The Spy From Cairo: Blending Textures from the Middle-East to Montago Bay through his signature style ‘Aradub’

 

Zeb Visini- better known as The Spy From Cairo- is not one to be constrained to the ideas of genre in its traditional sense. Rather, Visini's music transcends classification, tying in a plethora of influence from one end of the globe to the other.

Upon his first full-length release under the pseudonym The Spy From Cairo, 'Perfectly Famous' LP, Visini channels his signature eclectic mix of Middle-Eastern music, flamenco, dub reggae and Romani, carried by an omnipresent undercurrent of dance and electronica. Heavy experimentation between the hazy mystique of Arabic-style instrumentation and the fruitful exoticism of Jamaican dub allows for a basis to be moulded on which Visini creates his art- this basis of which has rightfully become his trademark sound.

This fusion of style is not completely unseen outside of The Spy From Cairo's discography; the two have inevitably crossed paths with reggae and rocksteady coming into the western mainstream only a matter of years after the psychedelic boom of the sixties brought the likes of sitar and other foreign instrumentation into chart pop and rock. However, TSPC is one of the few artists to capitalise on this strange array of sound, taking the abstract melodies of Middle-Eastern scales and native woodwind and string instruments alike and applying them to a reggae back-beat as a prevalent foundation for his music.

Now, over three tears since the release of his last studio album 'Nothing New Under The Sun', The Spy From Cairo is set to release his fourth, an effort which according to Visini has been in the works since 2018. I spoke with the man behind the music about the vast array of influence behind his sound, past musical endeavours, and how the brand new album came together. 

- (DEEP HIT): Middle Eastern music seems to be at the heart of your musical epicentre. Where does the influence behind this style trace back to within your life?

- (ZEB): 'I was raised by a father who travelled much and loved the sounds of the Middle-East, Gypsy and Spanish flamenco. I myself left my own family at the young age of fifteen and lived alone with an array of people from different cultures. I grew up in the UK (South London) and my friends were mostly West Indian, Indian Asian, Turkish and Arab. It kind of makes sense that I picked up on all these different sounds. I have some Gypsy blood too so as I'm getting older all that stuff is just pouring out of me now!'

- 'Secretly Famous' LP, released back in 2009 is your first available body of work under the pseudonym 'The Spy From Cairo', incorporating an eclectic mix of Arabic music dubbed with electronica and reggae. How did such an unlikely crossover of genres first come together to make this record and ultimately define your sound?

- 'Like I mentioned previously, I have been 'slow-cooking' all these musical styles inside me for many years and I guess what gave it the last bit of 'roasting' was my love for the Oud (Middle-Eastern lute) which I have been playing for about twenty years, completely neglecting the guitar which was my main instrument! I just became obsessed with introducing the Oud into electronic music, particularly reggae and dub. I am very interested in Sufism (we call it Esoteric Islam) and also Rasta philosophy; I see many similarities also music wise. To me, mixing Turkish and Arabic devotional Sufi music with deep roots reggae and dub makes perfect sense, it comes natural. Of course I'm not the first one to to have come out with this kind of mix but I believe I have carved my own distinguished style. I just call this Arabadub.. I have no other name to describe it!'

- Previous to making music as the The Spy From Cairo, you released a number of albums with Organic Grooves and simply under the name of 'Zeb'. How would you say the sound of The Spy From Cairo differs to that of your previous work?

- 'Well, Organic Grooves was a collaboration between me and Sasa Crnobrnja (now in Flagranti). Sasa in particular was driving that project and had strong musical opinions. I kind of added my style to what he already had in mind. With that said, Sasa and I had one other love in common; the Italian cosmic disco style of the late seventies, pioneered by DJs like Daniele Baldetti, Beppe Loda and a handful of others. Their music has so many different sounds and styles within the mix, it is actually hard to describe even now! Organic Grooves was pretty much our own version of what cosmic DJs did twenty five years earlier. No rules, just good and trippy grooves.'

- An array of worldly instrumentation can be heard throughout your music; what seems like Ney, Oud as well as guitar and percussion are key to your sound. Is the entirety of instrumentation found on your albums played solely by yourself or do you rely on the use of samples for some of your work?

