Cairo Steps is an Egyptian jazz ensemble founded in 2002 by Egyptian-German musician and producer

Basem Darwisch Basem Darwisch (Arabic: باسم درويش) (born April 1966) is an Egyptian–German composer, Record producer, producer and oud virtuoso. He is the founder of Cairo Steps Ensemble, He is the first musician in the Middle East to be awarded the ...

. The ensemble was awarded the German Golden Jazz Award in 2018.

History

Cairo Steps was founded in 2002 by Egyptian-German musician and producer

. Cairo Steps merges and combines traditional Egyptian and oriental grooves with modern jazz improvisation,

classical music Classical music generally refers to the art music of the Western world, considered to be distinct from Western folk music or popular music traditions. It is sometimes distinguished as Western classical music, as the term "classical music" also ...

and contemporary sounds. The ensemble has played numerous concerts in Egypt, Kuwait,

Abu Dhabi Abu Dhabi (, ; ar, أَبُو ظَبْيٍ ' ) is the capital and second-most populous city (after Dubai) of the United Arab Emirates. It is also the capital of the Emirate of Abu Dhabi and the centre of the Abu Dhabi Metropolitan Area. ...

, Italy, France and many stages worldwide with musicians and artists from around the world. The group includes members of different nationalities.

Awards

On April 19, 2018, Cairo Steps collected The German Jazz Music award at Berlin ceremony with the ensemble members including Ines Abdul Dayem, Minister of Culture of Egypt, The ensemble received the award for their album Flying Carpet, which they created with German band Quadro Nuevo. The Egyptian minister of culture honored Cairo Steps in the Egyptian Academy in Rome after being awarded the German Jazz Music Award in April 2018.

Impact of the COVID-19 pandemic

On June 26, 2020, Cairo Steps with Quadro Nuevo, released a video of playing the soundtrack (Shams) produced in 2017 on the album (Flying Carpet). The video was released on Cairo Steps' YouTube channel To alert the community to domestic isolation and social distancing in anticipation of COVID-19. The track was played via video conference between the musicians. On April 6, 2020, the Egyptian Ministry of Culture showed one of the previous Cairo Steps concerts that were at the Cairo Opera House and was among the videos that the Ministry of Culture published on its YouTube channel. The concert was released shortly after the launch of "Culture in Your Hands", an initiative to start performing theater performances, concerts and other cultural events over the Internet amid the closure of theaters, cinemas and concert halls due to the

Coronavirus Coronaviruses are a group of related RNA viruses that cause diseases in mammals and birds. In humans and birds, they cause respiratory tract infections that can range from mild to lethal. Mild illnesses in humans include some cases of the com ...

On November 2, 2020, Cairo Steps participated in the Arab Music Festival at the Cairo Opera House, the concert was held in the open air, taking into account the precautionary measures to prevent COVID-19.

Members

Cairo Steps consists of many members from different countries: *

( Oud) * Rami Attallah (Piano and

Conductor Conductor or conduction may refer to: Music * Conductor (music), a person who leads a musical ensemble, such as an orchestra. * ''Conductor'' (album), an album by indie rock band The Comas * Conduction, a type of structured free improvisation ...

) * Jan Boshra (Cello) Strings Ensemble * Max Klaas (Percussions) * Hani El Sawaf (

Req Ian Cassar (born 20 February 1966), better known as Req (stylized as REQ), is an English DJ, record producer, and graffiti artist. Career In the words of AllMusic's Sean Cooper, Req began in his native Brighton as "one of the U.K.'s most respec ...

) * Azeema ( Tabla & Percussions) * Ragy Kamal ( Kanoun) * Rageed William (

Duduk The duduk ( ; hy, դուդուկ ) or tsiranapogh ( hy, ծիրանափող, meaning “apricot-made wind instrument”), is an ancient Armenian double reed woodwind instrument made of apricot wood. It is indigenous to Armenia. Variations of th ...

and

Nai Nai or NAI may refer to: Music * ''Nai'' (album), an album by singer Anna Vissi * Nai (pan flute), a wind instrument, also known as a pan flute (Romania and Moldova) * "Nai" (song), a 2007 CD single by Irini Merkouri Organizations * National A ...

) * Stefan Hergenröder (E-Bass) * Wolfgang Wittemann (

Soprano A soprano () is a type of classical female singing voice and has the highest vocal range of all voice types. The soprano's vocal range (using scientific pitch notation) is from approximately middle C (C4) = 261 Hz to "high A" (A5) = 880&n ...

Saxophone) * Wael El-Sayed (

Accordion Accordions (from 19th-century German ''Akkordeon'', from ''Akkord''—"musical chord, concord of sounds") are a family of box-shaped musical instruments of the bellows-driven free-reed aerophone type (producing sound as air flows past a reed ...

) * Emad Azmy (violin) * Mahmoud Zakaria (Viola) * Nehad Gamaleldin (Viola) * Sherine Azmy (violin)

Cooperating artists and guests of honor

* Mohamed Mounir * Ali El Haggar * Ali El Helbawi * Ihab Youness * Marwa Nagui * Maher Fayez * Monica George * Ines Abdul Dayem

Discography

Basem Darwisch led his team, Cairo Steps, to produce 5 albums and a large number of singles:

References

External links

{{Sisterlinks, b=no, s=no, v=no, species=no, n=no, wikt=no, d=Q60565342, commons=Cairo Steps
Official Website of Cairo Steps
Musical groups from Cairo Jazz ensembles Musical groups established in 2002