we have been revisiting and updating some of our favorite episodes on The Take. This is the last episode of the series.

Egypt’s low-tech, high-energy mahraganat music blasted out of the shantytowns to top the global charts on SoundCloud and rack up hundreds of millions of views on YouTube. But it’s been dogged by controversy, throwing the entire genre’s future into question.

In this episode:

Mina Girgis (@minagirgis), an Egyptian ethnomusicologist based in the United States

For more:

Listen to Bent el Geran / ‘The Neighbors’ Daughter'

Listen to the "Mahraganat" playlist on Spotify

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Twitter (@AJTheTake), Instagram (@ajthetake) and Facebook (@TheTakePod)

1d:T588,When Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva took office more than a year ago, he pledged to end deforestation in the Amazon by 2030. He’s on the right track: Last year, the forest shrank 50% less than in 2022. But the clock is ticking. Will Lula manage to keep his word? The world’s largest tropical rainforest is at stake. This is a story from the archives. It originally aired June 23rd, 2024. None of the dates, titles or other references from that time have been changed. In this episode: Constance Malleret (@Constancemlrt), Journalist Episode credits: This episode was originally produced by Marcos Bartolomé, Chloe K. Li, and Manahil Naveed with Mohamed Zain Shafi Khan, and our host Malika Bilal. The Take production team is Marcos Bartolomé, Sonia Bhagat, Spencer Cline, Sarí el-Khalili, Diana Ferrero, Tracie Hunte, Tamara Khandaker

Best of The Take: How Egypt's hottest mu...