Various Artists – Born in the City of Tanta: Lower Egyptian Urban Folklore and Bedouin Shaabi from Libya’s Bourini Records 1968-75 (Sublime Frequencies, 2025)
Throughout much of the 20th century, Egypt’s mainstream popular music was a structured, sophisticated art form, shaped by professional musicians and centered in Cairo. It catered primarily to the middle and upper classes, blending Arabic traditions with select foreign influences.
However, beyond the capital, in cities like Tanta and Alexandria and extending across the Saharan Desert to Libya, a parallel musical world thrived. Marginalized, underground artists, largely overlooked by the Egyptian music industry, developed a raw, yet delightful, hybridized form of shaabi (al-musiqa al-shabiya) using instruments such as oud, kanun, accordion, fiddle, flute, and percussion. This independent scene found a brief but powerful advocate in Bourini Records, a small Libyan indie label founded by Astuanat al-Bourini, active from 1968 to 1975.
Founded in Benghazi, Bourini Records released approximately 40 to 50 recordings, mostly 7-inch 45 RPM singles by 15 artists, 14 of them Egyptian. Among its most notable names were Alexandrian singer Sheikh Amin Abdel Qader and the blind Bedouin musician Abu Bakr Abdel Aziz (also known as Abu Abab), both of whom gained fleeting regional recognition.
This compilation captures the label’s wide-ranging sound, from the raw intensity of Basis Rahouma’s “Yana Alla Nafsa Masouda,” where his voice morphs into a feral growl, to Reem Kamal’s “Baed Al Yas Yjini,” an irresistible handclapping tribal anthem that spirals into a transfixing improv.
The stark contrast to mainstream Egyptian music is evident in Mahmoud al-Sandidi’s “Ana Mish Hafwatak,” where his voice drifts over a hypnotic accordion drone, and Abu Abab’s “Al Bint al Libya,” a minimalist lament featuring violin, percussion, and his nephew Hamed Abdel Muna’im Mursi on lyre.
While Egypt’s dominant musical culture aspired to refinement, Bourini’s catalog was an unfiltered reflection of daily life among the working class and Bedouin communities. More than 50 years later, these recordings remain vital and deeply fascinating.
Artists featured: Basis Rahouma, Sheikh Amin Abdel Qader, Samah, Mahmoud al-Sandidi, Abu Bakr Abdel Aziz, and Abu Saber.
Release Date: May 9, 2025
Author: Madison Quinn
