Ahmed Malek - Autopsie d'un complot

Elias Rahbani - Dance Of Maria

Habibi Funk is proud to share 1st foray into contemporary works w/ heady dose of danceable grooves courtesy of Beirut’s multi-instrumental producer Charif Megarbane, aka Cosmic Analog Ensemble. 

https://charif.lnk.to/HabibiEP

“Tayyara Warak” is his 1st EP in his own name, capturing various influences even in the same track. Focus track Tayyara Warak evokes Beirut chaos, taxi rides through the city w/ soft, nostalgic melody paired w/ fuzzed-out rhythm sections and bouncing drums. Keep your ears out for more Charif in the new year.

Charif Megarbane - Tayyara Warak

Habibi Funk  حبيبي فنك  Douaa – Haditouni

Mulatu Astatke :: Tezeta (Nostalgia)

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/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)

Mon Amour - De.Ville

I heard about Seif Abu Bakr and The Scorpions for the first time maybe 3-4 years ago. Their album “Jazz, Jazz Jazz” ended up on my radar because of an eBay auction; it might have been the first auction for this particular album on the platform. While the bids kept on rising daily up to a staggering 1000$, if I recall correctly, I was intrigued about the snippet preview bits of the music on this album as well as by the impressive artwork. This album happens to be my first conscious connection with Sudanese music. Habibi Funk must have already existed for a year or so but I had not yet come across any recording from Sudan that I felt fitting in the context we set for our self. I remember I did some quick research in the aftermath of the auction (which I obviously did not win) to gather some information about the band but apart from some vague bits and pieces I could not find anything. In most encyclopedic overviews of the Sudanese music scene of the 1970s the band appeared as a mere footnote. How come? I really do not know. To me the music is a unique combination of incredible horn arrangements powerfully performed, a vigorous drummer contributing a funky backbone and Seif's uniting those elements. The results range from instrumental tracks awaking memories of 1970s crime thriller soundtracks to more Sudanese-rooted tracks, a lot of them modernized versions of traditional tribal rhythms and even an excursion into Soukouss. While all of our reissues so far have been compilations in the sense that we put together our favorite selection of tracks by one artist, this album will be our first 1:1 re-release, simply because the quality of the albums does not fall off on a single track. With its eclectic influences it birthed a one-of-a-kind new mixture and serves as a blueprint for what we are looking for when we release music on Habibi Funk.

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Saif Abu Bakr & The Scorpions - Nile Waves

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).

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

Ahmed Malek Maya

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

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

habibi funk - حبيبي فنك