Backstage: El Sawareekh

After crushing their first international show at Celebration Square in Mississauga, Canada, performing to a raging crowd of 35 thousand fans, trailblazing Egyptian mahraganat duo El Sawareekh took the city of Utrecht in the Netherlands by storm with their performance at TivoliVredenburg’s Nawafiz festival.

Following Syrian-German electronic duo Shkoon’s immersive audiovisual set, and Egyptian rap star Marwan Moussa’s long awaited comeback, the mahraganat duo still managed to steal the show with their hyperactive stage presence and speaker-rattling sound, giving the Utrecht crowd a taste of the electrifying sounds of Cairo.

We caught up with El Sawareekh right before their performance, where they told us more about their recent spate of single releases, and about setting their sights on bringing their sound to audiences across the globe after realizing how deeply their music resonates with listeners in the diaspora.