https://habibifunkrecords.bandcamp.com/album/habibi-funk-018-the-slam-years-1983-1988

Hamid Al Shaeri -  Ayonha (Habibi Funk 018)

=> https://habibifunkrecords.bandcamp.com/album/habibi-funk-018-the-slam-years-1983-1988

Hamid Al Shaeri -  Yekfini Nesma’sotak (Habibi Funk 018)

Whenever Rogér's name came up in conversations, it nearly automatically ended up in a praise of his outstanding musical talents. Right off, it caught my interest because neither had I heard of Rogér Fakhr nor could I find any infos about him on the internet. So Issam recounted how they even used to be flat mates for some time and constantly working on music together. Eventually their collaborations came to an end after Rogér emigrated to the USA. In fact, I got to know he initially was on tour as part of Fairuz's band in the US and just decided to stay there ultimately. At some point, Issam mentioned how he had actually kept some of Rogér’s music on tape in his basement but also he couldn’t play it to me before Rogér would green light that. 

As the story goes, at that period of time a multitude of projects were ongoing and I somehow missed out of inquiring further. Yet Rogér’s name kept on coming up in conversations with musicians of the same generation in Beirut steadily. No matter whether it was Ziad Rahbani, Munir Khauli or anyone else talking about him, every single mention would almost inevitably be followed by 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 me!) of the last decades, baffled me and at some point I just asked Issam for Rogér’s contact. After we exchanged some emails and he ended up sending me a selection of music recorded in the late 1970s in Beirut. While some of that material had never seen a release, others were released on his album “Fine Anyway” - back in the time, he had hand copied around 200 cassette copies of that album. 
To put it short: I was 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 Roger’s own compositions. Songs of unique beauty both musically as well as lyrically. At the same time they gave me the feeling of them being somehow time and space isolated capsules. Nothing really revealed, where they could’ve been recorded and without knowing it was Beirut, my first guess maybe would have rather been California, sometime in the 1970s. The immersive effect of his compositions and voice are just incredible. I was stunned and proposed Rogér to work on a re-release, which he politely declined, saying he had no interest in this music being reissued. 

Fast forward a year or two, Beirut had been rocked by the horrible explosion of it’s port on the 4th of August 2020. We (everybody at the label) were truly shocked and after the initial paralysis had vanished and we managed to check in on friends, whether they are ok or in need of something, thoughts on how to help with the rescue and relief efforts happening locally developed. Not being physically able engage with the support groups on site, we figured it would be the most evident idea to put together a compilation featuring some of the Lebanese musicians we had met and adore such as Ferkat Al Ard, Munir Khauli, Toufic Farroukh and Abboud Saadi in solidarity. We managed finalize the compilation within 24 hours and after we were nearly done I thought why not at least let Rogér know about it. He called me back within an hour, excited to be part of the project. In the meantime, his perspective on the idea of reissuing his music had shifted and he was welcoming the idea to make his music heard by a new generation. 

All songs written, arranged and composed by Rogér Fakhr. 

The album was licensed from Rogér Fakhr. We pay 50% of the profits of this release as royalties. Only project related costs are deductible from the gross income, research and travel costs come out of our own share. Publishing rights were not included in our agreement.

Habibi Funk 016: Rogér Fakhr - Such A Trip Through time

Avid Habibi Funk listeners may be familiar with Libyan composer / producer Najib Alhoush, who’s “Ya Aen Daly” - Bee Gee’s “Stayin Alive” cover - was included in our 2nd compilation. 

Najib’s group, “The Free Music” produced an astonishing 10 albums, all impressively strong and equally infused by soul, funk, disco and reggae. Groovy synths, thumping bass and drums and Najib’s distinct flavor collide for something special. Self-financed, all their albums are fully dedicated to their unique musical blend, a distinctly infectious groove that unfortunately didn’t make an impact outside of Libya due to the complex political situation at the time. 

When we made the selection for this album, we could have chosen a completely different number of tracks and the album would be been equally strong. There is a reason why it says “Part 1” in the title. 

Vinyl and CD come with an extensive booklet featuring background on The Free Music and Najib Alhoush, including words from Najib’s son, Yousef, as well as unseen photos and more. 

The album was licensed from the family of Najib Alhoush, the band's founder and leader. We pay 50% of the profits of this release. Only project related costs are deductible from the gross income, research and travel costs come out of our own share. Publishing rights were not included in our agreement.

Habibi Funk 021: The Free Music - Mathasebnish

Ibrahim Hesnawi crafts restless grooves with evident buttressing from a reggae foundation. Highlighted across the LP is how Hesnawi essentially pioneered such an effortless synthesis between traditional Libyan music and Jamaican reggae stylings, plus the endlessly disparate funk, jazz, and disco accents which firmly situate Hesnawi in a league of his own. 

In many countries, reggae was a widespread fad before its popularity gradually subsided. In Libya, however, the genre remained popular since its initial introduction in the late 1970s. Reggae’s thematic throughlines like references to Pan-Africanism, liberation, and the end of oppression and exploitation resonated—and continues to resonate—forcefully amongst a Libyan audience. To this day, you will find countless bands playing variations of the genre as are there Facebook groups with predominantly Libyan members sharing old and new reggae tracks with ten-thousands of members. And no matter who you ask, chances are high that the genre’s popularity in Libya will be largely attributed to one man: Ibrahim Hesnawi. 

Born and raised in Tripolis, the capital of Libya, Hesnawi initially was not interested in music, however he credits Bob Marley as foundational to changing his life after having listened to his music in a electronics shop a friend of his was working at. 

Reggae is instantly recognizable from the counterpoint between the bass and drum downbeat and the offbeat rhythm section. This very particular rhythm is part of the story of why the genre became so popular in Libya as Hesnawi explains: 

"The Libyans are inclined to Reggae for a reason, I think due to our traditional musical rhythm known as Darbuka “Libyan Drum” or Kaska, its rhythm is very similar to the one of Reggae therefore the society got closer to this music and the the nation loved the reggae style and embraced it“ 

There is a handful songs Ibrahim Hesnawi sings in English but the 95% of his output is sung in Libyan Arabic. A conscious choice as this is not only the language that came natural to him but also it allowed him to convey the message of his songs that is so close to his heart in the best way to the young generations of Libya listening to his music. 

