Legendary Egyptian Bands

The beginnings of western music in Egypt weren't only limited to Cairo or Alexandria as everyone thought. Music took all over the city even in the places you least expect or wouldn't think it might reach. El Mahalla El Kobra was a center of oriental music in the Delta as stated in the pages of (Description de L'Egypte) which was the greatest witness to how people embraced foreign music widely. The 70's witnessed the rebirth of a new self-taught intellectual generation despite the challenges of obtaining musical instruments, instructors or music schools in Egypt, yet they took it upon themselves to start learning the western melodies and the western instruments.

The first band that made its first debut in 1975 was "The Angels" and they covered every genre you could think of. They toured and played everywhere from university venues to hotels and nightclubs for 12 years in a row. Jamal Abdulsalam on bass guitar along with Mahmoud Khattab the lead guitarist, Tarek Fathy the keyboardist and Gamal Azab the drummer and later Ra'fat Zayat, with singers Hesham Kamal for English songs and singer Adel El masry for Italian and French songs.

They all started their journey since high-school performing in birthday parties and family weddings and soon they became famous with a huge fan base in town during their university years. The band was under demand to perform at famous venues at the time, such as "La Querta Casino" in Cleopatra-Alexandria.

Nadim Samaqya, who owned a huge music instruments exposition at Alexandria, played a major role to support them and supply them with all necessary modern equipment so they would keep up before they could own their private instruments.

The Angels were only the spark that ignited the flame, they paved the way for "The Sunrise Band" that rocked and rolled in 1979. A group of young teens who soon kicked off, with Hamada El gohary (keys), Khaled Tahoun as lead guitarist and English/French vocalist, Tamer Fathy as Lead guitarist, Gamal Soliman (bass), Hesham Motawee', Tawfiq Ryad as Franco Arab vocalists and Ashraf Sereg as a drummer. Later, they were joined by drummer Nasser Qelada. The sunrise band performed with many renowned artists at the time, including Maged El-Masry, Yasser Shaaban, Maged Yehia and Atef Elsharkawy. They kept on performing with fully booked venues in places such as Sidi Abdulrahman hotel in Alamin City and Al Saqiah ballroom at Sheraton Heliopolis Hotel.

The Spiders-band also shined in El Mahalla a band that included Samir Hegazy (keyboard), Taher Hegazy (drums), Fahmy El sadany (lead guitar), Gamal Azab (bass), Mostafa Agrody (keyboard) and Hanan (vocal). Another band called "Spider" went viral with Khaled Aboshamia as its drummer and lead French/English vocalist, Hazem Mekkawy a keyboardist and a pianist, Essam Elsawy (bass) and Ossama Hassona (Lead guitar).