Massar Egbari is an Egyptian

Rock Rock most often refers to: * Rock (geology), a naturally occurring solid aggregate of minerals or mineraloids * Rock music, a genre of popular music Rock or Rocks may also refer to: Places United Kingdom * Rock, Caerphilly, a location in Wales ...

band that was officially launched in 2005 from

Alexandria Alexandria ( or ; ar, ٱلْإِسْكَنْدَرِيَّةُ ; grc-gre, Αλεξάνδρεια, Alexándria) is the second largest city in Egypt, and the largest city on the Mediterranean coast. Founded in by Alexander the Great, Alexandria ...

Egypt Egypt ( ar, مصر , ), officially the Arab Republic of Egypt, is a transcontinental country spanning the northeast corner of Africa and southwest corner of Asia via a land bridge formed by the Sinai Peninsula. It is bordered by the Mediter ...

. The band consists of 4 musicians: Ayman Massoud (Keyboards), Hany El Dakkak (Guitar and Lead Vocal), Ahmed Hafez (Bass guitar), and Tamer Attallah (Drums). Mahmoud Siam (Guitars) joined the band in 2008. It presents a kind of alternative Egyptian music, mixing

rock Rock most often refers to: * Rock (geology), a naturally occurring solid aggregate of minerals or mineraloids * Rock music, a genre of popular music Rock or Rocks may also refer to: Places United Kingdom * Rock, Caerphilly, a location in Wales ...

jazz Jazz is a music genre that originated in the African-American communities of New Orleans, Louisiana in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, with its roots in blues and ragtime. Since the 1920s Jazz Age, it has been recognized as a major ...

and

blues Blues is a music genre and musical form which originated in the Deep South of the United States around the 1860s. Blues incorporated spirituals, work songs, field hollers, shouts, chants, and rhymed simple narrative ballads from the Afr ...

with Oriental music. "Massar Egbari" means "Compulsory Detour", a name intended to reflect how society forces people to think and live their lives in a certain way. The band pokes fun at typical social norms and trends. The band mainly concentrates on presenting music and songs talking about social problems. Love is not their main concern although it represents a part of their songs.

Performances

In 2007, the band played for the first time in Europe as part of the Malta Arts Festival held in Valletta, Malta. The same year, they also appeared in the Barisa Rock Festival (Rock for Peace) held in Istanbul, Turkey. In 2008, the band played in The Biennale of young artists from Europe and the Mediterranean in Bari, Italy. In 2009, Massar Egbari played at a festival in Cairo in support of the people of the

Gaza Strip The Gaza Strip (;The New Oxford Dictionary of English (1998) – p.761 "Gaza Strip /'gɑːzə/ a strip of territory under the control of the Palestinian National Authority and Hamas, on the SE Mediterranean coast including the town of Gaza.. ...

, then at the International Adriatic-Mediterranean Festival in

Ancona Ancona (, also , ) is a city and a seaport in the Marche region in central Italy, with a population of around 101,997 . Ancona is the capital of the province of Ancona and of the region. The city is located northeast of Rome, on the Adriatic S ...

, Italy. In the same year, Massar Egbari was invited to perform as a special guest in the Bienale of young artists in Skopje to perform with Monistra band from Macedonia in their common project Alexsopje (Alexandria-Skopje) and in 2010, the band performed for the first time along with other artists from Africa in Sauti Za Busara Festival in Zanzibar. On May 29, 2014, Massar Egbari performed alongside Black Theama and

Cairokee Cairokee is an Egyptian rock band that was officially launched in 2003 but came to prominence with its revolutionary music following the Egyptian Revolution of 2011 due to its politically-inspired lyrics and protest songs released following the ...

. Massar Egbari members (nationally and internationally) attended several workshops, won several prizes, as well as composing music for a number of movies. Massar Egbari appeared ''El-Hawi'', a 2010 film by Ibrahim El-Batout (director of ''Ein-Shams'') about people living in Alexandria, and in ''Microphone'', a film by Ahmed Abdallah El-Sayed (director of ''Heliopolis'') in a film taking about underground artists in Alexandria with Khaled Abo El-Naga, Menna Shalaby, Yosra El-Lozy and Alexandrian underground artists. Massar Egbari was featured on the 2014 compilation ''

Songs from a Stolen Spring ''Songs from a Stolen Spring'' is a compilation album that mainly features duets and mashups of protest and peace songs performed by pairings of Western musicians with their contemporaries from the countries where the Arab Spring The Ara ...

'' that paired

Western Western may refer to: Places *Western, Nebraska, a village in the US *Western, New York, a town in the US *Western Creek, Tasmania, a locality in Australia *Western Junction, Tasmania, a locality in Australia *Western world, countries that id ...

musicians with artists from the

Arab Spring The Arab Spring ( ar, الربيع العربي) was a series of Nonviolent resistance, anti-government protests, Rebellion, uprisings and Insurgency, armed rebellions that spread across much of the Arab world in the early 2010s. It began in T ...

. On the album, Massar Egbari's "I Still Exist" was

mashed Mashed may refer to: * Mashed, that created from mash ingredients * Mashed, the result of a mashing * Mashed, the result of a mashup (music) * ''Mashed'' (album), a 2007 mashup album * ''Mashed'' (video game), a vehicular combat video game * ...

with

Maria McKee Maria Luisa McKee (born August 17, 1964) is an American singer-songwriter. She is best known for her work with Lone Justice, her 1990 song "Show Me Heaven", and her song "If Love Is a Red Dress (Hang Me in Rags)" from the film ''Pulp Fiction''. ...

's performance of the

Tony Joe White Tony Joe White (July 23, 1943 – October 24, 2018), nicknamed the Swamp Fox, was an American singer-songwriter and guitarist, best known for his 1969 hit "Polk Salad Annie" and for "Rainy Night in Georgia", which he wrote but which was first ma ...

song "Ol' Mother Earth". In April 2019, Massar Egbari performed alongside

, 47 Soul,

Mashrou' Leila Mashrou' Leila ( ar, مشروع ليلى, link=no, Latn, ar, Mashrūʿ Laylā, ; sometimes transliterated as Mashrou3 Leila or translated as Leila's Project) was a Lebanese four-member indie rock band. The band formed in Beirut, Lebanon in 2008 ...

and

El Morabba3 El Morabba3 ( ar, المربّع meaning "The Square") is an Arabic rock band from Amman, Jordan, formed in 2009. Biography The Jordan-based group was formed in 2009 as an Arab rock band. In July 2012 they released their debut album, titled ''El ...

at the Wasla music festival in Dubai. In an attempt to support the underground music scene, the bands shared the stage with a number of local talents such as Karrouhat, Shaghaf and Redaround.

Additional Trivia

In 2018, Massar Egbari released a music video for "Fakra" starring actor

Rosaline Elbay Rosaline Elbay ( ar, روزالين البيه; ) is an Egyptian stage and screen actress, producer and writer. She is known for her roles as Judy Goodwin on the Netflix series '' Kaleidoscope,'' Amani on the Hulu/ A24 Films series ''Ramy'', and ...

Discography

* ''إقرا الخبر Read The News '' (2013) * ''

'' (compilation) (2014) * ''تقع وتقوم Rise and Fall'' (2015) *''الألبوم'' The Album (2018)

References

External links

Massar Egbari
on Myspace {{DEFAULTSORT:Egbari, Massar Egyptian musical groups Egyptian rock music groups