The album was licensed from Ibrahim Hesnawi. We pay 50% of the profits of this release. Only project related costs are deductible from the gross income, research and travel costs come out of our own share. Publishing rights were not included in our agreement.

The Father of Libyan Reggae

Habibi Funk 024: Ibrahim Hesnawi - Never Understand

Probably two to three years ago we received a message from Hassel Dehaes, who shared a 7” vinyl he had found in Belgium with us, asking whether we knew anything about it. We were immediately electrified by the immense beauty of the song and tried to find out anything about the artist. That turned out to be not very easy. Eventually, we managed to get in touch with the artist’s daughter Reem Mitten who helped us license the song from her mother and was also happy to contribute the following text about her mother’s musical career.

„My Mother's journey in music first started off when she was 17, still only a student at Lycée Dar Essalam Rabat, going by her Maiden name Douae Abd al-Rahman Hassani (now Douae Mitten.) Her only experience in music was that of a spectator, eyes for her mother, the singer, Bahija Idriss and her father, Al-Rahman Al-Hassani, a composer. My Mother's first experience in music was with the song “The way of lovers” in Egypt 1984. It was a melody composed by her father and the lyrics were written by journalist and poet Omer Battisha. This was the first time my mum had ever worked with a band, which essentially resulted into a room filled with esteemed musicians and herself. By the time, my Mother had only ever sang in front of her school friends. “The way of lovers” was originally composed for Mayada Hanawe. Due to creative differences she didn't end up singing the song. Somehow my grandmother Bahija Idriss had suggested to my mother’s father, that mum could go to Egypt, where her father had been residing, to sing the song. During that trip to Egypt, she had the honor of meeting Mohamed Abdel Wahab and that is what would be the beginning of my mothers musical journey.

“Parlez moi de lui” came to fruition due to a family visit to Belgium. A music producer there had contacted my grandfather to ask, if his daughter wanted to do a cover of the joyous french song “Parlez moi de lui.” My mother then proceeded to translate the entire song into Arabic in one evening. The following day, she was recording the song. Another important experience!

Although music was my mother's passion, her career did not exceed more than a few songs. It had been a short and sweet experience but her life took a different direction. She came on to be a stewardess for Emirates airline having many different and amazing adventures. Shortly after a couple years she went on to meet my father Alan, an amazing Irish man. They moved to London, where they still reside, and had four children, me included.“

Text by Reem Mitten

Habibi Funk 015: Douaa - Haditouni

Libyan Reggae at its peak grooves courtesy of Benghazi-born Ahmed Ben Ali. After working with Ahmed on the 12” hit “Subhana” (Habibi012), Habibi Funk is back with a full-length release focusing on Ahmed’s releases from the mid 2000’s. The tracks on the LP represent a blisteringly deep collection of heavy reggae rhythms and synthesized grooves from a singular creative force, inspired as much from Jamaican sonics as from Libyan folkloric styles, as Ahmed says, “it’s the Libyan style, not some bullshit.” 

Our first and major contact with Libyan music began five-or-so years ago, when we were invited to visit an abandoned tape factory in Tunisia. We have talked about this influential visit more at length for the Free Music release (Habibi021), if you’re interested. Anyhow, the place was astonishing. It had a room full of unused - but already printed - inlay cards for tapes and three large rooms spreading over two floors of unsold stock. A rough guess would be more than 100,000 copies already dubbed with music, many of which were produced for the Libyan market. On top of this the owner, Hechmi, also told us of another 200,000 blank tapes held in a separate unit. Much of the music we found there was clearly influenced by Jamaican music, and we soon realized how popular Reggae music had been in Libya since the 1970’s. 

Reggae in Libya has dominated the charts since its arrival in the 1970’s and flourished with some of the pioneers of Libyan reggae such as Ibrahim Hesnawi, Najib Alhoush and The White Birds Band. Composers like Ahmed Fakroun and Nasser Mizdawi also played around with the genre, although they did not dedicate their sound to it. When we started researching into more contemporary recordings, we quickly came upon Ahmed Ben Ali. Ben Ali is a Libyan singer and producer, whose YouTube channel at the time contained four songs (we later learned they had been uploaded more than ten years prior). Despite the fact that these songs seem to be pretty popular, the channel became inactive a few months after its launch. In the comment section you could read appreciative feedback, not only from Libyans but also people from all over the world who seem to share a common passion for Ben Ali’s sound. 

Generally speaking, there is not really a blueprint on how to find the musicians with whom we would like to re-release music. In this case, we did consider visiting Libya, but in the end, it turned out not to be possible for a number of reasons. We focused our efforts on online research, and eventually we were able to connect with Ahmed by phone. 

Contextualizing his own style, Ben Ali points out that, “The Libyan folkloric rhythm is very similar to the reggae rhythm. So, if Libyan people listen to reggae, it’s easy for them to relate because it sounds familiar. This is the main reason why reggae became so popular here. [...] We played the reggae Libyan style, it’s not the same as in Jamaica. We added our oriental notes to it and if you mix both it becomes something great.” With a bit of laughter, he adds that “...to me it’s still original reggae, it’s the Libyan style, not some bullshit.” 

The album was licensed from Ahmed Ben Ali. We pay 50% of the profits of this release. Only project related costs are deductible from the gross income, research and travel costs come out of our own share. Publishing rights were not included in our agreement.

Habibi Funk 022: Ahmed Ben Ali - Subhana

pre-order: https://habibifunkrecords.bandcamp.com/album/azmanah-salb

taken off the forthcoming fadoul lp on habibi funk. more infos and pre-order coming soon.

fadaul is maybe our fav discovery from traveling north africa. his raw and energetic recordings are pretty stand alone in the arab world. we have invested quite some time into research but we were not able to find too much infos about this guy. a mystical figure.



