The Nile Project – Aswan (2013)
The Nile Project is an exciting gathering of outstanding musicians from the Nile River region in East Africa. Egyptian ethnomusicologist Mina Girgis is the co-founder and executive director of the project. The other co-founder is Ethiopian artist Meklit Hadero. The musical director is bassist and composer Miles Jay.
East African music is under-represented in the West so recordings like Aswan are a great opportunity to discover the fabulous talent in countries like Egypt, Ethiopia, Eritrea, Sudan, South Sudan, and Uganda.
The live meeting of master instrumentalists and vocalists is not a pan-African jam session. Instead, the majority of the pieces have a clear structure, bringing together the beauty of Egyptian Arabic and Nubian sounds, Ethiopian music and the rhythms, instruments and melodies of Sub-Saharan East Africa.
Highlights include ‘Aysh’ composed by Egypt’s Hazim Shaheen, where the listener is treated to an unexpected combination of musical instruments and influences; the Ethio-jazz fueled ‘St. Jared of Axum’ composed by Ethiopian saxophonist Jorgan Mesfin; the festive ‘Kullina Wahed’ written by South Sudanese artist Nyrauach Jal; and the improvisatory crowd pleaser ‘Ya Ganouby’ by Dina El Wedidi.
The impressive lineup on the album includes Nubian percussionist and vocalist Adel Mekha (Egypt); bassist Ahmed Omar (Egypt); masankop (Sudanese lyre) player and vocalist Ahmed Said Abuamna (Sudan); violinist Alfred Gamil (Egypt); vocalist Alsarah (Sudan); percussionist Asrat Ayalew (Ethiopia); vocalist Dina El Wedidi (Egypt); masinko (bowed lute) player Endris Hassen (Ethiopia); percussionist Hany Bedair (Egypt); our player Hazem Shahin (Egypt); saxophonist Jorga Mesfin (Ethiopia); percussionist Lawrence Okello (Uganda); vocalist Meklit Hadero (Ethiopia); vocalist Mekuanent Melese (Ethiopia); ney player Mohamed Fouda (Egypt); adungu (Uganda bow harp) performer and percussionist Michael Bazibu (Uganda); simsimiyya (ancient lyre) player Mohsen El Ashry (Egypt); and vocalist Nyaruach Jal (South Sudan).
The Nile Project artists will be touring the United States in 2015. The lineup includes many of the musicians that appeared on the album, but there are new musicians added to the ensemble.
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Author: Angel Romero
Angel Romero y Ruiz has dedicated his life to musical exploration. His efforts included the creation of two online portals, worldmusiccentral.org and musicasdelmundo.com. In addition, Angel is the co-founder of the Transglobal World Music Chart, a panel of world music DJs and writers that celebrates global sounds. Furthermore, he delved into the record business, producing world music studio albums and compilations. His works have appeared on Alula Records, Ellipsis Arts, Indígena Records and Music of the World.
