Nadah El Shazlyis an Egyptian singer and composer who started out singing Misfits covers in a local punk band before moving onto producing her own electronic tracks. The Cairo-based artist released her debut album — which takes its title, Ahwar, from the Arabic word for “marshlands” — on Nawa Recordings in 2017. It’s an abstract mythological fairytale that was composed, written and produced by El Shazly herself in collaboration with The Dwarfs of East Agouza’s Maurice Louca and Sam Shalabi on co-composition and arrangement.

Crafted between Canada and Egypt, the record features a number of eminent names from Montreal’s contemporary-classical and improvised music scene. El Shazly’s unplaceable sound is nestled within the breaks between Younes Al-Qadhi’s early 20th century verses of love and betrayal, while lingering somewhere along the lines of Nico, Björk and Annette Peacock’s vocals if their mother tongue were Arabic.