The Jerrycan Band has taken upon itself the mission of telling new generations of Egyptians about the wars the Egyptian army waged for years in the past to liberate the Sinai Peninsula.
However, the band, which is mostly made of Sinai Bedouins, does this in a very unique manner.
It turns tools left behind in the field, including scrap jerrycans and metals, into musical instruments.
The band reemerged last week after two years of absence. It held an inspiring concert at the Dammah Theatre in Abdeen neighbourhood in downtown Cairo.
Jerrycan was founded in 2003. Its founder Zakaria Ibarahim, who is also the founder of el-Mastaba Center for Egyptian Folk Music, said the band works to present spontaneous folk art expressions from different places in Egypt.
“These expressions are tantamount to an endangered heritage that needs intervention for rescue,” Ibrahim told the Egyptian Mail in an interview.
To rescue this endangered heritage, Ibrahim and other people managing the band rally musical talents from every part of Egypt behind this goal.
“We want to pass this heritage on from one generation to another,” he said.
To achieve the same goal, Ibrahim also founded 12 bands in different Egyptian governorates.
These bands work to revive folk music in these governorates and prevent this music from dying.
The new bands include Tanboura in Port Said, Kaf in Aswan, Masry in Cairo, and Mzamer el-Nil in Sohag, among others.
Ibrahim also founded a band in Sudan for the same purpose.
“I want to complete my mission as much as possible to reach people everywhere,” Ibrahim said.
The instruments used by each of the bands managed by Jerrycan find their roots in the environment where the bands popped up.
In Sinai, for example, the band uses instruments, such as the Magrouna, a flute-like instrument that produces its sound from the flow of air across its opening.
The same instruments also include the flute and the lyre, a stringed instrument that dates back to 1400 BC, along with percussion instruments, such as the drum and the tambourine.
The band in Sinai also depends on war remnants, such as ammunition boxes and jerrycans from which the band derives its name from.
The band members used the jerrycans as drums and the ammunition boxes produce sounds by applying flopping sticks on them.
The band is made of eight members who play on the aforementioned instruments, dance, and sing.
Most of the dances made by the members of the band, the music played by them and the songs sung by them hail are an intrinsic part of the culture of Sinai.
The songs and the music range between the romantic and the patriotic. Some of the songs talk about the culture of Sinai.
The band also produces high-quality albums.
“These albums helped the band carve a niche for itself on the international stage,” Ibrahim said.
He added that the same albums gave the band the chance of competing with major bands in other countries.
Jerrycan has already gone globally, having organised a large number of concerts in other countries.
These countries included France, Italy, Albania, Spain and the UK.
In Egypt, the band organised concerts at the Alexandria Library, and made shows during the Cairo International Book Fair.
Its latest and most recent appearance was at el-Dammah Theatre in downtown Cairo.
The band also participated in a large number of important international musical festivals, including the Glastonbury and Womad festivals in London.
“People are always happy and excited with our performance,” Ibrahim said. “Most of these people come to tell us that they are happy to listen to our music for the first time.”
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