Habibi Funk 002: Fadaul (Fadoul) - Sid Redad (Pre-Order link in the describtion)

Pre-Order: https://habibifunkrecords.bandcamp.com/releases

Habibi Funk will be a new sub label of Jakarta Records, dedicated to re-releasing arabic music from the 1970s and 1980s. It's a label and platform for funky/soulful and/or psych influenced music from the Arab world of the 70s and 80s.

https://www.facebook.com/habibifunk

Dalton was a band from Tunis, the capital of Tunisia. They came together as a band around 1968 when most of the members studied together at the University of Tunis. The band had five members. Faouzi Chekili on guitar, piano and vocals, Ridha Kouhen on bass guitar, Mustapha Rehouma and sax and percussion, Sadok Gharbi on trumpet and vocals and Skaner Alim on drums and vocals. They were active in the local scene, playing music that was heavily influenced by American soul and funk and at the same time regional musical traditions. In the early 70s the band got a regular gig at a beach hotel called Sahara Beach Resort on the coastline of Tunisia. They had six month contracts for a couple of years in the early 70s and during that time they would play every single night of the tourist season. While the hotel gig required the band to play sets leaning      towards tourist entertainment, the regular work helped put some money into the band's accounts. Using those funds the band was able to travel to Rome to record their one and only 7“ single release "Alech" around 1971/1972. The band eventually dismantled in the mid 70s and returned briefly as a new group with new members in the late 1970s under the name Carthago but that is a different story…… 

"That "Soul Brother" is my jam…. !!!!" 
Lefto 

The single itself impressed us heavily when we first stumbled upon it through French collector Victor Kiswell. While the b-side "Soul Brother“ sounds like a Tunisian version of modern soul / AOR with it’s English lyrics and lush arrangements, the title track "Alech“ is the one that will get every party started. An infectious 3/4 rhythm, a great horn arrangement and brillantly layered vocals that made us think of Brazillian music or the Georgian groove band Gaya. Luckily Faouzi Chekili, the former band leader and composer uses social media communication so he was easy to track down. He is still active as a renowned musician in the Tunisian jazz scene and remains active recording and playing concerts both in Tunisia and internationally.
credits

Edit: this is just a little "recorded straight from the wax" preview. The final release will be properly remastered by the homies from Audiomoto Berlin 


Habibi Funk 001: Dalton - Soul Brother (Tunisia, 1972 pre-order link in description)

Pre-order:  https://habibifunkrecords.bandcamp.com/releases

Habibi Funk will be a new sub label of Jakarta Records, dedicated to re-releasing arabic music from the 1970s and 1980s. It's a label and platform for funky/soulful and/or psych influenced music from the Arab world of the 70s and 80s.

https://www.facebook.com/habibifunk

Dalton was a band from Tunis, the capital of Tunisia. They came together as a band around 1968 when most of the members studied together at the University of Tunis. The band had five members. Faouzi Chekili on guitar, piano and vocals, Ridha Kouhen on bass guitar, Mustapha Rehouma and sax and percussion, Sadok Gharbi on trumpet and vocals and Skaner Alim on drums and vocals. They were active in the local scene, playing music that was heavily influenced by American soul and funk and at the same time regional musical traditions. In the early 70s the band got a regular gig at a beach hotel called Sahara Beach Resort on the coastline of Tunisia. They had six month contracts for a couple of years in the early 70s and during that time they would play every single night of the tourist season. While the hotel gig required the band to play sets leaning      towards tourist entertainment, the regular work helped put some money into the band's accounts. Using those funds the band was able to travel to Rome to record their one and only 7“ single release "Alech" around 1971/1972. The band eventually dismantled in the mid 70s and returned briefly as a new group with new members in the late 1970s under the name Carthago but that is a different story…… 

"That "Soul Brother" is my jam…. !!!!" 
Lefto 

The single itself impressed us heavily when we first stumbled upon it through French collector Victor Kiswell. While the b-side "Soul Brother“ sounds like a Tunisian version of modern soul / AOR with it’s English lyrics and lush arrangements, the title track "Alech“ is the one that will get every party started. An infectious 3/4 rhythm, a great horn arrangement and brillantly layered vocals that made us think of Brazillian music or the Georgian groove band Gaya. Luckily Faouzi Chekili, the former band leader and composer uses social media communication so he was easy to track down. He is still active as a renowned musician in the Tunisian jazz scene and remains active recording and playing concerts both in Tunisia and internationally.

Restored and mastered by Roskow at Audiomoto Studios.


Habibi Funk 001: Dalton - Alech (Tunisia, 1972, pre-order link in description)

Earlier this month I was in North Africa for another digging trip and ended up finding quite some records I didn’t know before or I had no copy of so I felt it was time for another mix. After every mix I make I feel like „Uhh, getting enough records I like for the next one will be tough“. But every time I end up getting proven wrong by the rich musical heritage of Arabic musicians that worked on combining local influences with western musical traditions. Just like Dalton, the Tunisian band we just re-released on our new Habibi Funk label, who are also prominently featured on this mix.

Apart from the Dalton re-release that you can hear on our soundcloud we are working on rereleasing Fadoul’s music, Morocco’s answer to James Brown, who was also featured on the first two mixes. The artist himself passed in the early 90s but thru a countless number of leads we luckily ended up finding his family in Morocco, one of the highlights of my last trip but more from this later.

For now please enjoy the new mix featuring music from Sudan, Morocco, Tunisia, Egypt and Lebanon. If you’re in Paris catch me playing some records at Institute Du Monde Arab on the 3rd of July…

Get the Dalton single here:
habibifunkrecords.bandcamp.com/merch

And head over to okayafrica.com for the track listing: 
http://www.okayafrica.com/news/habibi-funk-jakarta-records-vintage-arabic-vinyl/

"Habibi Funk 003 Mix" by Jannis of Jakarta Records (Mix of Arabic 60s & 70s vinyl)

2015 was an incredible year for Habibi Funk. We started the label, dropped reissues by Fadoul and Dalton and I had the opportunity to play 30+ DJ gigs from Tunis to Beirut playing old Arabic music. 

