Playlist: LGW23 curated by Heba Kadry

The playlist features o.a. Tunisian producer & DJ Deena Abdelwahed, who presents her new album Jbal Rrsas at LGW23; Alessandro Cortini, a longstanding member of Nine Inch Nails and one of the foremost figures of contemporary electronic music; Egyptian sound artist ZULI, who will perform with audiovisual artist Omar El Sadek; the psychedelic grooves of Cairo-based project Baskot Lel Baltageyya; singer, composer, poet, and scholar Amina Alaoui, who is a world-renowned expert in Arabic-Andalusian lyrics; Randall Dunn, a New York-based composer, sound designer, producer, and longtime collaborator of bands like Sunn O))) and Earth; and Kamilya Jubran who, with her multi-disciplinary work, is one of the most revered artists in the experimental and alternative Arabic music scene.  

In Heba Kadry's own words: 

"I am so incredibly excited & honoured to be a curator at LGW this year. I have always been a huge fan of their curation and dedication to musicians, but really what sticks out to me the most is they are a festival that goes to the ends of the earth to secure artists from parts of the world that are often ignored or artists that have been entirely forgotten about. Either due to political strife, or the visa is too impossible to secure or too expensive. Too many festivals give up on artists from countries where access is very difficult. We need to change this narrative because it starves us from all the incredible art and music we could be enjoying. This is just so crucial and I know that LGW are actively making a positive change in an industry that notoriously doesn’t reward artists for their huge contributions to our society, our culture and well being. In fact it might be the most important thing!

As an engineer born and raised in Egypt, I travelled to the US as a young woman to study the art of audio engineering due to lack of access in my native country at the time. A field that is male dominated with very very few immigrants in the US. After many years of hard work and experience I found that I could bring all the skills that I’ve learned to help empower artists from Africa/Middle East to sonically sound just as good as artists from Europe and the US, where access to studios and gear and knowledge is infinite. That exchange of ideas is so important to me and it’s what I hope my curation brings to listeners. I love that LGW is a microcosm where we can all get together no matter where we are from to share our culture and perhaps walk out of it as better & enriched humans."

Tune in below. The playlist is also available via Apple Music and Deezer. 

Photography by Jackie Roman