Sam Shalabi is an Egyptian-Canadian composer and improviser, living in Montreal. Since his beginnings as a punk musician in the late 70’s, his work has evolved into a fusion of experimental, modern Arabic Music that incorporates traditional Arabic, Shaabi, noise, classical, text, free improvisation and jazz.
To this day Shalabi has released five full-length albums with Shalabi Effect, a free improvisation quartet that bridges Western psychedelic music and Arabic maqam, four albums with Land of Kush, an experimental 30-member orchestra of which he is the main composer, as well as six solo albums. He has appeared on over 60 albums and toured Europe, North America, North Africa, and Far East Asia.
Recent projects include albums with Dwarfs Of East Agouza, a Cairo-based trio with Alan Bishop and Maurice Louca; several albums with Karkhana, a sextet featuring musicians from Lebanon, Egypt, Turkey and the USA; the debut album by Moose Terrific; and an album with Oren Ambarchi, Mark Fell, and Will Guthrie. Shalabi has also composed music for over 20 films produced in North America, Europe and the MENA region.
