Irtijal 26 إرتجال

The experimental duo of poet/vocalist Mohamed Tarek Moussa and producer/multi-instrumentalist Abdelrahman Shaat represents a compelling evolution from the heart of Egypt’s alternative scene. Their artistic partnership is rooted in a shared history, yet is defined by a newly forged singular vision.
Their dynamic is one of deep synergy drawing from a jumbled deck of literature, devotional music, avant-folk, Egyptian pop, and more. Moussa’s apocalyptic poetry lays down the essential spine of a track, its emotional and structural core. Instinctively, Shaat’s production wraps around this framework, with genre-bending instrumentation that feel organically grown from the words, shaping a sound garden as dense, layered, and full of forking paths as their home city of Cairo itself.. They operate as two halves of a single creative consciousness, testing the limits of forms.Firstly emerging in their teens under the previous band name “Ramaad,” their releases added a distinct voice to the collective chorus of the post-2011 Egyptian spoken word movement. After the initial wave of activity, the two artists took an extended hiatus, each pouring their creative energies into separate projects and refining their respective crafts. Their reunion is not a continuation of past work, but a deliberate step into new artistic territory. Having matured individually, Moussa and Shaat have converged with a clarity of purpose that they identify as the first true incarnation of their sound. Mi3raj’s “Callings of The Owed” feels like a debut of a fully realized collaborative identity informing a unique auditory world.