Nozhet El Nofous

As a key member of Egypt’s rich independent music scene, multi-instrumentalist, arranger and composer Nancy Mounir is well-attuned to her country’s modern musical impulses. Yet it’s to the music of the early 20th century that she’s turned her attention on this debut.

At its heart are a series of archival recordings of once-famed Egyptian singers, to which Mounir has added her own atmospheric arrangements. The originals sound ghostly in multiple ways. The audible hiss of deterioration emphasises their age, while the microtonal scales they are sung in serve to play up their ancient otherness. Rather than modernise, Mounir has wisely chosen to highlight the raw beauty and emotion of the singers on her sympathetic accompaniments. There’s no escaping the inflamed passion of Naima El Masreya’s vocals on ‘Taala Ya Shater’, which Mounir counters with the lightest of piano, string and vocal accompaniments. The dramatic vocals of Mounira El Mahdeya’s ‘Baad El Esha’ are given suitably theatrical string backing while Fatma Serry’s emotionally-wrought tales of romantic vengeance on ‘Ana Bas Saktalak’ are atmospherically accompanied by Mounir on theremin and violin.