So let's keep on going in the same way in 2016: I spend some time in Morocco in December and after DJing in Istanbul and Beirut in early January a week in Cairo. Mix number 5 compiles the records I found on these trips as well as, for the first time, some unreleased music from our forthcoming Ahmed Malek reissue, which came from a CD-R in his house that was full of recordings that were made straight from the 70s master tapes. 

Mix number 5 has a little focus on instrumental works largely from Egypt. It's winter in Berlin and a moody mix seemed fitting. We'll be back with the disco music for the dance floor in spring :).

سنة ال 2015 كانت سنة رائعة و غنية بالإنجازات ل "حبيبي فانك Habibi Funk ". فقد بدأنا ال Label، ثم اصدرنا موسيقى فاضول  و دالتون اللتين أعدنا إحيائهما.  لقد  حظيت بفرص خولتلي أن اقوم بإحياء سهرات DJ من تونس العاصمة لبيروت لعبت فيها موسيقى عربية قديمة. لهذا و لسنة 2016 مرادنا أن نسير على نفس الوثيرة . فبعد سفري إلى المغرب في شهر ديسمبر الماضي، أحييت سهرتين في بيروت و اسطنبول في أوائل شهر ينايرو أمضيت أسبوع في القاهرة. 

مشروعي الجديد و هو ميكس #5 Mix 5 يتضمن مجموعة تسجيلات عثرت عليها خلال سفراتي الأخيرة، منها من لم يتم إصداره بعد كتسجيلات للجزائري أحمد مالك تم العثور عليها في منزله و هي تسجيلات أخذت مباشرة من الشريط الرئيسي للسبعينات ( the master tape ). 

يركز مشروعنا على موسيقى instrumental و خصوصا القادمة من مصر، فالجو شتوي في برلين و الأجواء بحاجة إلى أنغام دافئة. سوف نعود لكم بموسيقى ديسكو راقصة في فصل الربيع القادم .

Follow on fb: www.facebook.com/habibifunk
Photo by Fabian Brennecke (www.fabianbrennecke.com), Casablanca, 2015

"Habibi Funk 005 Mix" by Jannis of Jakarta Records (Mix of Arabic 70s & 80s vinyl)

pre-order: https://habibifunkrecords.bandcamp.com/album/musique-original-de-films

هل تريدون الاستماع الى ما كنا نشتغل عليه الفترة الماضية ؟ يمكنم الآن أن تطلبو مسبقا إصدار " حبيبي فانك " الثالث، حيث سنأخذكم معنا هذه المرة بأنغامنا إلى الجزائر. إن أحمد مالك بمثابة إينيو موريكوني الجزائر، إذ ألف و أنتج معظم موسيقى الأفلام الجزائرية في السبعينيات. موسيقى رائعة، مفعمة بالأحاسيس و غير اعتيادية. بعد موافقة تامة من أهل الراحل، يمكنكم و أخيرا الاستماع للمرة الأولى إلى إحدى إنتاجاته، أو النقر على الرابط من أجل طلب مسبق.

I still remember the first time I heard Ahmed Malek. It was 2012. Back then I didn’t know much about Arabic music, but I was about to leave Berlin for a couple of weeks to go to Tunisia. I was working as a project manager for a music recoding session which ended up being released by Jakarta Records as the “Sawtuha” release. I knew I would have some time off during my stay and I was certain that I would dedicate some of this time to diggin. I asked some people whether they knew of any titles that I should look for. Roskow, who also ended up re-mastering this release, told me about an Algerian composer called Ahmed Malek whose music was also released in Tunisia. 

Fast forward three years: Arabic records have become my number one hobby and luckily I got my hands on a copy of Ahmed Malek’s “Musique Originale De Films” album. I already knew some of the tracks but listening to the music the way it was originally released, and not as a crappy Youtube version, made me fall in love with Malek’s compositions all the more. It manages to create this very special mood: melancholic and reflective, emotional and touching, but never depressing. Even without having seen any of the pictures created for this, it immediately brings visuals to one’s imagination. 

Around that time I became captivated with the idea of reissuing some of Ahmed Malek’s music. I knew some people had tried to locate his family but, but with no success. In the end it was an incredible amount of luck that made it possible for you to read these words and listen to this record. I had a DJ gig in Beirut playing old Arabic records and I mentioned my passion for Ahmed Malek’s music to a friend. She said she knew one person in Algier, and as much as it would be a shot in the dark, she could ask her if she had an idea of how to find Malek’s family. Two weeks went by before I heard back, and what I got was incredibly good news. Her Algerian friend was the neighbor of Ahmed Malek’s daughter! I’m not a spiritual person, but it felt like the universe wanted to see this release happen. 

I started to speak with Henya, Ahmed Malek’s daughter and she was more then happy with our idea. She assured us that her father would have loved the plan as well. She provided us with tons of awesome material, from great photos, to unseen video footage and unreleased tracks; she also told us more about her father’s life: 

Ahmed Malek was born on March, 6th 1932 at Bordj El Kiffan, Algiers. He was the oldest son of a family of 3 brothers and one sister. He went to work at a young age in factories to help his father to raise the family. His mother died when he was 12. It was then that decided he wanted to become a musician, and after graduating school he studied at the Algerian Conservatory. He gained recognition for his craft from an early stage and won several prizes and medals nationally and internationally (The "Premier grand prix des arts et des lettres de la composition" in 1972, the golden medal at the "Panafrican Festival" in 1976, and the "Prix du mérite national pour la composition musicale" in 1987). He was the conductor of the "Algerian Television Orchestra“ for many decades and represented his country at international events such as the Expo In Japan, Canada, Cuba and Spain. He passed on the 24th of July, 2008, at his home in El Mouradio, Algiers.


