CAIRO: Seven young men have discovered a new way to reuse trash and promote recycling at the American University in Cairo: making music. “Don't be a sissy, for yourself and your country be clean!” ends the first line of an original song by Zabaleen, a new music project begun by seven AUC students with the goal of promoting recycling in Cairo. Zabaleen draws its name, as well as its inspiration and instruments, from the name of Cairo's “garbage people.” The Zabaleen are the 60,000 mainly Coptic Christians who for the last hundred years have made their living recycling 80 percent of Cairo's garbage in the world's largest ‘garbage city' on the outskirts of Cairo. Led by lead singer Ahmed Safi El-Din, the talented group of young musicians mixes up well-known English and Arabic songs with original material. The group's four percussionists – Noor Ayman, Shahir Eskander, Youssef El Kady, and Naeyr El Mamoun – make their music with trash cans, metal pipes, paint buckets, water jugs, soda cans filled with fool or small macaroni and other creatively reused trash. Completed by Ahmed El Dahan's saxophone and Aly Morad's acoustic guitar, Zabaleen's jazzy music is brilliantly executed. The group's on-stage enthusiasm is contagious. They drew wild applause following their most recent performance at an Open Mic night in downtown Cairo. The audience was thrilled by Zabaleen's unconventional instruments and thoroughly enjoyed the unique performance. The show “was pure awesomeness” according to fan Nadeen El Awadly. Trash is the aim as well as the means of the nascent group. Zabaleen's first performance, barely two months ago, took place during World Environment Day at the American University in Cairo. Donning white “We Recycle Cairo” t-shirts, the group played their set surrounded by a captive all-ages audience. A photo from the event posted on the group's Facebook page was captioned, “Enjoying the tight-knit comradery of playing literally among the Egyptian people.” Initially intended for a one-time performance at AUC, Zabaleen has played six shows over the past two months. In addition to playing at AUC, they have also appeared at al-Azhar Park, el-Sawy Cultural Center, and Makan in downtown Cairo. Zabaleen's creation coincides with the first screening in Egypt of Garbage Dreams, a 2009 documentary film about Cairo's Zabaleen population. The group's Facebook page promoted the screenings held at AUC on Wednesday. Garbage Dreams follows the lives of three young men of the Zabaleen community over four years. As Egypt hires multinational garbage companies to deal with Cairo's trash in a more “modern” way, the Zabaleen struggle to continue their way of life by modernizing their trade, encouraging ‘source separation,' and dealing with the multinational companies. In Arabic with English subtitles, Garbage Dreams is a superb documentary about a people capable of recycling more than 80 percent of the trash they collect, a huge jump from the 20-25 percent boasted by Western countries. Last Monday, Garbage Dreams showed for the first time in Egypt. The screening was held at the Darb 1718 Contemporary Art and Culture Center, the same outdoor venue which hosted Cairo's second Refugee Film Festival last weekend. The screening drew a large and mixed crowd of Egyptians and foreigners. Perhaps most remarkable was the sincere interest of the audience. More than 100 people remained at the venue for nearly an hour after the screening ended to participate in a question and answer session with some of Cairo's Zabaleen. A member of the German group which helped the fund the film was stunned by the turnout as she welcomed the audience. “We have never had a crowd like this,” she said. “Usually we are only twenty experts.” The turnout was understandable. Egyptians and expatriates in Cairo alike are increasingly aware of the need to clean up the city. It is a message both Zabaleen and Garbage Dreams are working to spread. “It's filthy here,” said Awadly. “Zabaleen makes fighting pollution fun.” BM
