Nadah El Shazly: Laini Tani
One Little Independent Records
CD | Black Vinyl | Coloured Vinyl
Released 06 June 2025
Adam Brady reviews the second solo album from Nadah El Shazly, released on her new label One Little Independent Records
There have been, and will continue to be, times where I wish I knew different languages. Not from a learned or scholarly perspective, but from an instinctive, natural, and emotional perspective. As good and as helpful as translations are, there is always something lost in translation; emotion. The same can be said for non-Western musical traditions. For example, I’m going to be referencing at least one maqam from the Arabic family (the other two families are Persian and Turkish). If I haven’t lost you yet, then thank you.
Laini Tani (٨- لاقيني تاني) is the second solo album from Egyptian-born, Canada-based Nadah El Shazly and it is due for release on her new label One Little Independent Records on 06 June.
The title of the album translates from Egyptian Arabic as ‘Find Me Again’ and you would expect threads of love, loss, and hope – and you do. Not all of it is of the traditional Western romantic variety.
Opening track Elnadaha (Siren/١- النداهة ) is ethereal, calling upon the listener to “…unfreeze, wake up from shock slumber”. El Shazly’s voice is becoming and beguiling, with frequent collaborator Sarah Pagé’s harp adding plucked and strung atmospherics whilst Patrick Graham’s hydraulophone playing adds to the just woken, eyes blinking state of wonder.
The album as a whole is a beautiful mixture of Egyptian and Arabic musical tradition and heritage with Western sensibilities. Kaaba Aali (High-Heeled/٢- كعبي عالي), the second single released from the album, with its electronic riff and percussion beats is a perfect synthesis of (cue internal screaming) East and West.
Third track Banit (Summoned/٣- بانِت) takes as its inspiration the zar ceremonies in Cairo that are female-led and which are performed to heal body and spirit. The chorus of ‘My road is long and I’ll protect it’ serves as a commitment to holistically looking after one’s self, and the ritualistic and hypnotic percussive beat underscores the spiritual nature of the song’s initial genesis.
The middle of the album is dominated by Enti Fi Neama (You Are In Bliss/٥- انتي في نعمة) and Dafaa Robaai (4×4/٦- دفع رباعي); the former is an almost industrial instrumental that, as it progresses, coalesces into a rhythm which is as unique as El Shazly’s hometown of Cairo. From the ground all is chaos, but with each second of the song that passes you are elevated so that come the zenith and you look down below, all is revealed.
As it segues into Dafaa Robaai the rhythm percussively explodes giving the track a solid beat. El Shazly says “It’s about getting the poetry and the music out of the tombs. Contrasting heavy lyrics with a dance beat has always been a main characteristic of Egyptian music, offering a chance to express things that are otherwise harder to confess”.
Penultimate track, and the title track of the album, Laini Tani sees Pagé’s hard tuned to the saba maqam (one of El Shazly’s favourites), and it is used first softly, giving the song the feel of a lullaby. Then as the chorus kicks in the lower registers of the harp propels the song forwards, with the electronics and beats as accompaniment. It’s stunning.
Lead single, and album closer, Ghorzetein (Two Stitches/٩- غرزتين) is a song of love and heartbreak twice over. Two stitches for each tear; two stitches to love again; two stitches as a ‘fuck you’ to the people that caused the need:
Two stitches
Two stitches
Both lean into my heart
My tongue loose
One aspect I’ve not touched upon yet is that of vocal manipulation, which is a hallmark of Arabic singing. It is said of Umm Kulthum that she never sang a line in a song the same way twice. As much as the album is a fixed object, El Shazly’s does manipulate and modulate her voice (naturally). Performed live there would be ample opportunities here should she wish to follow in the footsteps of Egypt’s Fourth Pyramid. Songs such as Banit (Summoned/٣- بانِت), Eid(٤- عيد), and Labkha(Jumbled/٧- لبخة) could offer up such chances. That being said, El Shazly is her own artist; she stands in the shadow of no-one, and her forward looking experimentalism means her legacy will be as unique and as distinct as Kulthum’s
Blithely speaking, Laini Tani is a successful mash-up of East and West. The more considered amongst us would call it a perfect blend of tradition and innovation, that speaks to the heart of the heart in a language intelligible to all – nothing lost in translation.
~
All words by Adam Brady, who hosts The Adam Brady Show on Louder Than War Radio. You can find his author’s archive here
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