Led by musician Adham Zidan (Invisible Hands) and poet Anwar Dabbour, Baskot Lel Baltageyya offers quirky, psyched, and festive art pop from Cairo’s vibrant underground scene. In April, they will be performing their first Danish concert at ALICE.

Baskot Lel Baltageyya has emerged from the vibrant, independent underground scene in Cairo. The project is spearheaded by musician Adham Zidan and poet Anwar Dabbour. In the music of this Egyptian band, Dabbour paints everyday Arabic imagery of a chaotic world where reality often turns into absurdity. Zidan, who both produces and writes the music, masters the madness with winding melodies that twist psychedelically over hypnotic rhythms. There is something simultaneously critical, fascinating, festive, and powerful about the sound of Baskot Lel Baltageyya.

Baskot Lel Baltageyya is far from Adham Zidan’s only project. He plays the keyboard and sings in The Invisible Hands alongside the co-founder of Sublime Frequencies/Sun City Girls, Alan Bishop. Zidan is also part of the lo-fi folk band Today Is Tomorrow and has gained widespread recognition over the past decade for his work as a musician, producer, and mixer. He was dubbed “Egypt’s musical renaissance man” by Scene Noise in 2019, and his keen ear has contributed to numerous other projects, including Youssra El Hawary’s No’oum Nasyeen (2017), Tarkamts Live at the Necropolis (2018), and Maurice Louca’s Elephantine (2019). Zidan has collaborated with many of the biggest names in the region’s independent music scene, including Tamer Abu Ghazaleh, Nadah El Shazly, Raed Yassin, and Sam Shalabi.

Baskot Lel Baltageyya is currently promoting a self-titled album from 2023, where references to the dark, absurd humor that dominated Egyptian popular culture before life became more absurd than the culture itself – such as various shaabi music forms from the region, old Egyptian TV themes, early electronic music, and Western psychedelic music – alternately fill the surreal sonic landscape. One can feel the seriousness amidst the quirky and enchanting, festive sound universe. We are proud to present Baskot Lel Baltageyya at ALICE in April.

ALICE at Stairway
While the concert hall at Nørre Allé 7 is undergoing renovation, ALICE is located at the music venue Stairway in Vanløse throughout 2023.