Egyptian rock band Mutayam released “Calling You” back in August 2022, a collaboration with K’noup from the Armenian/Greek band Viza. Mutayam was founded in 2020 by songwriter and lead singer Muhammad El-Hassanein, and the name “Mutayam” means “the one who lost his mind because of love” in Arabic. The band consists of Muhammad El-Hassanein on vocals, Youssef Mahmoud on drums, Yehia Hussam on bass, and Kareem Medhat on lead guitar. They describe their sound as an explosion of emotions pouring the raw energy of Egyptian streets onto the stage, mixing rage, philosophy, romance, and nostalgia.
Muhammad El-Hassanein originally wrote “Calling You” in 2019 while sitting alone on the grass in Hyde Park, London, feeling homesick and watching crowds of people while longing for his loved one. The line “They’re all around, but you left me all alone” captures that scene. At the time, Elhassanein was growing up listening to Viza, led by K’noup, who had collaborated with Serj Tankian from System Of A Down and Evanescence. Two years later, Elhassanein reached out to K’noup on social media to express his love for K’noup’s art and asked if they could collaborate. K’noup agreed, and “Calling You” was reborn as an Egyptian/Greek collaboration inspired by both cultures. The song was recorded at Spin Studio in New York City and Distortion Studio in Mansoura, Egypt. It’s been played on London Greek Radio, Middle East Radio in Canada, and Mount Carlo radio in France, with reaction videos from people in different countries.
The song fuses elements from both styles to create a unique sound that is simply mesmerizing. The tear-jerking melodies of the accordion and violin express the feeling of being homesick and envelop the vocals in a melodic shawl of nostalgia. The rhythm section grounds the song in modernity with the classic rock ballad drum groove. The song builds to a guitar solo that symbolizes the peak of the angst expressed in the song and crashes down to a final explosive chorus.
For Muhammad El-Hassanein, who grew up listening to K’noup since he was 16, this collaboration was a dream coming true. That was almost 4 years ago now. Mutayam‘s working on a new album called “Bard El Sheta”, there’s a new music video that came out only a few days ago, and the full album is coming out very soon, so stayed tuned!