Habibi Funk 003: Ahmed Malek - Omar Gatlato (Unreleased version.  Pre-order link is description)

pre-order: https://habibifunkrecords.bandcamp.com/album/musique-original-de-films

هل تريدون الاستماع الى ما كنا نشتغل عليه الفترة الماضية ؟ يمكنم الآن أن تطلبو مسبقا إصدار " حبيبي فانك " الثالث، حيث سنأخذكم معنا هذه المرة بأنغامنا إلى الجزائر. إن أحمد مالك بمثابة إينيو موريكوني الجزائر، إذ ألف و أنتج معظم موسيقى الأفلام الجزائرية في السبعينيات. موسيقى رائعة، مفعمة بالأحاسيس و غير اعتيادية. بعد موافقة تامة من أهل الراحل، يمكنكم و أخيرا الاستماع للمرة الأولى إلى إحدى إنتاجاته، أو النقر على الرابط من أجل طلب مسبق.

I still remember the first time I heard Ahmed Malek. It was 2012. Back then I didn’t know much about Arabic music, but I was about to leave Berlin for a couple of weeks to go to Tunisia. I was working as a project manager for a music recoding session which ended up being released by Jakarta Records as the “Sawtuha” release. I knew I would have some time off during my stay and I was certain that I would dedicate some of this time to diggin. I asked some people whether they knew of any titles that I should look for. Roskow, who also ended up re-mastering this release, told me about an Algerian composer called Ahmed Malek whose music was also released in Tunisia.

Fast forward three years: Arabic records have become my number one hobby and luckily I got my hands on a copy of Ahmed Malek’s “Musique Originale De Films” album. I already knew some of the tracks but listening to the music the way it was originally released, and not as a crappy Youtube version, made me fall in love with Malek’s compositions all the more. It manages to create this very special mood: melancholic and reflective, emotional and touching, but never depressing. Even without having seen any of the pictures created for this, it immediately brings visuals to one’s imagination.

Around that time I became captivated with the idea of reissuing some of Ahmed Malek’s music. I knew some people had tried to locate his family but, but with no success. In the end it was an incredible amount of luck that made it possible for you to read these words and listen to this record. I had a DJ gig in Beirut playing old Arabic records and I mentioned my passion for Ahmed Malek’s music to a friend. She said she knew one person in Algier, and as much as it would be a shot in the dark, she could ask her if she had an idea of how to find Malek’s family. Two weeks went by before I heard back, and what I got was incredibly good news. Her Algerian friend was the neighbor of Ahmed Malek’s daughter! I’m not a spiritual person, but it felt like the universe wanted to see this release happen.

I started to speak with Henya, Ahmed Malek’s daughter and she was more then happy with our idea. She assured us that her father would have loved the plan as well. She provided us with tons of awesome material, from great photos, to unseen video footage and unreleased tracks; she also told us more about her father’s life:

Ahmed Malek was born on March, 6th 1932 at Bordj El Kiffan, Algiers. He was the oldest son of a family of 3 brothers and one sister. He went to work at a young age in factories to help his father to raise the family. His mother died when he was 12. It was then that decided he wanted to become a musician, and after graduating school he studied at the Algerian Conservatory. He gained recognition for his craft from an early stage and won several prizes and medals nationally and internationally (The "Premier grand prix des arts et des lettres de la composition" in 1972, the golden medal at the "Panafrican Festival" in 1976, and the "Prix du mérite national pour la composition musicale" in 1987). He was the conductor of the "Algerian Television Orchestra“ for many decades and represented his country at international events such as the Expo In Japan, Canada, Cuba and Spain. He passed on the 24th of July, 2008, at his home in El Mouradio, Algiers.

Ahmed Malek - Les Vacances de L'inspecteur Tahar

Check out our forthcoming Ahmed Malek reissue: 
https://habibifunkrecords.bandcamp.com/album/musique-original-de-films

We got a huge stash of unreleased Ahmed Malek master tapes and to our surprise we worked on electronic music in the late 1970s and early 1980s. It might be one of the first attempts on electronic compositions from the Arab world. 


Ahmed Malek - Arabic Proto Electronic Music #1 (Unreleased)

Pre-order: https://habibifunkrecords.bandcamp.com/album/alech-2

When we first decided to start Habibi Funk, a label dedicated to re-releasing „funky" Arabic music from the 1960s to 1980s, a band called Dalton was the first release we worked on. Dalton was a band from the Tunisian capital of Tunis and they played a unique mix of soul & funk with an Arabic DNA. We licensed the release from the band’s composer Fawzi Chekili, and when we spoke to him on the phone in preparation of the release he mentioned another band he was part of, called Carthago. Our work with Habibi Funk is like a big treasure hunt. There are too many great bands that fully vanished into obscurity and didn’t leave any traces in the digital sphere yet. We are so used to the internet providing all informations we might be looking for, but Carthago was one of those bands where the internet largely failed to provide any infos despite the fact that Carthago created some incredible music in the form of an highly infectious Tunisian take on disco music. Luckily most of the members of the 1970s musical scene of Tunis are still around to tell their story. 


Carthago was founded in the late 1970s as a fusion of Dalton and a second band called Marhaba Band. Both bands frequently played at hotels and night clubs in Tunis and Sousse. They had similar musical influences and despite the fact that they were competition for the most part, they came up with the idea to join forces for a new band. Musically Carthago kept on walking on the musical path of Dalton and Marhaba but incorporated disco music, a new style that was making its way to North Africa from Europe and North America. The band had quite some success on local radio and played a number of big shows with thousands of people showing up. The band’s concerts were a mixture of their own compositions as well as cover versions of the hits of the time from Stevie Wonder to Chicago. At the end of the 70s they went to Paris to record their only, self titled album. For our reissue we picked out two of our favorite tracks: „Hanen“ and the outstanding disco version of the Dalton track „Alech“ which has proved to work on every dance floor we played over the last two years. 


