How Egyptian Lover charmed the 808
Egyptian Lover says it’s the sound of the 808 drum machine that keeps people partying to his music
‘If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it” rings true to nobody more than it does to Greg Broussard, the Los Angeles-born electro musician better known as Egyptian Lover. From the early 1980s, Egyptian Lover has pretty much kept things the same: same records, same beats, same blueprint and the same globetrotting, fun-loving spirit that encourages the freaks to come out and play.
A key player in the Eighties LA electro scene and an influencer of the Miami bass/booty sound, Egyptian Lover bears testament to the timeless futurism buried beneath the apparent simplicity of the 808 drum machine. In this interview, he speaks about its significance in the history of his career and music in general. like, I don’t know if they are going to dance to a drum machine or not. So while I was playing people were asking me what record it was that I was playing. I knew I had them, and that was the beginning of me and the 808. In electro and the beginning of hiphop, what was important was the sound of it. It didn’t sound like any other drummer or any other real drums. It had a toyish kind of sound, which became the club sound. It sounds futuristic to this day when I play it at my parties. The kids still love it and they still party to it. It’s just a wonderful thing. I think LA was starting to have its own sound of hip-hop when I got out of high school, like 1981. I met Mixmaster Spade, who was doing what we called street rap at the time and I met Ice-T. He was also doing the same thing: street rap. I had a cassette tape I was selling that had some street rap on it. Then I heard Afrika Bambaataa, I knew that he had got his sound from the Kraftwerk sound and that was the sound that I really, really loved. So I was like, you know what, I really need to do a record like that [Planet Rock]. Afrika Bambaataa really inspired me to take it to another level and come up with what I call the Egyptian Lover sound.
So I took the chant style of rap from Prince and Afrika Bambaataa beats from Kraftwerk and melded those together to form the Egyptian Lover sound. And that sound started happening in LA and becoming more and more popular than the underground street rap sound, and eventually the street rap sound became popular with [hip-hop group] NWA. Directed by Michael Matthews, this highly anticipated South African western tells the story of the Five Fingers gang that fights against police brutality in Marseilles, a town in the Eastern Cape. One of the members, Tau, kills two police officers and is sentenced to 20 years’ imprisonment. When he gets out, he reforms the gang after receiving word of a new threat. Details: The film opens nationwide on April 6 and will be screened at The Bioscope Independent Cinema, 286 Fox Street, Johannesburg, from April 6 to 12. Tickets range from R50 to R98; book at thebioscope.co.za
After hosting the Culture Clash and Weekender events, Red Bull returns to Johannesburg for a new music festival. Over six days, there will be performances, club nights, lectures and workshops. The lineup includes 340ml, DJs Tira and Oskido, Distruction Boyz, Langa Mavuso, Egyptian Lover and Moozlie. Details: The festival is on until April 8 at various locations in the city. For more information or to buy tickets, visit the Red Bull Facebook page or tickets.redbull.com
The brainchild of Cape Townbased filmmaker and photographer Katya Abedian, this short film is centred on the idea that we create our own realities and should not be ashamed of the narratives we choose to endorse or oppose. Inspired by the Baha’i faith, the film follows two friends who aren’t worried whether others understand their journey. Details: A screening will be held at the Labia Theatre in Cape Town on April 6, at 7pm, with a discussion afterwards. Tickets are R50 at quicket.co.za. A Jo’burg screening will be at The Bioscope on June
20.
Artist Beth Diane Armstrong explores different expressions of density and looseness in relation to scale, structure, material, space and process. She applies the term “in perpetuum” to negotiating an relentless pull between the desire to be overwhelmed and subsumed by a sculpture and the drive to resolve and contain the idiosyncratic challenges posed by it. The exhibition presents her work as a continuously self-generating system driven by the interplay between density and looseness. Details: Tatham Art Gallery, Pietermaritzburg, from April 8 to May 20. Visit tatham.
org.za