The Cairo Jazz Club filled with the sounds of acoustic rock and powerful vocals by Shady Ahmed and his supportive and enthusiastic crowd last Tuesday. The place was full of people dancing, laughing and generally having a good time in familiar Cairo Jazz Club fashion. Ahmed was playing to commemorate the soft launch of his new album “Life is Hard for Those Who Dream.”
The area around the performer and his band was packed with screaming fans providing a constant flow of energy in the club. Their eager singing and engagement with the band did almost as much for the concert as the music itself.
And the music was very good. Ahmed’s powerful and rich voice easily filled up the entire club with its Springsteen-like quality and gruff low notes. The music is a mix of acoustic rock, pop, and some soul and R&B, with lots of guitars and rhythm to spare.
Though the songs that were played during the soft launch were up-tempo and in line with a lively crowd on a night out, you can expect to find additional softer, more laid-back songs that emphasise vocals and acoustics on the album.
This striking binary of acoustic and rock n’ roll marks the duality of Ahmed’s voice, showing a versatility that brings his songs to life and does not limit him to one specific genre. Ahmed says he began singing ten years ago when together with a friend he founded the now disbanded Kravin. “After I went solo again, I stuck with the rock n’ roll style that we did but I still had my acoustic pop/rock roots.”
“My musical influences are too many to list,” he laughed, “but some of them include Bob Dylan, Bruce Springsteen, Led Zeppelin, Jeff and Tim Buckley, Joni Mitchel, John Mayer, Jimi Hendrix and Neil Young. The great American singer-songwriters have been major influences on me. I think you have to go back to the roots of the music you like as you grow older, and the same thing happens with film or art, where you explore the origins of a genre or the influences of your favorite artist.”
The journey for Ahmed to get to where he is today has been arduous, and he has frequently tried different approaches to his music before he got to the point where he was on Tuesday night at the Cairo Jazz Club; with an album and a band. “I have not played a proper gig where people pay money to see me play in three years, since Sakia in 2009, because honestly I felt like it costs me nothing to sit here and play on my own and it felt like something people should listen to for free,” he said.
“The venues here are limited in number and they impose a lot of limitations on you as an artist. I do not want to wait three months to play a venue, sometimes you have a good song now that you want people to listen to. So I started to play on the street but I did not like the attention I was receiving because I felt it was more about the spectacle than the music. Finally, I targeted bookshops and other alternative venues that do not usually have live music and played for free,” Ahmed said.
Ahmed said only now that he has an established band and a record, he feels ready to go on tour and promote his music through gigs, because he has something extra to offer audiences. “I want to change the way underground musicians approach music. They often do live concerts. That, besides the internet, is the only way you can go see them, which gets repetitive and the music does not get to a lot of people. After all, the point of doing this is to be heard, not to be popular, so a record is important. Tuesday marks the beginning of a new place in my musical career.”
Ahmed said he will go on tour to promote his album vigorously to get his music out to as many people as possible. Judging by the reaction on Tuesday, you can expect good music, a great time and above all a very jubilant crowd during these upcoming performances.
