One balmy night last week, a crowd of about 60 people shuffled into Azhar Park's Geneina Theater to see a musical performance by Bikya, a Cairo-based electronic rock fusion ensemble. The varied audience comprised of teens, families and people who wandered in from a night walk in the greenery. The nearly bare and black stage was juxtaposed with the natural beauty of the surroundings. The audience entered the small open-air stadium under a moonlit sky and stars blinking over rows of stone tiers sharply carved into the hillside - the quietude and muted colors suggested not only a place distant from Cairo, but an ancient past. And so the electronic music about to blast from the speakers might have seemed like a jarring contrast. But what arrived were smooth harmonies that blended pleasantly with the calm setting. Bikya's members, Maurice Louca (guitar, keyboard and electronics), Mahmoud Refaat (drums and electronics) and Mahmoud Waly (bass and electronics) took the stage in what appeared to be a classical rock arrangement - two Marshal amps, electric and bass guitars framing an acoustic drum set. As the show progressed, it became obvious that the trio's sound was enhanced by the use of laptops, a keyboard and mixers. I found myself relaxing and dreaming. I met with band members Louca and Refaat a few nights later to discuss my enjoyable "visceral experience. "We believe what sounds good is good, Louca said. "That's why you felt the visceral element, because we're not trying to create conceptual music in the sense that there's a text beside it... We try to talk about melodies and structures and beats, because that's basically what it comes down to. "There's a communication Refaat added. "[The music] has to satisfy the members of the group... This kind of engagement tells us that we can do this or not do this. According to Louca and Refaat, this communication is vital for the group, next to improving their craft. I was interested in the idea that the bands' sound did not immediately situate them in Cairo. Listening to the work, I imagined I could have been anywhere from Berlin to Tokyo. "We're not interested in linking borders Refaat replied. Louca elaborated, "We don't think about borders or the differences, insead, a straight exploration of the music is more significant. "But the audience is different Refaat notes. "If Maurice is doing a solo or going crazy on my beats then they would scream in Berlin or scream in Egypt for different reasons. "It's always based on exposure and reference, but also on personal states - what you are now, what you want now, he added. The two believe in the possibility of universality in music. "There are a lot of preconceptions, Louca says. To that, Refaat added, "I don't think we're so far out that people can't get us. I think in general we're an accessible band if we do it right and deliver that emotion properly. The success of Bikya lies precisely in this combination of art and accessibility. I was struck by this quality - the music simultaneously harkened 70s rock and sophisticated sound art. "It's not avant-garde or commercial or pop - it's something in between, as Refaat said. Though the two were not interested in discussing their influences per se, Refaat did talk about Cairo's music scene in the 90s and how different it is from today. "It was bigger and much more focused, he said, commenting on a time when there were more arrayed and casual venues hosting live music. "You wouldn't think of this place, he said, gesturing to the small bar we were sitting in "as a place for a live band. But it might have been. We spoke of the difference, following strict governmental interference, wherein now live music in Cairo has to travel through much more legal channels to be heard. "In Zamalek you'd have places like Versailles or El Patio or Romantica. And now none of these places have music. They all have shisha or sushi. All in all, however, Refaat seemed optimistic about the music scene in Cairo, even if it is a bit more subdued these days. He credits these times, and even earlier heydays, for Egyptian rock groups like Mask, Steel Age, or Stone Fish as laying a foundation for the Cairo music scene today. When I asked the two directly about who influenced them, Louca and Refaat asked jokingly. "You had to ask that didn't you? "We can't tell you as Bikya, because [as individuals] we're interested in different things, Louca said. "I think we're not even aware of it, said Refaat, "because it's an accumulation of 25 years of music.
