Lekhfa, an album featuring three of Cairo's most popular independent musicians, Maryam Saleh, Maurice Louca and Tamer Abu Ghazaleh, will be released at a concert at Al-Azhar Park 23 September. All three musicians have established themselves on the alternative Arabic music scene with respective solo albums and work with other musicians, making their collaboration a powerful one that has the fans of each waiting in anticipation. They've also teamed up with Mido Zoheir, a talented poet and songwriter. "With Lekhfa they give birth to an off kilter sound where layers of grit and beauty intertwine in and around the dystopian poems," the event description reads. The album is produced by Mostakell, a music label for indie Arabic music operating under Eka3 platform, founded by Abu Ghazaleh himself, with the support of the Arab Fund for Arts and Culture (AFAC). Singer and songwriter Saleh is among the most prominent figures in the Egyptian underground music scene. Her repertoire is steeped in experimentation, with previous collaborations with Abu Ghazaleh and Louca. Saleh, began her music career participating in the Baraka band, which reinterpreted Sheikh Imam's songs with rock music, and Gawaz Safar band, which she founded herself, before commencing her solo career. Her first album, Mesh Baghanny (I Don't Sing), was released in 2012. On her second album, Halawella, which was released in 2015, she collaborated with Lebanese electro-pop musician Zeid Hamdan. Also a theatre artist, Saleh's theatre experience includes collaborations with El-Warsha and Tamy troupes as well as the Choir Project. The singer has also acted in several films and television series, among them Ibrahim El-Batout's Eye of the Sun (2008), and Tamer El-Said's In the Last Days of the City (2016). Louca rose to the scene in 2005 with the formation of Bikya, an electronic ensemble that also includes Mahmoud Refaat and Mahmoud Waly. His first solo album Garraya was released in January 2011 on Cairo's 100Copies music label, while his second album, titled Benhayyi Al-Baghbaghan (Salute the Parrot), was released in 2014, featuring Louca's compositions and revamps of local sounds from the Mahraganat music scene, a genre that blends folkloric Egyptian music and psychedelic and electronic influences. Abu Ghazaleh is an established Palestinian musician, multi-instrumentalist, and composer. His repertoire comprises three albums: his debut release Janayen El-Ghona in 2001, Mir'ah (Mirror) released in 2008 and most recently Thulth (Third), a nine-track album released in May 2016, which featured his own compositions and lyrics, amidst extracts of poetry by Qais Ibnul Mulawah, Tamim Al-Barghouti, Ramez Farag and Naguib Sorour. For more details on tickets call: 19941
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