- 'I try to play everything i can myself on my tunes because I hate samples, even though I don't mind sampling myself! Normally I program all the drums and bass lines, then i play Oud melodies and inevitably end up asking friends to play some Ney, violin and percussion over the basic melody. I always end up chopping things up and doing my thing with these sounds though. I must say that one sample library I found myself using more though is Sultan Strings, a library of beautifully played and recorded Turkish strings ensemble. There are hundreds of layered strings in all possible Arabic Maqams (scales). This particually 'beefy' orchestra sound would be impossible for me to create in my home studio, so I cheat with Sultan Strings. However, the combination of melodies is endless so I still get my kick of creativity while using a 'library'. PS. I am learning to play the Ney now, but I don't wanna ruin any new music by attempting to play over it just yet!'

- Which musicians would you cite as being of heavy influence to your own music?

- 'Hmmm.. there are so many and for different reasons, it would take me hours! So I will have to shrink this one quite a bit. I love the Syrian Oud player Farid Al Atrache for being one that revolutionised the way people play the Oud (we are talking about the 1940s/50s). I love a bunch of Arabic composers too. People who I have to mention are Mohammed Abdel Wahab from Egypt, also very old. Ziad Rahbani of Lebanon. Of course I love the big names like the amazing Om Kalthoum (Egyptian Diva). Needless to mention I love a fair amount of reggae producers, in particular Sly and Robbie, King Tubby and of course Lee Perry. There are others but like I say.. can't be here all night! However dulcis in fundo, I must mention the record 'My Life in the Bush of Ghosts' by Brian Eno and David Byrne in 1982, particularly the tracks Regiment and Qu'ran. This record is probably the main reason why I do the music that I do now.'

- Your must recent album, 2017's 'Nothing New Under the Sun' explores a somewhat faster paced, more pop/dance feel than that of 'Arabadub' and your 2013 EP 'This is not Sparta'. Songs such as Universal incorporate a Reggeaton-style drumming pattern, while certain tracks like Sahir and When Giants Walked the Earth follow a more dance-lead beat. Was this an intention when writing and recording the album?

- 'Yeah, I bought myself an electric Oud so I wanted to play more aggressively and perhaps go back to some of the stuff that I used to do with Sasa in Organic Grooves. In tunes like Sahir you can hear the electric Oud and the sort of trippy funk that musicians like Ziad Rahbani used to do in the seventies, lots of Turkish producers did that too in those times. Again, this was nothing but me paying homage to my old flames. Hence; 'Nothing New Under the Sun'.'

- What does your typical live set-up look like when gigging?

- 'I use my MacBook with good old Ableton software and play live (now electric) Oud on the old tunes. Normally have another musician who plays the percussion and/or the the Ney over the tunes. I use a pedalboard to trigger all the different musical parts because I can't use my hands most of the time as I am playing Oud. It took me a while to figure this problem out.. It isn't easy and I think I am one of the very few doing it in this way. I also welcome any belly dancer to join me on-stage of there is a chance of course. I am always glad to share the stage with other people as it takes the attention away from me dancing around on my pedalboard!'

- You released a mix of Hic Bir Sey, a track off of Neval's 2019 EP 'Tas Avlu' back in October. How did you come to discover Neval and why did you choose to remix this song in particular?

- 'That was from a Facebook connection with her label. Simple as that! I am actually working on a new tune with Neval but this time as a collaboration.. perhaps an EP?'

- I hear that there may be a new album ready for release in the non-too-distant-future, is this something that you have been working on during lock-down?

- 'Fuck yeah! This album has been in the making since 2018. I have put all my eggs in this one. It was finished by last March when I came to Italy to visit my mother from the US (NYC is where I have been living since '89) then got stuck and quarantined on and off since. Of course being stuck for one year in a small Italian town gave me plenty of time to go back and touch things up here and there on the album. I just had to tell myself "stop now, you're gonna fucking ruin it out of pandemic stress!". So now, I am just waiting and trying to stay positive. I think I have a great new album and i sincerely hope there will be a good time to release it soon. it deserves it.. and so do I!'

Listen to The Spy From Cairo now on all major music streaming platforms.