Cairo, also known as Al-Qahira (القاهرة) and “The Vanquisher”, is North Africa’s biggest metropolis. She is named after the planet Mars, termed An-Najm Al-Qāhir (النجم القاهر), “the Conquering Star” in the days the city was founded over 1000 years ago. Mars, a planet of energy, action and desire, captures the very spirit of Al-Qahira, a cultural pioneer throughout her history that has been merging Arab, African, and European worlds into unparalleled soundscapes. Her music has lingered across centuries, re-emerging through boisterous traffic and whispered politics. From folk, pop and rap, to electronic and experimental, women use a plethora of genres to tell the stories of their city’s multiplicity. AMAKA presents to you a portrait of Al-Qahira through the artistry of her female musicians. 

Mazaher: The priestesses of Zãr

Zãr: Dancing with Jinn 

In the heart of the city, the Mazaher, Umm Sameh, Umm Hassan and Nour El Sabah, are among the last remaining Zãr practitioners in Egypt. Zãr is an East African ritual of poly-rhythmic drumming and dance, practised to appease the spirits that haunt women. The songs are distinctly different from other Egyptian music traditions and have been passed on through the ancestors since the 19th century. Ceremonies are spiritually and musically led by the Kadiya, or priestess, who offers her singing as a form of therapy for the psychosomatic and psycho-pathological stress that women experience in their daily lives. Al-Qahira, after all, is a place ruled by patriarchy and class which attempt to silence women’s voices. Singing of desire and seductively dancing in colourful, embroidered garments, the Mazaher create safer spaces for self-expression. “Rekousha” tells the story of a beautiful dark-skinned woman’s wedding, describing her beautiful dress. 

Nozhet El Nofous: Those who were not invited 

Living next door to the Mazaher is multi-instrumentalist Nancy Mounir, who has been tracing the glorious years of Al-Qahira’s nightlife in the 1920s. Her debut album Nozhet El Nofous is a musical dialogue between her own arrangements and “the ghosts” of eccentric Egyptian singers. She traces the legacies of those in contemporary arts and society like X and X, along with their practice with tuning systems outside of the dominant scales in the Arabic mainstream.

Ruby

Ringing in the 21st century as Egypt’s first naughty girl, Ruby took Al-Qahira by storm. An actress, model and singer, her music videos and fashion choices made her a sex symbol in the world of Arab pop music. In an industry dictated by western beauty standards, Ruby is often praised for evoking a sense of “natural Egyptian beauty”. Playing with bellydance aesthetics and erotic themes, some of her songs draw upon the Musiqa Al-Tarab genre which was pioneered by the same Golden Age musicians Nancy Mounir features in Nozhet El Nofous; and similar to the censorship of “those who were not invited", Ruby’s music was banned from national television for indecency. The connection between Arab pop and traditional Arab music is deeply embedded (unlike Western pop which deviated massively from the culture’s classical genres), which is why Ruby is so difficult to dismiss as not Egyptian, albeit many wish to do so. The sultry fits of “Leh Bedary Keda” (Why Is He Secretive) caused an unforgettable hype in the capital. 

Asia Madani

Asia Madani weaves Sudanese vocals and percussion into the fabric of Al-Qahira. She represents the traditions of a society where women play a central role in music; preaching against gender-based oppression is one of the main themes in her art. Madani’s sound fuses different branches of folklore and spirituality, including Zãr, Sufism and Aghani Binaat (girls songs). The Sudanese diaspora and Egypt have a long, difficult history of co-existence, cultural amalgamation and racial discrimination. Sudanese Cairenes are an essential, yet often overlooked, part of Cairo, and Madani asserts this as she proudly walks the streets in her toub, the traditional Sudanese dress. In her song “Mandy”, she challenges the supremacy of certain Arabic dialects, instead merging various vernaculars from across Sudan into an audio experience reflective of the diverse city.

Perrie El Hariri

In 2020, amidst the growing #MeToo movement, director-turned-singer Tameem Younis thought it funny to release a song that mocks the lack of consent in patriarchal Egypt. His “Salmonella” sparked outrage amongst feminists and prompted Moroccan-Egyptian rapper Perrie El Hariri to respond with her own rendition “Shigella”, stoutly asking “what happened in your childhood that made you so sick and violent?” Educated in various international schools in Cairo as well as the UK, Perrie decided to switch from rapping in English to Arabic after the song went viral; she realised the impact of speaking to her people in their own language. As the first ambassador for Spotify’s EQUAL Arabia campaign, the 22-year-old now represents a generation of young Egyptians who seek connection with their culture and heritage while speaking out against westernisation and harmful societal norms. 

El Kontessa

El Kontessa is a DJ, graphic designer and visual artist who rose to prominence in line with an emerging wave of alternative Egyptian music. She mixes mahraganat, a genre of folk music which translates to “festival” and is played at local weddings and parties, with electronic snippets and, sometimes, Cairo’s street noise. Her sets are exhilarating and frantic, drawing us into epic, rhythmic soundscapes that match the energy of Al-Qahira’s low-income neighbourhoods. According to El Kontessa, mahraganat or sha’bi music is truly Egyptian, because it encompasses a culture of celebration as well as all the problems and misery. Egypt's Musicians Syndicate has been waging a campaign attempting to ban and limit the expansion of the genre, going as far as to issue a decree banning mahraganat performances in private venues. Of course, nothing can stop the people from creating and so, El Kontessa continues curating sets that sing of Al-Qahira’s hopes, challenges and unsatisfied fantasies.

Juno

Up-and-coming singer-songwriter Juno inhabits a unique space in Cairo’s chaotic music and fashion worlds: sometimes, she is found deejaying at techno parties, and other times performing acoustic indie pop on the piano. Her melancholic, ethereal aura brings serenity to Al-Qahira’s hustle. She released “Power of She” back in December 2021, championing unheard female voices and touching upon issues of harassment and abuse. “This one is for all the women that have ever felt their voices weren't heard”, Juno wrote about the track. “This one is for all the women that ever had to experience sexual harassment or assault and had no one to go to. I celebrate each and every one of you and your strength and bravery.”

Felukah

In her neighbourhood El Maadi, daughter of the vibe Felukah has been revolutionising the rap game (“Blossom in the berry/ That’s Qahira and I/ Glued to the fruit, I'm inspired/ I ain′t got to prove/ That my game like Hatshepsut/ Been empowered by the root, yeah/ & If you talking coin/ I coined this very lingo/ Your baby mama Cairo”). Al-Qahira raised and New York based, Felukah’s soulful sound explores multiculturalism, multiplicity and self-empowerment. Following She is currently working on her highly-anticipated third studio album The Love Serum, following Citadel and Dream 23. Felukah routinely switches between Arabic and English, offering stunning visuals to match. In turn, the singer asserts herself as the trailblazing mother of Arab-futurism, carving out space for a new generation to follow suit and bring Arab-futurist art and music from Egypt to the rest of the world.

Sex, Women, and Music — A Dive into the Music and Fashion of Niniola

The sounds of Cairo’s female musicians draw out an enchanting sense of infinite possibility. Al-Qahira’s century old voices come alive in present-day music and artistry, mapping history and culture throughout her diverse neighbourhoods to showcase all that is possible in the city of Mars