When I came to Tunis for the first time after the Dalton reissue I met Fawzi in person. He still lives in Tunis and still works as a full time musician though his focus has shifted more towards Jazz over the years. Luckily he did not only keep a spotless copy of the Carthago album but he also kept the master tape of the instrumental versions of the album which to this day were unreleased. Being able to add exclusive content to a reissue is something that is rare and we feel highly privileged to be able to do so. Futher more we are so happy that we will be able to add something new to the bands legacy not only musically but also visually: One day I realized that most of the releases from Tunisia I liked, be it from Dalton, Carthago or Marhaba Band had the same photographer credit. 


Hassen Turki started taking photos at a young age and when he was 18 he started going to the gigs of the bands of the time that were playing in the Marhaba Hotel which was managed by his father at the time. He became friends with the bands and ended up being the person to be asked when it came to shooting the photos for the covers of the records. After some research I managed to get in touch with Hassen and met him in his hometown Sousse. Luckily he kept most of the negatives of the photos he took so we’re more than happy to be able to share these unseen photos with whoever is interested. 


Our gratitude goes to all the members of Carthago, Marhaba Band and Dalton: Fawzi Chekili, Hedi Ben Ali (Dede), Ridha Kouhen, Ferid Ben Cheikh, Skander Almi, Hechmi Miliani, Mustapha Rehouma, Kamel Sellam, Claude Chiarello, Taoufik Sellam (Fouka), Sadok Gharbi, Fernando Marino (Nando), Jamel Bel Haj Khelifa and to Hassen Turki for allowing us to use his photos.

Habibi Funk 004: Carthago - Alech (Pre-order link in description)

Just 2 days ago I was sitting in a cafe during my recent trip for Lebanon and Egypt when Donald Trump announced his ban of muslim people visiting the USA marking another climax of xenophobia, anti muslim and anti Arabic narrative (الترجمة العربية أسفله).  At the same time I was in Cairo, a colorful, energetic and vital city that despite the cities and countries problems has not much in common with the stereotypical narrative of the Arabic world that is so largely told in the Western media. I’m aware that in times of these music is just a tiny piece of the puzzle to tell a different story but given that this is what I’m working with I felt it was the right time to drop another mix of music from Arabic tapes, vinyl and master tapes. Music that is very different to what a lot of people might expect. Straight up Chicago soul music with the „The Cats“, an Egyptian band covering „The Dells“, Lo-Fi electronic music from Sudan, tropical sounds from Cairo by "Al Massrieen", energetic disco from Algeria by „Zohra", another unknown banger by Morocco’s answer to James Brown „Fadoul“. Or what about some incredible AOR / yacht pop from Lebanon feat. Ziad Rahbani on keys with „Games“ and another little preview of our forthcoming „Ahmed Malek & Flako“ record among some other great music? Music that tells a different story, music to listen to when the world is going crazy and everything in between. #antitrumpmusic

قبل يومين، كنت جالسا في مقهى في القاهرة، حين أعلن دونالد ترامب منعه للمسلمين من زيارة الولايات المتحدة الأمريكية، مظهرا بذلك مظهرا آخر من العنصرية ضد المسلمين و العرب. 
في نفس ذلك الوقت، أنا كنت في القاهرة، مدينة مفعمة بالطاقة و الألوان، هذه المدينة التي رغم المشاكل التي تحيط بها، لا تشبه أي من الصور النمطية الشائعة على الإعلام الغربي.
إنني مدرك أنه خضم هكذا أجواء، الموسيقى لا تشكل سوا جزء صغير من الأحجية، و بما أنه المجال الذي اشتغل فيه، أحسست أنه الوقت المناسب لإصدار ميكس جديد من الموسيقى العربية. موسيقى مختلفة عن ما قد يتوقعه الناس. موسيقى السول مع " The cats"، فرقة موسيقية تعيد غناء أغاني "The Dells"، " لوفي" موسيقى الكترونية من السودان، انغام استوائية من القاهرة مع " AlMasrieen"، موسيقى ديسكو جزائرية مع "Zohra"، و أغنية مجهولة لصاحبها، جايمس براون المغرب فضول.
هناك أيضا موسيقى رائعة من فرقة لبنانية اسمها "Games" عزف فيها زياد الرحباني على البيانو.
 نبذة عن إصدارنا القادم و هو تسجيل " Ahmed Malek & Flako" مرفوق بموسيقى أخرى، موسيقى تستحق الاستماع إليها في الظروف التي يمر منها العالم في هذه الفترة

instagram.com/habibifunk
facebook.com/habibifunk

"Habibi Funk 007 Mix" (More 1970s & 1980s sounds from the Arabic world #AntiTrumpMusic)

pre-order: https://habibifunkrecords.bandcamp.com/album/habibi-funk-007-modern-music

Al Massrieen was one of the first bands I learned about once I discovered the tape format. They were really popular in Egypt in the 1970s and the more of their music I found on either tapes or Arabic pirate mp3 sites, the more I was becoming a fan. Only very few bands from the region can match the band’s versatility as well as their strive for innovation. Hany Shenoda is the man behind the Al Massrieen band. He is a reknown figure of the Egyptian music scene and has worked with everyone from Abdel Halim Hafez to Mohamed Mounir. Al Massrieen was his attempt to introduce his ideas of modernizing Egyptian music, heavily encouraged by Naguib Mahfouz (Egypt's only winner of the Nobel Price for literature) after discussing his ideas with him.

Al Massrieen - Sah (pre-order now)

pre-order: https://habibifunkrecords.bandcamp.com/album/habibi-funk-006-modern-music

Al Massrieen was one of the first bands I learned about once I discovered the tape format. They were really popular in Egypt in the 1970s and the more of their music I found on either tapes or Arabic pirate mp3 sites, the more I was becoming a fan. Only very few bands from the region can match the band’s versatility as well as their strive for innovation. Hany Shenoda is the man behind the Al Massrieen band. He is a reknown figure of the Egyptian music scene and has worked with everyone from Abdel Halim Hafez to Mohamed Mounir. Al Massrieen was his attempt to introduce his ideas of modernizing Egyptian music, heavily encouraged by Naguib Mahfouz (Egypt's only winner of the Nobel Price for literature) after discussing his ideas with him.

