Eggshells (LP)

Released June 19, 2026 via Motvind Records: the solo album from Cairo oud player and composer Aly Eissa, a central figure in the city's experimental scene who has toured the world alone and with the trio The Handover. Eissa was mentored by two legends of Egyptian music, composer and multi-instrumentalist Abdo Dagher and oud master Hazem Shahin, and Eggshells carries both lineages into expansive, intricate original composition rooted in Egyptian classical and folk tradition.

The epic title track, oud alone, takes up two-thirds of the record before flowing into "Sukr At-taganni," where Eissa plays and recites poetry by the Arab poet Baha' al-din Zuhayr (1186 to 1258), serious, tender, and insistent. The music works two central concerns, time and microtonality, searching the geography of the oud for the exact point where a fingertip alters the soul of a sound. Phrases move from the percussive attack of sagat rhythms to delicate lines that dissolve before they reach the ear, fragments clinging together like shards of stained glass.

Eissa - oud & voice. Mixed by Mohamed Sabry, mastered by George Zakaria, artwork by Aly Gaafar. A record for the shelf that already holds Maurice Louca, Nadah El Shazly, and Simsara.

• Format: 12" vinyl.
• Condition: New, sealed.
• Fast shipping all over Egypt.