Biography

Egypt witnessed the birth of Nagham Masry with the rise of the new millennium. Nagham Masry upholds a vision of musical innovation and taste development that is distinguished with bold creativity, which gave the band an instant recognition on their first public performance. The band is renowned as one of the pioneers of musical innovation in Egypt, because Nagham Masry is the first band in Egypt to publicize the incorporation of the local work of famous poets with progressive music, merging western and eastern cultures in genuine songs. The concept of the band tackles socio-political lyrics in an indirect manner, handled through an oriental-flavored vocal line that is embraced by progressive and modern music.

The Beginning:

It all began in the year 1998, when Sherbiny, a folkore-oriented vocalist, introduced his vocal melodies and chosen poems to Ousso, the Jazz/Rock guitarist; having met each other through Yehia Ghanam. Ousso had great interest in what Sherbiny exposed him to, because he had always wanted to incorporate his fusion compositions in a manner that reflects his Egyptian identity. With Sherbiny and Ousso’s different musical backgrounds, the idea of merging them together to deliver progressive Arabic songs, seeded the establishment of Nagham Masry.

But first, Sherbiny and Ousso had tried some collaborated arrangements with Hossam Shaker, Ahmed Osman and other musicians, with the songs being totally different from what Nagham Masry became. The project didn’t last, so Sherbiny and Ousso lost touch for a few months. As luck would have it, they both ran into each other on the 6^th of October Bridge, where they suggested the revival of their concept.

Soon after, Ousso introduced Wael Badrawy to Sherbiny as the keyboardist of the band. With the excitement kicking in, Sherbiny and Ousso started recruiting other members and the wheels of the band started rolling. The first line up of Nagham Masry, when formed in 1999, had Hazem Abd el Qader as the band’s drummer, Hany Bedair as the Percussionist, Ahmed Osman on Kontrabass, Hany el Badry on Nay, Wael Badrawy on Keyboards and Shady Sharaf on Oud.

The band’s lyrics are actually poems by great Egyptian poets, such as Emad Abdel-Mohsen, Salah Jaheen, Ahmed Fouad Negm, Amal Donkol, and many more. Whereas the vocal lines are composed by Sherbiny, except for Enta Hor, while the music is composed and arranged by Ousso. With only 10 songs, Nagham Masry held their first concert on August 15 in the year 2000, at the Citadel Festival, where they received a certificate of appreciation as an outstanding achievement award for their musical work from the Cairo Opera House.

Nagham Masry started then hitting several concerts in many reputable venues, like the Cairo Opera House, Bibliotheca Alexandrina, Beet el Harawi, and later on the Sawy Culture Wheel and several other Cultural Centers in Egypt. And with the rise of Nagham Masry, the band paved a path for several bands that followed in their same musical direction.

 

Reformation:

Due to the band’s selective choices of their performances, Nagham Masry wasn’t generating enough income to the band members. This led to different changes in the band’s line-up. When Hazem Abd el Qader left the band in 2001, he was replaced by Fekry Salah who was then replaced by 2003 with Amr Khairy “El Mister”, who remained as the band’s drummer to this day. Due to Hany el Badry’s busy schedule, he was replaced in 2004 by the Qanoon player; Sherif Kamel. But whenever Hany el Badry is free, he joins the band’s performances on stage. Ahmed Osman was also replaced by Bico in 2001, who is renowned by his distinguished sound in the band. Bico, being a professional bass player, began to engage in several other projects. Unfortunately, his work schedule began to clash with the band’s gig dates, so Nagham Masry had to find the perfect backup; Samer George. Nagham Masry didn’t only choose Samer for his unequivocal tightness and his solid sound, but they shared a strong chemical reaction because most of the members have already been playing together in Eftekasat since 2003. Though Bico was considered as one of the main pillars of Nagham Masry, he eventually became frequently unavailable, and so Samer had to replace him permanently in 2009. However, Nagham Masry shares a unique relationship with the former members, so whenever Bico is around, he is always welcomed to join the band on stage. Later on, Wael Badrawy left the band due to personal issues with one of the band members, and the band performed without keyboards for a while. Nagham Masry then recruited Faisal Fouad as the keyboardist of the band, but Wael is always welcome to rejoin them at any time on stage.