Al Massrieen - Men Awel Deqiqa (pre-order now!)

Al Massrieen - Ebda' Men Gedid (pre-order now!)

Usually our focus with Habibi Funk (الترجمة العربية أسفله) is not music from the 1990s and we tend to focus on more obscure releases (not always though, e.g. Al Massrieen or Ahmed Malek are well known in their countries of origin). Cheb Hasni is an exeption to this. The music is very 1990s and he is to this day a major star, his not very active and most likely not official FB page has more then three-million likes. I know very few artists that did so many songs that I deeply love. Keep in mind Hasni was incredibly productive. In his short live he recorded around 100 albums so there is a plethora of songs to choose from and my passion goes especially towards the ones he did in the years before he got murdered. It’s rai, but it’s the type of rai sentimental that also fused the production astethic of early hip hop and house to a very unique fusion. His lyrics were often fairly explizit dealing with everything from love, sex, alcohol, divorce, a mix that made him a prime aim for the non progressive forces in Algerian society of the time.

Today marks the 23rd anniversary of his assassination by Islamists who had threatened to kill him throughout the most time of his career.  Especially since Cheb Hasni was murdered for what he stood for as a musician we feel it’s even more important to keep his legacy alive and spread his name, even amongst those who might not know him outside of the Arab world so it felt right to dedicate Habibi Funk Mix #8“ solely to him. The selection is a very personal one and might not reflect what were his most popular ones but it’s the songs I love the most...

نادرا ما نكرس اطلاقات حبيبي فنك لموسيقي التسعينات أوأغاني لمطربين تمتعوا بشهرة واسعة (باستثناء المصريين وأحمد مالك الذين يعتبروا مشهورين في بلادهم).  ولكن استثنائيا نقوم باهداء ميكس حبيبي فنك الثامن للشاب حسني برغم انه من اشهر مطربين التسعينات وتدل صفحته الرئيسية علي فيسبوك - التي يتابعها أكثر من ٣ مليون فرد - علي هذه النجومية العالمية.
 في حياته القصيرة سجل حسني كم هائل من الأغاني - فقد أطلق حوالي ١٠٠ ألبوم في حياته - 
وأفضلهم لي هم الأغاني التي انتجها قبل اغتياله بفترة قصيرة.   
تصنف أغانيه كراي ولكنه راي مميز لأنه يمزج ما بين الهيب هوب القديم وموسيقي الهاوس. 
وتناولت أغانيه مواضيع مثل الحب والجنس والخمرة والطلاق بصراحة وبدون حجب أو غموض مما جعله مستهدف رئيسي عند الطيارات الغير تقدمية في الجزائر وقتها. 

بمناسبة الذكري ال٢٣ لاغتياله من قبل الاسلاميين (الذين كانوا يهددونه بالقتل طوال فترة مهنته)
قررنا اهداء هذا الميكس للشاب حسني وحده. فاننا نري أن لا بد من تخليد ذكرته ونشر اسمه حتي خارج الوطن العربي خاصة لأنه قتل بسبب هذه الأغاني وبسبب دفاعه عن آرائه من خلال موسيقته.
هذه المختارات من الأغاني شخصية جدا وليست بالضرورة أشهر أغاني له ولكنها أغانيه المفضلة لدي.

Cover by Simone Cihlar

Habibi Funk Selection

"Habibi Funk 008 Mix" JUST CHEB HASNI (Late 1980s / Early 1990s Algerian Tapes)#hasniday

pre-order: https://habibifunkrecords.bandcamp.com/album/habibi-funk-007-an-eclectic-selection-of-music-from-the-arab-world

"The first time I talked to Mohamed, he told me about how he left his hometown in Algeria to go to France. Shortly after he started telling me about how he met a zouk band in Paris that pushed him to open up to a different culture and mix different styles of music. Mohamed Malek was born near Oran in Algeria but left in his twenties. For Mo- hamed the huge dynamism and multiculturalism around the Parisian cultural scene did certainly play a major role in his own perception of music and expanded his influences. Since he started creating his own music, Mohamed knew that he wanted to break boundaries in order to freely express himself. He wrote and recorded many tracks among which some were shown to the world and others were kept secret. He also performed in Paris for many years, in bars or in public spaces even though music wasn’t his main source of income.
Hearing all those stories made me realize something about his art. In fact Mohamed‘s music is like a crossroad between the gloom of a sad ending and the sparkle of a new beginning‚ „Rouhi Ya Hafida“ is a song about the loss of love but the mingle between the disco beat and the Arab lyrics manage to take the song to a very powerful level. Most of Mohamed‘s work, including „Rouhi Ya Hafida“ is highly poetic. He also recorded many other songs in different styles going from acoustic to zouk or mysterious Arab experimental electronic styles in both French and Arabic. Mohamed never told us about those pieces but Jannis did find some very special tapes between the ones he keeps in his tiny but well-stocked music room. A space where he hides all of his work and for sure some of his dearest memories. Today despite his age Mohamed‘s hunger for music still pushes him to play and write songs. We are also working on releasing the afore-mentioned electronic tapes from Mallek Mohamed in the near future."
written by KhedijaDhaoui

IG: habibibfunk
FB: facebook.com/habibifunk

Pre Order

Mallek Mohamed - Rouhi Ya Hafida (Habibi Funk: An ecclectic selection of music from the Arab world)

Pre Order: https://habibifunkrecords.bandcamp.com/album/habibi-funk-007-an-eclectic-selection-of-music-from-the-arab-world

