DMB Tribute Band Performs For Charity in Egypt
By David Reiersgord
It seems like all that we see on television these days are reports of wars, hatred, and violence and that positive and uplifting stories are truly rare. That is a shame. Because it is the stories that move and inspire us that we will remember years from now. This is one of those stories.
However, the more powerful stories are the ones that last, and when this force is paired with happiness, overwhelming joy ensues.
I would like you all to meet Rashad Ahmed and Nader Wahba, two musicians from Cairo, Egypt. They're DMB fanatics who took it upon themselves to bring DMB's music to their hometown in any way they could - a benefit concert with all the proceeds going straight to charity.
Rashad’s first preview of DMB came from an acoustic version of “The Space Between” which first sparked a passion that caused him to give up his electric guitar and try out the acoustic.
He then, “downloaded [by mistake] a video called 'Dave Matthews & Tim Reynolds - Storytellers' and I was just blown away. It was everything I was looking for,” said Ahmed. “I started downloading everything I can find, just to be more and more amazed by the full band and live performances which was just phenomenal.”
However, while Rashad had never seen DMB perform live, and he wasn’t too hopeful of his chances, he had ideas here and there about how he could make it happen. While browsing on the internet, it all came together for him about how he could make his dream a fantastic reality.
Wahba and him and shared interests in setting up a benefit concert, and it started while Ahmed was on Facebook, browsing through a group called “If this group reached 10,000 I’ll get The Dave Matthews Band to Egypt.”
“I contacted the creator of the group to see if we can actually get them here. Then I noticed that a lot of the group members were musicians, so I thought if we can’t get the DMB any time soon, we can at least do a tribute concert.”
His next move was creating a Facebook group of his own called “The Dave Matthews Tribute Concert Auditions.”
“The response was just overwhelming. We never thought it was gonna be this huge, but it’s the DMB effect, I guess. So, we chose a couple of bands and performers and it was set,” said Ahmed. Him and Wahba began choosing the people they would like to have accompany them on stage.
Once the performers had been selected, a date was chosen, and tickets were released to the public.
“[Everyone] went crazy,” said Ahmed. “The event was sold out the minute tickets were available, they had to sell an extra 100 standing tickets, and they opened another stage projecting the concert from a camera feed, and this one was sold out as well.”
With all of the money raised from ticket sales, Ahmed and Wahba decided to donate the funds to a local charity that focuses on helping orphaned children cope with special needs.
“[The performers] were so happy to be a part of this. None of them asked about money from the very beginning. They didn’t care if they were gonna get paid,” said Ahmed. “So me and Nader thought that it would be a very ‘Dave Matthewsy’ thing to do to give the money out to charity. We actually invited a couple of [the children] to the concert, and they had a great time.”
The overall response from the entire event was enormous, and it caused Ahmed and crew to make the event a recurring one, with the next show scheduled within the coming weeks.
“It was the best night of my life,” said Ahmed. “I performed Two Step at the Dave Matthews Tribute Concert. It was my first time on stage, and I did a ‘Dave scream’ at the end, which I’ve never done before. This song hold a special place in my heart.”
Though Ahmed has never seen the band live, his friend Wahba has had the fortunate opportunity to see Dave perform at Farm Aid.
“He actually was able to sneak his way in with the press and shake Dave’s hand. I would’ve had a heart attack or something,” said Ahmed.
His story is unlike any other among DMB tribute bands as well as the process they must go through in order to put on a show. Ahmed has a passion for music --he’s an aspiring musician himself -- and he did everything in his power to make a dream of his a reality by having the time of his life performing songs by his idols, DMB.
Will he attend a show?
“As far as plans to attend, YES, it’s my number 1 on ‘things to do before I die’ list.”
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