The Handover

The Handover is a purely instrumental trio with roots in Egypt, Belgium and Norway, consisting of Aly Eissa (oud), Ayman Asfour (violin) and Jonas Cambien (keyboards).

The group became a sensation at the prestigious WOMEX festival last year and develops hypnotic and trance folk melodies from the Nile Delta region in northern Egypt. They masterfully combine this traditional music and classic Arabic maqams with psychedelic improvisation, repetitive krautrock riffs and the raw energy of the Egyptian shaabi genre. Although the band lacks percussion or percussion instruments, their music has a strong groove and is built on long, uninterrupted improvisations that gradually build to ecstatic climaxes. The structure of their songs in the form of connected chains is ideologically related to the Australian group The Necks, but it is built from completely different material. They released their critically acclaimed eponymous debut album in the spring of 2024 on the cult American label Sublime Frequencies.