Salonaz Sami joined the band's celebration of their seventh anniversary In classical Arabic the word eftekasat does not mean much; in music, however, it stands for one of Egypt's top underground bands. In slang Arabic, eftekasat means innovative ideas or innovations, and if you could describe the music of the band Eftekasat in one word it would certainly be innovate. "A bit of jazz, a bit of rock along with some other elements, blended together in a mix with no clear identity," band founder Amr Salah explains. "Hence the name: eccentric ideas that come out of nowhere are eftekasat. And this is what we do." The band celebrated its seventh anniversary last Thursday at the Al-Sawy Cultural Wheel, kick-starting the evening with one of their oldest tracks, "Anxious Dance", which Salah composed in 1992. In 2001, the band got together to play their now famous oriental-jazz music. A year later Eftekasat gave their debut performance at the Cairo Jazz Club during the 2002 Jazz Festival and were enthusiastically received by the public. From that day on, they have proved time after time and concert after concert that they really know what they are doing. "If Steely Dan and Steve Vai had been born Egyptian and raised on oriental folk music, this is the sound they might make," proclaimed the Herald Tribune, describing Eftekasat's music. "It wasn't an easy job mixing and blending our oriental music with Western Jazz music," Salah said. While most of the bands who dared to venture the mixing world ended up with tasteless music, Eftekasat was different. "The band has crossed boundaries with its music, which fuses the sounds of oriental instruments like the nay and oud with the electronic guitar, for example," ardent fan Tamer Ziad says. "Their improvisations and compositions are a unique mix of Eastern and Western elements with a touch of jazz. Each one of them is a great musician, and they are the only ones capable of producing such music. Being able to become one of Egypt's top independent professional bands, in seven years, means they must have been doing something right." With West Al-Balad's lead singer and their own former vocalist Hani Adel, who was at the band's first debut performance, the band rocked the stage with some of their most famous tracks: Titre, Sabr, and Moulid Sidi Al-Latini (the title of their debut album, which was produced thanks to a $3,500-grant from the Arab Arts and Culture Fund). Former band members include nay player Hani Badri and Mohamed Lutfi, or Ousso as his fans call him. "What we produce is neither Arabic nor classical," adds Salah. "It's rather a mixture of everything we like listening to and what we feel reflects our everyday lives." On its release in 2006 Moulid Sidi Al-Latini (Celebration of the Latin Dervish) caused quite a stir with its instrumental fusion of styles. "I imagined a celebration in Latin America accompanied by Eastern musicians with their oriental instruments," says Salah, who wrote most of the album's tracks. Contemplative, diverse, fascinating and passionate is the best way to describe the band's songs. "Listeners have different perceptions of their music," Salah adds. "I see the track Moulid Sidi Al-Latini, for example, as a trance state of moulid." Eftekasat members refused to put their own pictures on the album's cover and opted for a colourful cartoon that best describes the soul and idea of the album. A few bands like West Al-Balad, Nagham Masri, and Eftekasat have started a musical revolution in Egypt. "Those bands took people's attention from hundreds of commercial pop artists to a handful of underground bands, capable of producing respectable art," Ziad says. Some of the band's original tracks were played on the radio; something most local bands could only dream of. According to Ziad, each of their tracks is different, unique, and has its own interesting story. Le Belle Algerie, for example, was influenced by the great figure of Algerian folklore music, Haj Mohamed Anka. Another hit track, Nekriz Necrosis, derives its name from the musical scale nekriz and the medical expression necrosis, or sudden death of cells. "They have defiantly established themselves in the Egyptian musical scene, in such a little time," Ziad adds. He says, however, that classifying the music of Eftekasat is not an easy task. "We want to thank all of you for taking the time to be here for us. Without you we wouldn't have made it this far," Salah told the audience at the end of the concert. "It's like a growing plant that needs good soil and water to survive: you are our food. We love you," he said. "Push it forward by attending good concerts because at the end only the good will survive. Cheers everyone," he added. With the worldwide release of Moulid Sidi Al-Latini, Eftekasat became officially recognised as an international band when in 2004 they performed at the fourth Bansko International Jazz Festival in Bulgaria. Last year they were invited to perform at the Carthage Jazz Festival in Tunis. They also took part in the San Jose Jazz Festival in the United States and just recently finished their Sofi Jazz Tour in Cairo and Alexandria. Eftekasat has also been very active in the local scene with performances at the Cairo Opera House, the Cairo Jazz Club, the Genina Theatre and Al-Sawy Cultural Wheel, to name a few. "Our goal is to be internationally recognised in the music business... and to present sophisticated music that puts Egyptian music on the international map," says the band's statement on Facebook. "We are celebrating seven years of a deep musical understanding, not just between us in the band but also between us and you -- our fans." While the band's second album is due to be released later this summer, the band is currently busy preparing for the first Cairo Jazz Festival which will take place in mid-March.
