Sand Enigma Land of Kush

Sam Shalabi’s stupendous and genre-defying Land Of Kush orchestra is back with its first album since 2013’s The Big Mango (Shalabi’s love letter to Cairo, composed during the Arab Spring). The disenchantments of the years since have been devastating, to say the least, and the devastatingly-titled Sand Enigma bristles accordingly – this is Shalabi’s most acute and accomplished big-band composition to date, with the orchestra on fire as they stir up a melting pot of Arabic tropes, avant-jazz, modern classical, freaknoise, electronics and sound art. Nadah El Shazly is a featured vocalist on this one.

“Sam Shalabi’s combination of Arabic traditional motifs and instruments with jazz, free improvisation and electronics truly stretch any notion of genre to breaking point.” – Brainwashed

“Sam Shalabi has raised the bar for modern psychedelic music with the Land of Kush orchestra, utilizing Middle Eastern, jazz, rock, and folkloric sources to weave a seamless montage of styles in a transcendent way that is rarely, if ever, achieved.” – Alan Bishop (Sun City Girls / Sublime Frequencies)

Click here to read live concert review of the Sand Enigma premiere at the Aga Khan Museum