With the 2016 Electric Daisy Carnival at the Milton Keynes Bowl just a few weeks away the Welwyn Hatfield Times caught up with one of the main attractions – Egyptian trance superstars Aly & Fila.
Here the duo answer our questions ahead of their appearance at the one-day festival extravaganza on July 9.
* When did you first get into trance and what was the experience like?
[Fila] My father worked in Europe a lot in the early 1990s so I used to travel a lot with him to Germany. It was here I discovered Paul van Dyk and would go to see him play and also bring back tapes of PVD to Egypt where Aly and I would listen to them.
Paul van Dyk was our biggest inspiration
* How big is trance and dance music in general in Egypt?
The dance music scene in general is very big in Egypt, every week clubs in Egypt are busy and we also have Sharm el Sheikh where Space, Pacha and Privilege are.
Trance music has grown over the years, our weekly Radio show FSOE is on Nile FM in Cairo and also our record label has many Egyptian artists on there from Mohamed Ragab, Fady & Mina, A&Z, Omar Sherif to name but a few. This creates more awareness of the genre within Egypt itself, also we host each year our FSOE Celebration in Egypt, in 2016 we hosted FSOE 400 at The Great Pyramids of Giza in Egypt. That created huge awareness within Egypt and worldwide for us, the genre and the Egyptian artists who performed that night.
* What is your favourite trance track of all time?
Paul van Dyk – For an Angel
* How does it feel to be playing EDC in Milton Keynes?
We are really excited, we have heard great things, and EDC / Insomniac / Dreamstate is a partner of ours so we are very happy to be a part of the festival.
* What do you like about playing in the UK?
The crowd’s intelligence and energy is amazing.
* How has trance changed over the years and do you think it is as strong as it was?
It has changed a lot, every genre goes through cycles where it is more popular than it was at a certain time.
We have been touring now for 10 years and we see worldwide every year how popular trance is and especially since the social media and internet age came in, where people can connect with each other, there are ‘trance families’ all over world, it’s like a worldwide family, we are very proud to be a part of this.
* Who are you future heroes in dance music?
We are very happy to have some great names signed to our record label Future Sound of Egypt, names such as Ferry Tayle, Dan Stone, Darren Porter, Arctic Moon, James Dymond, ReOrder, Mohamed Ragab, LTN, Alex Ender, A&Z, Ahmed Romel, Bjorn Akesson, Alan Morris, Niko Zografos, Omar Sherif, Jonathan Carvajal, Monoverse, to name but a few, there are several others also.
* What has been your career highlight?
To become the first Electronic Act since Jean Michel Jarre to play at The Great Pyramids of Giza, in Egypt, and also to host our own FSOE 400 Celebration there, we will never forget that moment.
There are many other career highlights like being in the DJ Mag Top 100 Top 50 since 2008, being voted ‘Tune of The Year’ on ASOT 2011 with ‘Aly & Fila feat Jwaydan - We Control the Sunlight’, also having released several artist albums – Rising Sun, Quiet Storm, The Other Shore, The Chillout Album and various compilations including Trance Nation for Ministry of Sound.
Also being Voted No.1 DJ in the Trance Podium Awards two years in a row.
Other headliners at the EDC UK include Avicii, Axwell ? Ingrosso, Eric Prydz, Ferry Corsten presents Gouryella, Paul van Dyk, Martin Garrix and Pendulum (DJ set).
For more information and tickets, visit http://uk.electricdaisycarnival.com
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