In January, 18 artists from six countries came together under the aegis of the The Nile Project to collaborate on an album inspired by the 4,200-mile-long river, which connects "the polyrhythmic styles of Lake Victoria and the pointed melodies of the Ethiopian highlands with the rich modal traditions of Egypt and Sudan".

The result is Aswan, named after the Egyptian city in which it was recorded, which includes six vocalists singing in 11 different languages, and performers from Egypt, Ethiopia, Eritrea, South Sudan, Sudan and Uganda.

The music is driven by a pan-Nile percussion section, including several traditional instruments and introduces a few new ones. The plucked harp (lyre) and spike fiddle have been at the heart of the Nile's musical identity since ancient times. Today, modern versions of both are found in every country within the Nile Basin.

On Aswan, the lyre is represented by the Sudanese masenkop, Ugandan adungu, and Egyptian simsimiya and tamboura, while the spike fiddle manifests as the Ethiopian masenko and Ugandan endingidi.

In curating the collective, co-producers Miles Jay and Mina Girgis sought to highlight the unique timbres of these instruments, while also surrounding them with complementary sounds from their respective traditions, including the Ethiopian saxophone, Egyptian ney, oud, and violin, and the bass guitar.



Lyrics range from the deeply personal to the anthemic, exploring themes of identity, regional solidarity, intercultural relationships both between and within their respective homelands, their local music scenes, and living in the diaspora.

On the track Ya Ganouby (Arabic for Oh My South), Cairo-based vocalist Dina El Wedidi sings about her regret for being disconnected from her south (a metaphor for the Nile), and her longing for it to become a more integral part of her life. The song is a musical expression of the collective's aim: to heal the broken relationships within their cultural and natural environments.

Over the course of their 10 days together, the members of the collective participated in a deeply collaborative creative process. They started by introducing each other to the building blocks of their respective musical languages. Each musician then shared two original compositions or re-imagined folk songs with the group, which they subsequently arranged and rehearsed in small ensemble configurations. At the midpoint of the residency, they played all of the songs for each other, and then selected the pieces they wanted to perform and record.

Alsarah

The collective spent the following four days arranging these pieces for the 18 piece ensemble – weaving them into the seamless tapestry that is captured on Aswan. As Brooklyn-based Sudanese vocalist Alsarah put it: "We came in as separate musicians, but we're now creating a little orchestra with a new sound – a Nile sound."

At a time when tensions over the proposed Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam have captured headlines around the world, the Nile Project offers a model for cross-cultural dialogue and cooperation. The world's longest river runs through the political boundaries of 11 countries, touching the lives of 437 million people.

Over the past century, east Africa's leaders have struggled to find ways to preserve and share this critical resource. Founded by Egyptian ethnomusicologist Mina Girgis and Ethiopian-American singer Meklit Hadero in 2011, the Nile Project is trying to help residents work together to sustain their shared ecosystem.

By exposing local audiences to the cultures of their river neighbours, the initiative is using music to create a shared Nile identity. Building on this awareness, the Nile Project is developing educational programs, an online dialogue platform, and a Nile Prize to incubate solutions to the region's cultural and environmental challenges.

The Nile Project is currently accepting applications for its second annual musical residency, which will take place in Uganda in mid-January 2014. The collective will tour Africa and Europe after this, followed by a trip to North America in 2015.

Aswan was commissioned by Lincoln Center for the Performing Arts for Target Free Thursdays at the David Rubenstein Atrium and received generous support from Swiss Development Cooperation, the US State Department, the Association for Performing Arts Presenters, and Red Bull Media