Cairokee to launch A Drop of White in London

Egypt’s popular band Cairokee will perform songs from their latest album A Drop of White in London.

Their concert, which will take place Saturday 1 July at the Barbican Centre as part of the Shubbak Festival, is a double bill with Lebanese songwriter and visual artist Tania Saleh.

Cairokee is among several Egyptian performers that are included in the festival’s line-up running 1-16 July.

Shubbak, from the Arabic word for window, was founded in 2011 by the mayor of London and is now an independent charity. It features visual arts, film, music, theatre, literature, and debate, with the aim of introducing local audiences to contemporary Arab culture.

Although Cairokee was founded in 2003, eight years before the 2011 revolution, their first big success came in the post-25 January 2011 period.

Their hit single, Sowt El-Horreya (The Voice of Freedom) — written during the first 18 days of the revolution and released before former president Hosni Mubarak stepped down — took the country by storm and could be seen and heard for months on TV channels, radio stations, and even as a cell phone ringtone.

The band gained international media attention, with appearances on CNN and coverage in publications like Vanity Fair.

Their third album, Sekka Shemal (An Indecent Path), features collaborations with the renowned musician Souad Massi and the late vernacular poet Ahmed Fouad Negm.

In 2015, Cairokee released Naas W Naas (People and People) followed by a collection of their best known songs a year later.

Their most recent and fifth original album, A Drop of White, featuring Abdelrahman Roshdi, was released in May.

Source: Ahram online