Hypnotic krautrock, with the energy of Egyptian shaabi music
Concert in collaboration with SoundInMotion.
Founded in Cairo in 2012 by Maurice Louca (Alif, Bikya), Sam Shalabi (Shalabi Effect, Land Of Kush) and Alan Bishop (Sun City Girls, Alvarius B.), The Dwarfs of East Agouza create improvisational, free improvisational music that blends elements of jazz and krautrock with influences from Arabic and Egyptian shaabi music.
On stage, the trio embraces their improvisational dynamics, resulting in exciting concerts that can take them in any musical direction.
The band was formed in 2012 as The Dwarfs of East Agouza, when they lived in the same apartment building in the Agouza district.
Since then, they have released six albums on labels such as Akuphone, Unrock and, more recently, Sub Rosa.
Through a liberating process based on improvisation, they have developed a secret, almost alchemical understanding. With Louca on electronics and synths, Shalabi on electric guitar and Bishop on guitar, bass, alto saxophone and vocals, the trio's dynamic improvisational approach embodies the emancipatory spirit of free jazz. They fuse the repetitive hypnosis of krautrock, pulsating rhythms, the energy of Egyptian shaabi music and Arabic scales into a continuous movement that never feels forced, but organically interweaves these different impulses.