An alternative voice on the Nile
With oriental infusions and edgy tunes, Digla entered the underground music scene. Their album ‘Free Your Mind’, proved that it’s a band that shouts for originality with music gently sloping in waves that roll you up and lay you down, and yeah, genuine acoustic bands are still alive and kicking.
The band consists of four members, Tarek Borollosy (Boro) – Vocals/Guitar, Omar Raafat-Drums/Keyboards, Mohammed El Hakim – Bass Guitar and Sary- Lead Guitar. Some of the members were members of ‘Diskonnected’, a band that was launched a few years ago. In 2004, Digla streamed with their first single ‘Woman in Black’, and a couple of years later, they launched their album ‘Free your Mind’ that gave birth to the ear candy ‘Highlights’ which has been frequently on Nile FM for the past couple of years.
The band’s slogan is to reconcile and free your mind, and ever since “Cigarettes” and ‘Highlights’ aired on the radio, everyone kept asking who the voice behind these tracks was, as it was totally different from what was available in the scene. What makes ‘Highlights’ genuine is whispering the famous Arabian chorus ‘Leily Ya Leil’ giving the song a Cairene vibe with local Tabla that captured quite a number of fans. The track talks about the streets of Cairo and its adorable quirky atmosphere that blends a variety of cultures. A couple of months ago, on Facebook the video of ‘Highlights’ was uploaded, shared and admired by a lot of social network users. The video showed the band performing on a fellouka and some of Cairo’s alleys with donkey carts and pedestrians. The video was also aired on Al Kahera Wel Nas TV during Ramadan and received great feedback.
The band’s influences come from a wide range of music, but the lyrics are in a league of their own. Boro continues to write the lyrics “We get inspired by various stuff around us. We view different unrelated incidents every day that could have meaning or interpretation. Anything can inspire us as long as it feels real”, Borollosy says.
For a band to survive in Egypt, it’s never a walk in the park, “You have to be persistent and to work for it, it’s not that easy”, Omar Raafat, Drums/ Keyboards said. “It took us a ride to prepare for the album’s release. We had to translate all the lyrics for censorship purposes which is hilarious as everything was lost in translation but that’s how it works in Egypt”, Tarek Borollosy- Vocals/Guitar, said. Borollosy has dedicated his time and effort for building up the band since they stepped into their studio, “There are many challenges however we will keep fighting and believing in what we do, then we will see where it takes us”, Borollosy adds.
The band performed in lots of venues including Sawy Cultural Wheel, Cairo Jazz Club and this summer, they stretched out to the North Coast, grooving out at Dunes Entertainment Hub, embracing the crowd with peace, love and authentic music.
Digla will be playing at the Marina in Gouna on the 17th of November alongside a special lineup of foreign artists. They will also be having other gigs in Cairo that have not been announced yet. Their Album “Free Your Mind” is available at Virgin Megastores and Diwan Bookstores.
