Organisms files

Land Of Kush is a large orchestra assembled and led by composer and musician Sam Shalabi, widely recognized as one of Montreal's most unique and prolific musicians for over two decades. Shalabi consistently performs on electric guitar and oud, making regular appearances in numerous jazz and free improvisation ensembles, as a member of avant-garde rock groups, and leading the composition of various musical ensembles, both large and small.

Over the years, Shalabi has released dozens of albums under his own name, with Shalabi Effect (on Alien8 Recordings), and as a member of The Dwarfs Of East Agouza, Karkhana, Jane And The Magic Bananas, and Moose Terrific. He is also involved in ongoing projects with Nadah El Shazly, Maurice Louca, Matana Roberts, Brahja Waldman, Radwan Moumneh, Oren Ambarchi, Tamara Filyavich, Eric Chenaux, and many others. As a collaborator, he has worked on albums with Jerusalem In My Heart and served as an arranger, producer, and musician on Nadah El Shazly's debut album, "Ahwar." In addition to genre-defying compositions for larger ensembles featured on his eponymous albums, Shalabi has also orchestrated several live performances and commissioned compositions for hybrid orchestras that are largely undocumented.

Land Of Kush stands as one of Shalabi's most ambitious and impressive projects. The group comprises over 20 musicians and two dozen different instruments, including a string, horn, and woodwind section, joined by bass, guitar, piano, santur, darbouka, oud, electronics, and synths, as well as multiple vocalists and percussionists. They have presented a handful of captivating shows in Montreal over the past decade, creating six different hour-long works during this period. Three of them were studio-recorded at the invitation of Constellation and released in 2009 ("Against The Day"), 2010 ("Monogamy"), and 2013 ("The Big Mango").

After a five-year hiatus (during which Shalabi relocated to Cairo), Land Of Kush was invited to perform in Toronto at the Aga Khan Museum in March 2018. This request eventually led to the creation and recording of "Sand Enigma," the fourth Land Of Kush album, released on November 8, 2019. "Sand Enigma" is the culmination and consolidation of various musical themes, threads, relationships, and friendships between Montreal and Cairo. The current lineup of the ensemble now includes two of Shalabi's closest musical collaborators in Egypt: Nadah El Shazly (vocals) and Maurice Louca (keyboards/electronics), along with Adham (Eddie) Zidan, a producer and musician Shalabi regularly collaborates with in Cairo. The ensemble has also recruited new members from North America (including guitarist Vicky Mettler, saxophonist Adam Kinner, santur player Amir Amiri, cellist Mark Molnar, harpist Sarah Pagé, and singer Maya Kuroki), as well as longtime Land Of Kush contributors Jason Sharp, Dave Gossage, Josh Zubot, Pat Conan, and Liz Lima. Together, the ensemble has opened up a new sonic palette and brought "Sand Enigma" to life: the most complex, nuanced, and ambitious composition to date for Land Of Kush.