DWARFS OF EAST AGOUZA

Founded in Cairo in 2012 by Maurice Louca, Sam Shalabi, and Alan Bishop, the Dwarfs of East Agouza create improvisational, free-spirited music that touches upon jazz and krautrock, combined with influences of Arabic and Egyptian Shaabi music. On stage, the trio embraces their dynamic improvisation, resulting in exciting and spontaneous shows that allow them to venture into whatever musical direction they feel like playing.

After performing countless live dates across Europe, the Middle East, and North America over the past 10 years, the group has just returned from two explosive appearances: Festival Actuel in Canada and the Tomorrow Festival in Shenzen China. Their latest album, High Tide in the Lowlands, was released in 2023 on Sub Rosa and the trio has a new album slated for a late 2024 release.

Jasper Willems writes about their April, 2023 performance at REWIRE Festival in Den Haag:

One of the festival’s definitive highlights was undoubtedly Egypt’s Dwarfs of East Agouza, who rival the great Wolf Eyes as tried-and-true noise psych outlaws. Their show at the always charming Koorenhuis had everything: volatile, industrial-laced sound vortexes that rival Neubauten or Lou Reed’s Metal Machine Music. Halfway through they clown around with poetic non-sequiturs and frolicking free-jazz tumbling-about, reminiscent of The Ex. Where a lot of Rewire performances court some form of discord or clash, The Dwarfs are an impeccable exercise of chemistry between Maurice Louca, Alan Bishop and Sam Shalabi. By now, you could call it a psychic connection even; All those baffled smiles spotted within the audience say everything about how much of a sure thing Dwarfs of East Agouza are.