Egypt is located in northern Africa, bordering Libya, the Mediterranean Sea, the Gaza Strip, Israel, the Red Sea and Sudan.
The Egyptian Center for Culture and Arts Makan was created in 2002 to safeguard Egypt’s disappearing traditional music through documentation, performance, and education. Since then, the center has developed an extensive archive of hundreds of audiovisual recordings. At the same time, the center has hosted thousands of live concerts that present Egypt’s diverse musical heritage.
In 2025, Makan was one of the Aga Khan Music Awards 2025 finalists.
Egyptian Musical Genres
Chaabi – Popular North African Arabic music of Egyptian origin, also known as shaabi. Chaabi incorporates folk music and blends it with pop, rock or rap. Shaabi artists are found in Egypt, Algeria and Morocco.
Egyptian Musicians
Adel Shams Eddine
Ahmed Omar
Amr Diab
El Tanbura
Fathy Salama
Fatma Zidan
Hakim
Hossam Ramzy
Hosam Shaker
Riad Abdel-Gawad
Sheikh Yaseen el Tuhamy
Um Kulthum
