My interview with Ousso was supposed to focus on the guitar player s role in the British Council s new music project Music Matbakh. But the discussion turned into an insightful look at a frustrated young Egyptian artist born in an era of deteriorating music which he never accepted.
The founder of Nagham Masry, lead guitarist of Eftekasat and former manager of Wust El Balad, 29-year-old Ousso – whose real name is Mohamed Lotfy – was 15 when he formed his first band. Rock and jazz fueled his passion for music. Shortly after, he formed Implosion, a rock band covering Metallica and other heavy metal groups.
But the band fell apart during the Satanists-music paranoia of the mid-90s when local authorities targeted most rock groups in the country. This led to the disintegration of Egypt’s growing heavy metal scene as well as to the collapse of the entire underground music movement.
As a result Ousso could not find anyone to play in his band but continued hanging out in a music studio on El Manial road; a place he calls my home.
Naser Bagato, the studio’s manager, suggested that Ousso play with Egyptian pop musicians, which he originally dimissed. But he eventually decided to give it a try and performed with diva Sameers Saeed s band at the first concert to be held in Marina’s Roman Theater in the North Coast of Alexandria.
I found myself improvising alongside music professors and other veterans in front of the biggest crowd I d ever played to, he said.
Acknowledging his earlier misperception, Ousso admitted that the band’s skills and experience surpassed his by miles.
Word of mouth about his impressive work landed him numerous gigs with other pop stars Latifa, Angham and many of the Arab world s renowned musicians. His work wasn t restricted to live concerts, though, and Ousso was gradually drawn back to the studio recording world, lending his signature guitar solos and chords to the likes of Amr Diab, Mohamemd Fouad, Ali El Haggar, Mostafa Amar and Asala.
He was also hired by the country s acclaimed young composer Tamer Karawan for the soundtrack of Youssri Nasrallah s El Madina. Ousso s creative relationship with Karawan was a success, and he went on to play in nearly every film Karawan worked on for the last 10 years.
I enjoyed working with Karawan and with producers like Tarek Madkour, he said, but I never truly managed cope with most of the Egyptian singers I worked with. I honestly just hated it.
The majority of commercial musicians are not real musicians, he added. These are people who treat music as a product and make their living by selling it.
His job as session-recording artist earned him a hefty sum of cash, and he was able to attend international concerts and workshops, build a proper home studio and purchase plenty of guitars.
His dissatisfaction with the local music landscape was growing and, in 2000, he quit music to work in the risk management unit of Citibank.
But that didn’t last long.
Playing the guitar in a setting I m not entirely convinced of was way better than spending five minutes in the bank, he said. I was still able to enjoy the sounds I created before the meaningless words and rubbish singing were added to it.
Around that time, he met independent singer Sherbini Ahmad who introduced him to the poetry of Salah Jahine, Sheikh Imam and Amal Donkol. That meeting generated 14 songs that combined jazz and rock melodies with oriental and folk harmonies. The band Nagham Masry, one the most original and ambitious underground bands to emerge in recent years, was born that day.
Their first concert at Beit El Harrawy in Ramadan was a revelation that saw average middle-class Egyptians and a highly diverse audience embracing the rock tendencies that put the revolutionary lyrics of these poets into a modern framework.
I felt I was a part of protest, Oussou said, his eyes glistening, It was the best reaction I ve ever received from an audience.
Nagham Masry was Ousso s passion project, and he refused to perform with his band in bars, beaches and similar venues alternative bands relied on to break even. He saw his project as presenting a message that shouldn t be displayed just anywhere.
In 2002, Ousso met drummer Amr Khairy and joined Eftekasat, one of the most popular alternative bands in Egypt. Parallel to Eftekasat and Nagham Masry, Ousso began to manage Wust El Balad, which would become the country s biggest musical outfit.
In the following years, Ousso invested his earnings in a sound company that encouraged him to turn down a steady flow of commercial musical offers.
He never made profit from Nagham Masry, and Eftekasat s financial success did not stem from the band s album sales or even their own shows, rather from their work with mainstream artists and television programs.
In 2005, Ousso organized the first SOS music festival in Egypt. He was highly selective with his audience, designing an application concertgoers had to fill out and send back to him in order to acquire access to the show.
The concert, featuring unknown bands who had to play original material, attracted 8,000 music enthusiasts. It was deemed to be a sensation, opening the door for numerous groups to showcase their work to a large audience. It became a crucial turning point in the young history of Egypt’s alternative music scene.
Dozens of sponsors recognized the potential of these new commodities and the demand for the bands skyrocketed. In addition, SOS generated a winning music-events company for Ousso that enabled him to quit his commercial music work for good.
The glitzy media attention these young artists received was contaminating. A substantial number of these bands were in high demand and so developed an arrogant side and started to act as if they were superstars, Ousso commented. The typical miserable Egyptian scenario.
The idea of Music Matbakh, on the other hand, was introduced to Ousso just a few months ago. The British Council chose him, along with the Eftekasat s violinist Mohamed Medhat, to represent Egypt in a project that brought 12 musicians from six countries in the Middle East with another two from the UK. The artists blended their distinctive musical backgrounds to produce a collective fusion of rap, Rai, folk, eastern, classical, rock, and other genres.
Ousso said that his time with Music Matbakh ranks among the most enjoyable musical experiences he s ever had. So far, the band has performed in England, Morocco, Syria and Jordan.
The English audiences are probably the best audiences I ve performed for, he smiled. The Egyptian audiences need you to play a direct, easy form of music. They need everything to be simplified and interpreted unlike the British audience that knows how to genuinely enjoy different, unfamiliar types of music.
Ousso told to Daily News Egypt that Nagham Masry, due to schedule conflicts, has called it quits and that he s moving to London next month to study music engineering, arrangement and orchestration. He will still manage the SOS festival and hopes to work with several British musicians.
I m fed up and I think I ve given everything I could have given to this country, he sighed. I m fed up with random Egyptians unleashing their unconstructive criticism, complaints and opinions wherever I go, and I m tried of the conceit of the new bands. I don t think I m that good and I still have a lot to learn.
Catch Music Matbakh at the fifth SOS Music Festival on Friday at the North Coast s Olympia Theater.
