Tuesday March 19th, 2024
Download SceneNow app
Copied

Egyptians Headlining Switzerland's Intercity

A quiet little town called Schaffhausen will be the scene of an epic Egyptian invasion this month as the Intercity Festival looks to Cairo for their musical line up...

Staff Writer

In the north of Switzerland lays a quiet little town called Schaffhausen with a population of less than 35,000. On August 30th, in between the frescos and quaint renaissance architecture, Schaffhausen will experience an Egyptian invasion, and things will get loud. Every year since 2003, the town has played host to the Intercity Festival - a multi-cultural exchange whereby the collective of local musicians behind the project invite artists from a different city around the world to perform alongside local talents. 

After London, Berlin and Stockholm in past years, Intercity have looked to Cairo's burgeoning underground scene to be the first city to participate outside of Europe, teaming up with none other than Swiss Maharaganat artist Phil Batteikh, the man popularising Shaabi in Europe who we reported on earlier this year, to curate the whole thing.

"Because of the "Kairo is Koming" performances and Phil Battiekh's Mahraganat DJ sets that have been gaining quite a bit of attention in this part of Switzerland in the past two years, Cairo seemed like the more interesting option" Said Phil Batteikh. "The music genres are usually Hip-Hop, Reggae-Dance and Tech-House. This year it's also going to be Mahraganat with myself and Al Madfa3geya alongside the famous "Real Rock" Reggae-Dancehall soundsystem from Schaffhausen," added Batteikh.

Indeed the infamous Shaa3bi superstars of Al Madfa3geya will be performing as a whole crew in Europe for the first time. Also flying over will be DJ Feedo, Egypt's premier commercial Hip Hop spinner for the best part of a decade, as well as Minimal and Techno maestro, and Vent resident Ahmed Samy who will be bringing his after-hours shenanigans to the Swiss party scene for one night only. There'll also be a set by Zurich based Tech-House Egyptian DJ Abdel Hady.

The festival takes place over one night at different venues all over the town with the Cairenes headlining, all focusing on the diverse genres on show. If you're interested in flying over or you live around Switzerland go support your local talent. Visit www.intersity.ch for ticket details.