistic upheaval". Al-Ahram Weekly. 29 January - 4 February 2009. http://weekly.ahram.org.eg/2009/932/ee1.htm. Retrieved 1 April 2010. 
3. ^ ^{a b c} "Une onde porteuse" (in French). Al-Ahram Hebdo. 1–7 August 2007. http://hebdo.ahram.org.eg/Arab/Ahram/2007/8/1/arts2.htm. Retrieved 1 April 2010. 
4. ^ "Barışarock Beşinci Yılında da Barış Diyor" (in Turkish). Bianet. 10 August 2007. http://www.bianet.org/bianet/kultur/100873-barisarock-besinci-yilinda-da-baris-diyor. Retrieved 1 April 2010. 
5. ^ "La fontaine des miracles et des clichés" (in French). Al-Ahram Hebdo. 11–17 June 2008. http://hebdo.ahram.org.eg/arab/ahram/2008/6/11/arts1.htm. Retrieved 1 April 2010. 
6. ^ "Farah El Bahr - Η Γιορτή της Θάλασσας στο Μεσογειακό Φεστιβάλ στην Αλεξάνδρεια Αιγύπτου" (in Greek). Sofia Times. 14 October 2009. http://www.sofiatimes.com/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=14946. Retrieved 1 April 2010. 

External links

Massar Egbari on Myspace