The Nile Project: Aswan

In January earlier this year 18 musicians from five countries along the Nile came together in an unprecedented collaboration. This is a live recording of the exuberant public concert in Aswan at the end of the process. I was lucky enough to be there, and it is music with bravura, innovation and a wide appeal. The excellent opener, ‘Shagwab’, has an incantatory power – the otherworldly voice of Ahmed Said from Sudan alternating with gorgeous arabesques from Alfred Gamil’s violin from Egypt. It segues into ‘Salaam Nubia’ by Sudanese singer Alsarah. It’s a catchy pentatonic tune with a punchy bass line, nimble percussion and the intricate patter of Ugandan amadinda xylophone. The crowd goes wild. With ‘Tezeta’ we enter a new world, that of Ethiopia, evoked by the languorous sax of Jorga Mesfin and vocals of Asrat Ayakew. It’s only the American soul-inflected English vocals of Meklit Hadero that seem out of place and break the organic river-like flow. The Nile Project isn’t really about stars, but Egyptian singer Dina El Wedidi (pictured) does come over as a star in the making with ‘Ya Ganouby’, one of the signature songs of the Nile Project.