I'm always surprised when a concert begins on time. Last Saturday El Dor El Awwal did so at the Cairo Jazz Club playing an eclectic mix of styles labeled Oriental Jazz. After beginning with some slower songs, mostly Latin jazz, as the bar filled up, the band shifted into some faster-paced Irish folk music which fired up the largely expatriate crowd. Being a Saturday night, the bar was not nearly as packed and energetic as it would have been on a Thursday or Friday. After an intermission around midnight, the band continued on with mostly slow songs until they finished with a rousing beat-boxing finale that really got the crowd moving, with quite a few people dancing and cheers and applause breaking out. Several members of the ever-popular Wust El Balad band were among the audience, probably to see the drummers and the accordion player, who are also in their band. With Ahmed Omar Bass on guitar, Bob on percussion, Fady Badr on keyboard, Mohamed Samy on violin, Mizo on percussion, Nour Ashour on saxophone, Naissam Jalal on flute, and Wael El Nagar on accordion, the band gave a riveting show. Watch out for them next time.
