Aly & Fila

Biography

As hot as the Sahara and standing every bit as tall as pyramids, they’re the single most successful group to have emerged from the spiritual lands of Egypt. From the Med to the Red and from up high in Cairo, to down deep in the Sinai, they’ve built an immense, ultra-loyal in-country following, From that foothold turntable Shamans, Aly Amr Fathalah and Fadi Wassef Naguib went global. With their career-launching Egyptrance releases (inc. ‘Eye of Horus’ and ‘Spirit of Ka’) through to latter-day master-blasters like ‘We Control The Sunlight’, their production credentials are only now matched by their spinning ones. Ranked as one of the 20 biggest DJ acts in EDM (source: DJ Magazine Top 100 DJs 2012), they delight crowds now numbered annually in the millions, bringing their inimitable sound to the world’s most prestigious clubs and festivals. No mirage, no illusion – this is Aly & Fila.

For close to a decade their spirited take on the trance sound has captured the hearts, minds and imaginations of planet trance. With their whip-smart productions and sandstorm sonics, their performances have raised the bar at some of the world’s most recognized clubs. Comparably they’ve also ruled at EDM’s biggest festivals – EDC – Las Vegas, Tomorrowland, Global Gathering, Dance Valley, Stereosonic, WMC and Full On Ferry to name just a few. Continuing in a long tradition of playing the world’s most established and respected stages, in Spring 2013 they will rock ASOT600. Marking the 7th successive year they’d done so, the Egyptian duo are the only spinners aside from Armin Van Buuren and Markus Schulz to have played such a run. This combined force of production and turntable feats has resulted in string of high charting positions in several of EDMs’ key polls. Included amongst them are six consecutive years in DJ Mag’s annual countdown (reaching #19 in 2012) and a #4 notch on TranceAddict’s Top 250 in the same year.

Spreading the A&F message around the globe is their Future Sound of Egypt radio show. Beaming to countless thousands of desktops every week, August 2012 saw its 250th episode hit airwaves. This was marked by the FSOE250 event, which drew fans from all four corners to the Egyptian resort of Sharm El Sheik to see them spin alongside DJs inc. Ferry Corsten, W&W, Shogun and Sean Tyas. With the 300th show primed for 2013, FSOE300 will expand into a multi-date, multi-country world tour experience.

The Future Sound of Egypt marque is further amplified by Aly & Fila’s widely respected imprint of the same name. A label sub-division of the industry leading Armada Music empire, through it they have rained continuous floor-fire, with one A-list championed release following another. With ‘We Control the Sunlight’, the pair scored the biggest trance track of the year when the listeners of Armin Van Buuren’s A State of Trance radio show voted it Tune of 2011. Throughout 2012 they continued to bring some of the year’s best music to club & festival sound-systems. Among them were collaborations with Roger Shah (on ‘Perfect Love’) and Solarstone with ‘Fireisland’. It also saw them re-team with ‘We Control’ singer Jawden on ‘Coming Home’, for a track that DJ Mag cited as “making hairs stand up, goosebumps pop, hands shoot up and jaws meet floors!” They also reworked Gareth Emery’s ‘Concrete Angel’ (which subsequently became the best-selling trance track of 2012), as well as other smash tracks from Andy Moor and Alex M.O.R.P.H.

Into the New Year and the cyphers for A&F’s future are every bit as filled with promise. Continuing to hold floors spellbound, their latest collaboration ‘Vapourize’ (alongside John O’Callaghan) has already delivered another Beatport slam-dunk. The single is the pathfinder release for the pair’s hugely anticipated sophomore artist album ‘Quiet Storm’. The follow-up to 2010’s ‘Rising Sun’ debut, the long-player’s mission kismet is to bring another gravity defying selection of anthems to the world’s floors. ‘Quiet Storm’s surge is set for 2013.