Obstacles and Conflicts:

Monetary issues have always been the major obstacle in the band’s career. Due to the conceptual existence of Nagham Masry, the band ended up holding a limited number of performances. When Ousso writes the music for the band, he strictly insists on delivering what he wants to deliver to the people not what the people are used to listening to in Arabic songs; because Ousso’s vision in the band is focused on developing the local music taste. So even though many band members have suggested to him adding more dance beats to attract a larger audience, he refused because not only does Nagham Masry happen to be a field where he could experiment new musical approaches, but this would degenerate his musical vision for the band. This led to the fact that the band’s ideologies and musicality only attracted the kind of audiences interested in such musical depth and lyrical contexts only and in specific venues. So Nagham Masry doesn’t prefer performing in pubs or night clubs, because people attending such gigs care more about dancing and partying rather than the quality of music and lyrics delivered. Moreover, corporate events and weddings target mainstream-oriented bands so the income generated by the band is never sufficient for professional musicians. However, Nagham Masry tried performing at pubs for a several times, but they weren’t satisfied from the crowd’s interaction in such places, so the band decided to withdraw their interest in such performances.

People linked Nagham Masry with several rumors, due to the band’s lyrical context. For example, a rumor said that Nagham Masry was banned from performing by the government at an Azhar Park concert due to political reasons. The truth is, Wael’s Keyboard was stolen during the process of setting up the stage. So the band called the police to investigate in the robbery. The police accused the park’s security for being irresponsible, and the Azhar Park canceled the band’s show. So people thought the show was canceled due to political reasons, and Ahmed Fouad Negm led a protest in Talaat Harb Street.

Though both Sherbiny and Ousso had two harsh conflicts that led to the breaking up of the band twice, they both form a genuine formula within the heart of the band. Ousso by nature is antisocial, depressive and stubborn, which forms a remarkable contrast with Sherbiny who is optimistic and ambitious. Ousso doesn’t admits that Sherbiny is his source of optimism in life, as well as it is Sherbiny’s personality that contributes to the continuity of Nagham Masry.

 It might have been strange at first for Sherbiny to digest the musical innovation proposed by Ousso, but it eventually became easier for him due to his broad mind and willingness for a genuine outcome. In fact, sometimes Sherbiny humorously calls Ousso as an infidel for using chords that may sound unfamiliar to Sherbiny at the beginning. He even keeps asking Ousso to change a specific chord that accompanies the vocal line. But Ousso insists on the harmony, and as soon as Sherbiny sings the vocal line a few times, he gets convinced with it.

Ousso wanted to attract different types of people in the band’s audience; youths, musicians, soloist fans, Rock fans, Jazz fans, poem lovers and so on. This gave Nagham Masry a giant leap in their appearance at the SOS music festival. Nagham Masry’s fan base multiplied and the band began to harvest the appreciation they deserved after years of struggling. More people began to follow up with the band’s direction, which stimulated the band into taking it to the next level; recording an album.

However, the band couldn’t record or release an album easily due to lack of sufficient money, the absence of a sponsor, the lack of sufficient knowledge between the local sound engineers regarding such kind of music and the lack of support from the media channels in promoting any musical material that isn’t mainstream. 

 

The Album:

Ousso decided to self-produce Nagham Masry’s albums, musically and financially so that the band’s material or musical direction would not be controlled by the mainstream producers. Moreover, he decided to release the band’s albums online, and for free, in order to ensure that the album reaches everyone without any inconvenience. This is what Ousso advised many fellow musicians to do, years before Nagham Masry’s album release; he knew that the market has changed and that the bands will lose their money if they intend to produce any albums because there isn’t even a remote possibility to at least cover their recording and distribution expenses.

There are many reasons behind the delay of the band’s album, other than the previously mentioned issues. Nagham Masry aimed for a desired output in the album, that couldn’t be matched by the surrounding skills available in the local music scene. Therefore, Ousso had to study audio-technology, so that he could efficiently carry out the recording, editing, mixing and the mastering of the album. Hereby breaking down the myth that no one could independently record, engineer and master his/her own music efficiently. Ousso also decided to rearrange the tracks before recording. So a lot of time was consumed until the album’s release, because he was the audio-engineer and the producer of the album, which is a very long process to be completed efficiently by only one person. The band also had a hard time managing the recording session schedules of the band members, due to their overlapping work schedules.

Nagham Masry have planned to release two albums within this year, with the first one titled as “Mesh Mohem” (Not a Big Deal) containing 13 tracks that were rearranged. The album’s title carries a positive message to everyone, because even though the band faced many obstacles in their career and in releasing an album for 11 years, it’s not a big deal, they’ll do it independently.