• Arts
  • November 23, 2006
  • 6 minutes read

Wust El Balad, Cairo’s Most Popular Band

Many young bands that combine different stylistic directions have emerged in Cairo during the past few years. Although these groups have not broken into the Arab music market thus far, their young audiences are enthusiastic. Sherif Abdel Samad introduces the band Wust El Balad

 Band Wust El Balad (photo: private)
 A touch of religion, politics, love, and revolution – the band Wust El Balad


A spot under a bridge in the middle of the capital city of Cairo has become a mecca for all of Egypt’s culture enthusiasts. On a site that used to be a garbage dump, Cairo’s largest cultural center has now been built – the Sawy Center.

This is where the popular young Egyptian bands that have been forming in large numbers during the past few years appear. What they have in common is the fact that they experiment with diverse stylistic directions, blending them with Arab sounds.

Modern rhythms such as pop, jazz, and reggae are combined with Arab and Turkish instruments – ūd, nai, kanun, mizmār, tabla, and bendir. In this way, a dialogue in the form of music is created between different cultures.

One of these bands is called Wust El Balad. Launched in 1999, the band rose to prominence through its appearances at music clubs like the Cairo Jazz Club and After Eight and at cultural institutions such as the Goethe Institut.

Harmonic links

Wust El Balad is known particularly for its synthetic musical sounds. Although the group makes use of Sudanese and Upper Egyptian folklore and rock, reggae, and pop music, the eight young musicians are still constantly evolving their own style.

The various genres are linked together harmonically, and many different combinations are created, since the sounds can be blended again and again into infinity.

For the most part, the song texts are about everything under the sun – from mystical Sufi texts and love ballads to political topics, everything is there. The absolute audience favorite is “Antika,” however – a love song that thrills the hearts of Egyptian youth. The song tells of a woman who has turned her poor lover’s heart into an antique in her apartment.

Political texts

“Where is the peace, Uncle Sam?” is one of the group’s political songs – a high-spirited piece with jazz elements and a clever play on words leveled against President Bush and the war in Iraq. “Salam” means peace in Arabic but is also an expression of astonishment. Thus, the audience smiles when the band sings the chorus: “Ya salam (now really), where is the “salam” (peace), Uncle Sam?”

The Texas roots of the US president are also lampooned – although his name is not mentioned, it is easy to guess who is riding a cow, wearing Texan boots.

In another political song, Wust El Balad addresses the fact that houses can be stolen but not a fatherland – an allusion to the uprooting of the Palestinians.

Another song is about the friendship between the Coptic Mina and the Muslim Sheikh Amin; it describes the tolerance and brotherhood of Copts and Muslims.

One of their latest songs is dedicated to the legend of Che Guevara. “With a bitter smile on his lips (…) he dreamed of a free world.” When the audience joins in the refrain and the name Che Guevara resounds for several minutes amid the applause of over a thousand Egyptian youths under a Cairo bridge, evoking the image of the Argentinian freedom fighter who died almost 40 years ago, the scene seems to take on an almost surrealistic character.

Popular with young people

Thus far, the group has not been able to record a CD. Perhaps the Egyptian music market sets too much store by merchandising good-looking men and women, since none of the young music groups have managed to hold their ground in the Arab music world up to now.

Wust El Balad is a great success with young people, however, because the musicians know how to tell stories that young people can identify with, cleverly and in language that is easy to understand. A touch of religion, politics, love, and revolution. What more do young people want?