This collaboration began life when Tamsin spent several months in Egypt to embark on an exploration of Arabic music, during which she met Tarek on the Cairo live scene. When international travel was permitted again following the COVID lockdowns, she began to discuss plans with Tarek to bring him to the UK for a return visit, and to make the collaborative album they had dreamed of creating together.

Their resulting debut album So Far We Have Come is a testament to their personal and musical perseverance, and a statement of hope and resistance during troubled times. Tamsin explains that “the title of our debut album was born out of a conversation about the progress that has been made in women’s rights in Egypt and the UK. We see how much has changed, and yet how far we have to go – and this echoes across ecological crises, geopolitical tensions, racism and societal disconnection. So Far We Have Come also reflects the distance and barriers we have overcome to create this work together.”

So Far We Have Come is a demonstration of what it means to pursue a collaborative idea across a grid of diplomatic bureaucracy born of colonial violence and racism, whilst maintaining a belief in the necessity of social and political change, so often only reachable through the world we imagine in art. Tamsin and Tarek are grateful for the financial and logistical support of EFDSS, Help Musicians and El Mawred in making this collaboration possible.