MIDDLE EAST PROFILES SERIES – INTERVIEW WITH EGYPT’S ASFALT

Freedom Beat teamed up with Arash Sobhani of the Iranian band Kiosk, and Iranwire.com on a series of documentary profiles of contemporary Middle Eastern music artists who engage in nonviolent resistance through the medium of music. Arash traveled with journalist Jahanshah Javid of Iranwire to Turkey, Egypt, and Lebanon in August of 2013 to meet musicians, interview them, share ideas, and to play music together.

Asfalt: Every Street is Paved with Music by Arash Sobhani

I had heard about Asfalt through a journalist friend who is an expert in the culture of Arab world.  The energy of the hip hop duo along with their lyrics and unpredictable style of performance, makes them a very attractive act not only for those who speak and understand Arabic, but for anyone who appreciates a bold and daring  performance.  Asfalt consists of 2 very talented artists Ebrahim and Gad.

We met with Ebrahim in Nasr city, a busy suburb of Cairo. He was wearing a t-shirt that said “Terrorism has no religion”, I knew right away that this guy would have a lot to say.  We walked to a home studio where a few of his musician friends were smoking cigarettes and fooling around with their instruments.  The vibe and everything else I encountered in this ‘home studio’ took me back to the home studios in Tehran, where we would spend hours figuring out how to make a decent recording.  “Turn off the goddamn air conditioner, makes too much noise!” one would yell from behind a modest mixing board.  Drops of sweat would roll down our faces in the hot humid basement where we would lock ourselves in a small room insulated with egg crates, carpets and whatever else we could find to soundproof it!  It’s the same story everywhere.

Ebrahim told me right away that he does not think he has a mission to be the “voice of the people”.  He believes, people listening to music should enjoy it first, music is not a tool to be used for a political cause.  I had heard that argument before, however being a true artist, Ebrahim can not close his eyes to what’s happening to his people and his country.  As he says in his music “I am one of the people”, and he can not be indifferent when “I see my brother being dragged”.

Ebrahim gave us a detailed breakdown on how the independent music industry works in Egypt .  Government’s incompetence to keep up with new technology has opened doors for independent artists to be liberated from the cumbersome bureaucratic process of getting recording permissions from the authorities, and having music and lyrics “validated” by ministry of culture.  Youtube in particular plays a huge role in helping independent artists promote their works in countries where the media only promotes musicians and artists that have the “blessing” of the government.

We were joined by Gad, Ebrahim’s partner and for the first time in my life I had the chance to play music with hip hop artists!  Keeping up with their freestyle rapping, and how they used Arabic’s poetic features in changing the meter was challenging, and I threw them off here and there.  In school in Iran they teach us a little bit of Arabic, and I had heard that Arabic is a poetic language.  Now it was a chance for me to experience it in a nonconventional form!  After playing music with Asfalt, we needed to head back to the hotel given the brutal traffic in Cairo.  We didn’t want to take the risk of violating the curfew!

To learn more about Asfalt, check out their website here.

Executive Producers: Maziar Bahari, Daryn Cambridge, Tim O’Keefe
Produced by Jahanshah Javid
Directed by Tim O’Keefe, Arash Sobhani, Irene Su
Edited by Irene Su
Interviews by Jahanshah Javid, Arash Sobhani
Camera & Sound by Wail Gzoly, Jahanshah Javid
Freedom Beat logo animation by Sang Un Jeon
Freedom Beat Middle East Series animation by Beth Wexler
Music by Tim O’Keefe

Special thanks to Iranwire.com and The International Center on Nonviolent Conflict for their support & collaboration in the making of this series.