East of Any Place

Description

"East of Any Place,” out December 1st via Habibi Funk, is a treasure trove of songs we came across alongside Rogér Fakhr's acclaimed 2021 album, "Fine Anyway." These tracks, hidden for decades and only passed between a handful of people, offer a glimpse into Rogér’s musical genius and the vibrant scene of Lebanon during a period marked by civil war and social upheaval. This release serves as a companion to "Fine Anyway," feat studio tracks that didn't make it into the previous album. Tracklist 1. (You Look) So Funny 2. Dawn 3. East of Any Place 4. Queen Of Diamonds 5. Road of Farewell (feat. Bruna-Maria Naufal) 6. Down To My Bones 7. For Free 8. Rainhill 9. Had to See Harry 10. Drinking Tea Around 2 years ago, we released an album by Rogér Fakhr entitled “Fine Anyway” on Habibi Funk. It came about as a result of afternoons spent at Issam Hajali’s jewelry shop on Mar Elias Street in Beirut. We had started working on the idea of re-releasing some of Issam’s music and he proposed his first album “Mouasalat Ila Jacad El Ard,” recorded before starting his band Ferkat Al Ard. At some point, Issam mentioned how he had actually kept some of Rogér’s music on tape in his basement - but cautioned that he couldn’t play it to us before Rogér would give the green light. Eventually, after some hesitation, Rogér luckily did. During this time there were a number of ongoing projects and we somehow missed out on inquiring further. Yet Rogér’s name kept on coming up in conversations with musicians of the same generation in Beirut. No matter whether it was Ziad Rahbani, Munir Khauli or anyone else talking about him, every single mention would almost inevitably be followed with a huge praise for his music and approval of his talent. The disparity between him being so highly appreciated amongst his peers, while somehow simultaneously not being part of the researchable musical history of Lebanon (at least to us!) of the last decades, baffled me and at some point, we just asked Issam for Rogér’s contact. After, we exchanged some emails and he ended up sending a selection of music recorded in the late 1970’s in Beirut. While some of that material had never seen a release, other songs were released on his album “Fine Anyway” - which Rogér had, at the time of release, hand copied around 200 cassette copies. When we first heard the songs of “Fine Anyway” we were blown away! The music was a mixture of folk with touches of other genres. Maybe one could also refer to it as “singer-songwriter,” since all of the songs were Rogér’s own compositions. Songs of unique beauty both musically and lyrically. At the same time, they gave us the feeling of them being somehow isolated capsule of time and space. Nothing really revealed where they could’ve been recorded and, not knowing it was Beirut, a first guess would have likely been Southern California, sometime in the 1970’s. The immersive effect of his compositions and voice are just incredible. When we put the album out, we knew we l