"About a year ago we started talking to Sharhabeel, one of our favorite Sudanese musicians, with the help of his son and our colleague in Khartoum, Larissa, about re-releasing some of his old music. I had never been to Sudan before and despite some great help in making the release happen we figured it would be a good idea to actually visit Sudan and finalize the release with Sharhabeel. In preparation of the trip I started to dig deeper into Sudanese music trying to identify artists and sounds to dive into. On Youtube I found a musical blog dedicated to Sudanese jazz bands run by Amin Rabih (who is a music researcher, currently writing a book on the history of jazz music in Sudan) and Yassir Awad. The Sudanese interpretation of jazz is fairly different to the Western but it opened up a new world for me of around a dozen bands and singers that I wanted to learn more about. Luckily Yassir, a Sudanese IT expert living in Khartoum, was more than happy to help me prepare my trip and learn about the musical scene of the nation’s capital in the 1970s. Kamal Keila was a name that came up here and there, coined the James Brown or Fela Kuti of Sudan. When I asked Yassir about him he said that he has extended family ties with him and that he could set up a meeting. We spent an afternoon in Kamal’s living room somewhere in the dusty outskirts of Khartoum. In our conversation it turned out that even though his career started in the 1960s, he had never released a record on vinyl and that (apart from one album which still remains to be found, he can’t remember about a cassette tape release either). He did however record sessions for Sudanese radio.
In Sudan the radio stations were not allowed to play the recordings produced by music labels on air, therefore they had their own studios and invited musicians to record music for their program. In most cases the musicians would not receive a copy of the recordings out of fear that they would release the music themselves. But luckily Kamal Keila had gotten his hands on two sessions and had kept those two studio reels all these years. Both ta- pes were in the most horrible condition with mold everywhere and obvious signs that they had gotten very wet at some point. But to our surprise they played very well. Each included five tracks. One with English lyrics and another with Arabic ones. Musically you can hear the influence of neighboring Ethiopia much more than on other Sudanese recordings of the time, as well as references to Fela and American funk and soul. His lyrics, at least when he sings in English, which indicates more freedom from censorship, are very political. A brave statement in the constitutional climate of Sudan of the last decades, preaching for the unity of Sudan and peace between Muslims and Christians. Be on the look out for the full Kamal Keila album later this year, from whom we also licenses the music from."
written by Jannis Stuertz

IG: habibibfunk
FB: facebook.com/habibifunk

Kamal Keila - Al Asafir (Habibi Funk: An ecclectic selection of music from the Arab world)

pre-order: https://habibifunkrecords.bandcamp.com/album/habibi-funk-007-an-eclectic-selection-of-music-from-the-arab-world

"Without Fadoul we would have never started Habibi Funk. I vividly remember  nding a copy of his now classic James Brown cover „Sid Redad“ in a dusty old shop, run by a man who once owned a record distribution and label called Mekauiphone in Casablanca. It took us around six trips to Morocco over the course of more than a year to  nd his family as Fadoul himself unfortunately died in the early 1990s. Over the course of time, we kept on  nding new records by him that were unknown to us (and recently also two studio tapes from two sessions at Boussiphone studios full of alternate takes and demo versions) and they all added to the picture of a wild heart, full of energy, creativity, yet no stranger to the inner demons a lot of artists struggle with. Fadoul was more than just a singer. He spent some time in Paris playing theatre, he painted, he worked as a circus clown for four years in the Netherlands, he recorded and also composed a single for a famous orange juice brand from Morocco.
His lyrics dealing with topics such as drugs and depression but also having good times paired with a musical backdrop that is always funky yet dirty and played with a real punk attitude. “Bsslama Hbibti is taken of a hardly known 7“ he recorded for Atlassiphone and picks up where the recording on Fadoul’s album on Habibi Funk left off. A raw sound aesthetic, an energetic performance, a mighty voice and a very lively atmosphere that was pre- served in the recordings. So far only the copy used for this release has surfaced. We have also started to work on a second album exclusively dedicated to Fadoul with a partial focus on his 1980s output consisting of his very unique takes on hiphop and reggae. This song, just like the “Al Man Saib” album, was licensed from Fadoul’s family."

order

Fadoul - Bsslama Habiti (Habibi Funk: An ecclectic selection of music from the Arab world)

I realized last weekend that I had not done a mix since early 2017 and it was about time to bring the series back. So here is Habibi Funk Mix 008 with a selection of vinyl and tapes which were originally released in the 1970s, 1980s, and even as late as late 1990s. We got a couple of previews for material we have licensed and that will drop in the future from artists such as the Golden Hands, Attarazat Addahabia, The Scorpions and Majid Soula. Apart from the that I’m super happy to have Libya covered with 3 tracks, a country about whose musical heritage I didn’t know much outside Ahmed Fakroun obviously. From the obscure to the more known....
Thanks to Mehdi for the Golden Hands recording.
Photo by Robert Winter
soundcloud.com/habibifunk // 
facebook.com/habibifunk //
IG: habibifunk

"Habibi Funk 008 Mix" (70s, 80s & 90s vinyl and tapes from the Arab world)

Habibi Funk is back with another album from Casablanca. Completely unreleased album which was recorded in Morocco in 1973 by three generation family band. A unique blend of Gnawa, Funk and Rock. Traditional Moroccan music meets electronic guitars and dense layers of percussion by a band that used to run in the same circles as Fadoul (And actually wrote one of his songs).

Pre-Order

Attarazat Addahabia & Faradjallah - Al Hadaoui الهداوي (Habibi Funk 011)

Issam Hajali might be most known for being the singer and main composer of the Lebanese band Ferkat Al Ard. While they recorded 3 albums only their classic „Oghneya“ release saw a vinyl release and is probably the most in demand record in the Lebanese record collector scene (A copy changed hands in Beirut this year for 5000$). Before the band came together Issam recorded a debut album under his own name called "Mouasalat Ila Jacad El Ard" in 1977 in exile in Paris. It was originally released in a run of less than 100 copies.

Habibi Funk 010: Issam Hajali - Ada (Lebanon, 1976)

Issam Hajali - Ana Damir El Motakallim

Rogér Fakhr - Fine Anyway (Lebanon, Habibi Funk 016)

Rogér Fakhr - Had To Come Back Wet (Lebanon, Habibi Funk 016)

label, dj and platform for a wide range of underappreciated music from north africa and west asia

habibi funk - حبيبي فنك

Pinned to spotlight

Popular tracks