Habibi Funk: An Eclectic Selection (Part 2)

Description

Repressed! Second compilation by Habibi Funk, following the success of the first part, featuring a wide range of music from North Africa and the Middle East.

Tracklist
01. Haditouni - Douaa
02. Music De Carneval – Magdy El Hussainy
03. Ahl Jedba - Fadoul
04. Sultan Qaboos Song – Sal Davis
05. Heik Ha Nishtghil – Munir Khauli
06. Zina - Ouiness
07. Ya Aen Daly – Najib Al Housh
08. Badala Zamana - Zohra
09. Casbah – Ahmed Malek
10. El Fen – Aït Meslayene
11. Reet – Hamid El Shaeri
12. Tendme – Hamid El Shaeri
13. Free Blow – Tony Benn Feghaly

2LP w/ mp3 download card and 12-page booklet

This compilation of songs is not meant as a historic reflection of popular music of the “Arab world.” It is a very personal selection of songs we grew to like at Habibi Funk. It is music that historically never existed as a unified musical genre. We think it’s important to make this distinction and to have the listener understand that the majority of the music on this compilation does not come from the highly famous names of the musical spectrum of North Africa and the Middle East. Instead, the final body compiled for this record consists of some – at least for us – nichey pearls and often overlooked artists; resulting in a diverse range of styles from Egyptian organ funk, disco sounds from Morocco, an example of the lively reggae scene of Libya, political songs from Lebanon, soundtrack music from Algeria, a musical union between Kenya and Oman, and much more.

The photo we chose for this cover somehow could be seen as an allegory of the sounds we feature on the label. It depicts Algerian composer Ahmed Malek at an ice cream bar during his stay in Japan for the World Expo in Osaka, 1970. He later said that his visit to Japan and especially the manga culture left a distinctive mark on the way he created his own compositions. With this in mind, it feels as a suiting visual representation for the music on this compilation.

Accordingly, the compilation you are holding in your hands offers a much wider range of music than just funk influenced sounds. Sure, it brings back Fadoul, who we have already dedicated a full length album to. He was the mystical Moroccan singer who - influenced by the sounds of James Brown- created his own musical vision full of energy but also still very intimate. Another artist we have featured before is Ahmed Malek, the grand Algerian soundtrack composer, whose music is largely connected by a distinct feeling of melancholic beauty or Hamid Al Shaeri, the Egyptian hit producer whose track “Ayonha” was probably the most widely appreciated track off our first compilation. But we have also learned that this format of a compilation can serve as a medium to introduce artists to our audience, who we are planning to dedicate full length releases to in the near future, such as Ibrahim Hesnawi. Hesnawi is the father of reggae music in Libya - a genre still widely popular in Libya - and whose presence in the country is commonly connected to the r