Mouasalat Ila Jacad El Ard

Description

Issam Hajali is best known as the singer and songwriter of the Lebanese group Ferkat Al Ard. Although they recorded 3 albums, only their classic “Oghneya” was released on vinyl and is highly sought after by record collectors (one copy sold in Beirut this year for US$5,000). Before the band was formed, he recorded this first album in Paris in 1977. This rare album blends jazz and folk with Arabic and Iranian influences for a unique beauty. It was only released in 75 copies. It is now officially reissued by Habibi Funk. It is a truly unique mix of traditional Arabic elements, jazz, Brazilian motifs and folklore, paired with lyrics that are both poetic and politically engaged. The group was active in the left-wing movement in Lebanon at the time and openly communicated its political views. Unfortunately, like many musicians from the 1970s, there is not much trace left of them, even less on the Internet. These days, Hajali sells silver jewelry, mainly from his favorite travel destination, Nepal. Issam Hajali had to leave Lebanon after the Syrian intervention for political reasons and spent a year in exile in France. During this period, he struggled to make ends meet by playing guitar in the metro. He could only afford one day in the studio to record the project as a whole with a group of French musicians, an Algerian, an Iranian and a friend from Beirut, Roger Fahr, who had left Lebanon around the same time. In the end, this lost album fell into the hands of Ziad Rahbani, Fairuz’s son and a Lebanese musical institution in his own right. Ziad greatly liked the music and played on most versions of Ferkat Al Ard. Issam is fairly certain that fewer than 100 copies of the tape were made at the time and he managed to keep only one copy on which this recording was made.