Soda cans, rice, barrels and bottles. At first glance, this looks like a grocery list. But with Al Masna’ (The Factory) dance troupe, these items were transformed into musical instruments wowing audiences with sounds taken directly from Egyptian streets.
“Any sound is a sound of music. This is the motto that encouraged Al Masna’ leader and creator George Wahib to start a workshop at the American University in Cairo (AUC) last April to teach participants how to create music with any ordinary object.
The concept of the band’s music represents is somehow inspired by innovative, dance troupe Stomp. But while Stomp focuses solely on dance, Al Masna’ creates full-fledged songs coupled with short segments of recorded music.
“Everybody should be able to play music without having to pay thousands of pounds for instruments, said Marize Ishak, Wahib’s assistant and a member of the group. For the workshop, Wahib asked participants to fetch any object that can produce a sound and these objects became the staple instruments used by the band in their shows.
Al Masna’ is led by Wahib, the coach and drummer (drums take the form of empty barrels) who is currently studying computer science. Ishak is the vocalist, dancer and public relations coordinator who also works as a correspondent for state TV. There are also Asmaa El Amawy, a painter whose instruments of choice are cans and wooden sticks; and Andrew, a thanawiya amma student who also plays the barrels, among other objects.
Al Masnaa first performed on May 20 on the stage of AUC’s Ewart Hall and the audiences responded enthusiastically to this rather peculiar experiment.
“The audience was skeptical at first because they didn’t understand how we would play the objects that we had on stage, but once we started, they liked our music and gave us great feedback, Ishak said.
The band’s real breakthrough came at the opening ceremony of the Fifth “Mowatenoun Am Ra’eya (Citizens or Flock?) festival held at the Jesuit Cultural Center in Cairo last June. The band’s impressive performance was covered by several publications, officially putting the group on the map.
Following the extensive media coverage, the band received a number of offers by production companies to finance the band on condition that they are recognized as the project’s creators. The band immediately rejected these offers. Since the fundamental idea behind Al Masna’ is to create music at minimal cost, funding was never a major issue.
Improvisation is the key to the band’s brand of art. Beats and sounds flow spontaneously. Lyrics are no different. “We just sit together, somebody starts playing a certain beat, then we all start playing along, someone starts singing, and so on, that’s how all our tracks are created, Ishak said.
Improvisation is also what makes their shows unique: The band members simply let the music flow. “Sometimes George starts playing a solo in the middle of a track; sometimes I play around with the lyrics and change them a bit as I sing on stage. We consider concerts to be just like rehearsals where we have an opportunity to develop the tracks.
Lyrics delve deep into Egyptian society, tackling a variety of issues in an accessible, though sophisticated, context. “We try to integrate Egyptian society with all its aspects and problems into our songs. Using the daily noises of the capital, the band creates an intriguing interpretation of reality: authentic and poetic. The song “Ramsis, for example, churns out sounds of horns and microbus drivers’ signature yelling.
The message of the lyrics is understated, yet moving. In another track, the band mimic The Beatles’ classic “All You Need is Love with a simple track featuring the lines “love, let’s love, hate, don’t hate uttered by Ishak’s soft voice, set against mellow background music.
The show also incorporates dancing. In “Rhythmic Dance, Ishak belly dances to the beats while the rest of the band break into tap dancing and other forms of modern dance.
The band’s current objective is to reach every music lover who can’t afford to buy a drum kit or guitar. At the end of each concert, Wahib invites the audience to the stage and asks them to bring along any object that can produce a sound. The audience members take the stage with their key chains, notebooks or handbags, and begin to synchronize their sounds with each other.
“George sometimes even leaves the stage completely for the audience and enjoys watching his vision being realized by people from all walks of life, Ishak said.
Wahib and Ishak have their hands full these days. The pair started auditions to set up a second workshop for tap dancing in Emad El Din Studios and a third one for theater in El-Sawy.
“Our aim is to pass on our vision to as many people as possible; that’s why we want to start new workshops, while continuing to tour with the first one.
The outcome of these projects will be presented at El Sawy Culture Center in November, guest starring composer and percussionist Karim Nagy.
