Various Artists: Born In The City Of Tanta - Lower Egyptian Urban Folklore And Bedouin Shaabi From Libya's Bourini Records 1968-75 (Vinyl LP)

Egypt’s “official” popular music throughout much of the 20th Century was a complex form of art song steeped in tradition, well-loved by the middle and upper classes, and even accommodating to certain non-Arabic influences. It was highly structured by professional musicians working an established industry centred in the capitol, Cairo.

However, far from the bustling cosmopolitan centre of Cairo, north and northwest, in towns like Tanta and Alexandria and extending across the Saharan Desert to the Libyan border, dozens of fully marginalised artists were developing a raw, hybrid shaabi/al-musiqa al-shabiya style of music, supported by smaller upstart, independent labels, including the short-lived but deeply resonant Bourini Records.

Launched in the late 1960s in Benghazi, Libya, Astuanat al-Bourini اسطوانات البوريني (Bourini Records) published some 40 to 50 titles from 1968 to 1975. Bourini released 7-inch 45 RPM singles by 15 artists, all but one of them Egyptian, igniting brief careers for Alexandrian singer Sheikh Amin Abdel Qader and the blind Bedouin legend Abu Bakr Abdel Aziz (aka Abu Abab). The tracks compiled here comprise a full range of styles covered by the label, while highlighting some of its most gob smacking moments, from Basis Rahouma’s beastly transformation into a growling and barking man-lion by the end of “Yana Alla Nafsa Masouda,” to Reem Kamal’s hopeful-if-bitter handclapping party pivot “Baed Al Yas Yjini,” which descends into an almost Velvet Underground outro-groove of nihilistic dissonance.

All the tracks on this compilation were laid down in stark divergence from the mainstream Egyptian popular music topography of heightened emotions buoyed by lush arrangements. The contrast is most evident in Mahmoud al-Sandidi’s “Ana Mish Hafwatak,” wherein his voice weaves heavily but deftly through a constant accordion drone, and Abu Abab’s “Al Bint al Libya,” a sparse, slow-burning lament with minimal percussion, violin, and Abab’s nephew Hamed Abdel Muna'im Mursi on lyre. Whereas the Egyptian mainstream was aspirational, attempting to reflect Egyptian culture at its most refined, the performances captured by Bourini were manifestations of everyday life lived by the mostly otherwise ignored masses. More than half century old, this music has lost none of its urgency, presence, or relevance. We hear these artists as if they’d just joined us in our living room, and not on a stage decades ago surrounded by tens of thousands of long-forgotten acolytes.

1. Basis Rahouma - بسيس رحومة,- Yana Alla Nafsa Masouda يانا اللي نفسي مسدوده (Blocked from What I Want)
   
2. Sheikh Amin Abde -l Qader الشيخ أمين عبد القادر, Mould fi Madina Tanta مولد في مدينة طنطا (Born in the City of Tanta)
   
3. Samah سماح, - Shawish Aldawriat شاويش الدورية, (Patrol Sargeant)
   
4. Mahmoud al-Sandidi محمود الصنديدي, - Ana Mish Hafwatak (Part 2) انا مش حفوتك,
   (I Don’t Miss Your Love)
   
5. Abu Bakr Abdel Aziz (aka Abu Abab) أبو بكر عبد العزيز,- Al Bint al Libya أل بينت أل ليبيا (The Girl from Libya)
   
6. Sheikh Amin Abdel Qader الشيخ أمين عبد القادر, - Mawal Al Layl Kolo Makasib موال الليل كله مكاسب (Mawaal: The Spoils of an All-Nighter)
7. Abu Saber أبو صابر, - Ya Allah Ank Zinat يا الله انك زينة (Oh, God, You Are Beautiful)
8. Reem Kamal ريم كمال, - Baed Al Yas Yjini بعد اليأس يجيني
   (After Hopelessness, He Comes to Me)