Kode9 and company join international skill-swapping project.

Five Rinse FM artists have signed up to Cairo Calling, a British Council project that aims to build bridges between Cairo’s mahraganat music culture and London’s electronic music scene.

Kode9 (pictured), Artwork and Faze Miyake are among the five acts who’ll join four Egyptian artists at development workshops in each country, starting in London in January.

The Rinse acts will work with pioneers of the mahraganat music scene (or electro-shaabi, as it’s often called in Egypt), a contemporary take on Egyptian folk music that combines samples of traditional instruments with frenetic time signatures.

Through workshops, collaborations and masterclasses, the mahraganat artists (Figo, Sadat, Diesel and Knaka) will receive support to grow and monetise their own industry, while the UK participants will be introduced to traditional and contemporary North African and Arabic musical styles.

The UK artists will then travel to Egypt in March 2014 to take part in the Downtown Contemporary Arts Festival (D-CAF) in Cairo.

Rinse will broadcast a series of takeovers and documentaries before releasing an album of mahraganat songs produced during the project.

Keyboard player Islam Chipsy is one of the breakout stars of electro-shaabi – hear him live below: