Sufi trance musicians and rituals – from the depths of the Tunisian desert – in conversation with post-industrial sonics. 

‘No theatre or stage or audience. The rûwâhîne have possessed and contorted the bodies of the Banga. Teenagers leap to the floor, their legs arched and tense, glaring transfixed [while] girls dance wildly, … accelerating the rhythm of the hand percussion’ 

‘This is, then, most certainly not a “world music” project (still less an ethnomusicological one), but a wild process of improvisation and re-composition that brings traditional instruments face to face with computers and electric guitars… [My work] is driven towards elevation, sweat, blood, poetry and tears – not to some pretty colour postcard’ — François R. Cambuzat / Ifriqiyya Electrique

1. Laa la illa Allah 02:49 

2. Qaadrii - Salaam Alaik - Massarh 07:32 

3. Mawwel 01:09 

4. Zuru el Haadi - El Maduulaa - Maaluuma 06:34 

5. Stombali - Baba ‘Alaia 03:39 

6. Annabi Mohammad - Laa la illa Allah - Deg el bendir 09:15 

7. Lavo - Baba Marzug - Sidi Saad - Allah 04:46 

8. Arrah arrah abbaina - Bahari - Tenouiba 05:42 

9. Sidriiya 02:05

Egypt has been the most ambitious and controversial project of Youssou N´Dour. If he had so far fused African rhythms with Western melodies, on this album he embarks on a journey through Senegal's Sufi tradition accompanied by the Egyptian and Arabic orchestral arrangements of the Fathly Salama orchestra. Egypt is a song to the tolerance of Senegalese Islam and to the musical encounter between black Africa and the Middle East.

Egypt's repertoire sounds thanks to the combination of Senegalese percussion and Egyptian instruments (magruna, doholla, sagat, kawala) and Arabs (rababa, oud). The string arrangements sublimate some songs, already beautiful in themselves. The result is superb. From the initial greeting of "Allah" to the farewell "Touba – Daru Salaam", the musical pilgrimage that Youssou N'Dour proposes between Dakar and Cairo demonstrates that the evolution of popular music, which has its roots in the villages, He does not understand globalization or invasions but rather dialogue and respect, emphasizing over and over again the importance of what he loves: a humanist Islam.

Egypt was a Grammy Award in 2005 for "Best Contemporary World Music Album".

Tracks list:

01. Allah

02. Shukran Bamba

03. Mahdiyu Laye

04. Tijaniyya

05. Baay Niasse

06. Bamba The Poet

07. Cheikh Ibra Fall

08. Touba - Daru Salaam