We all get stuck talking about how we listen to a lot of Arabic contemporary music, but have little to show for it. So here's a playable cheat sheet: a co-curated year-end compilation playlist curated by Mada music contributors Rami Abadir, Kinda Hassan, and Maha ElNabawi. The playlist will carry you through music from the MENA region, across genres like neo-folk, rap, electronica, noise, and alt-rock mostly from 2015.

#MadaMixTape Co-curated Best of 2015

Some time ago I worked for a Berlin based NGO called MICT while running Jakarta Records. During this time I helped organize a recording session in Tunisia with 9 female singers and musicians from Tunisia, Libya & Egypt together with Oddisee and Olof Dreijer of The Knife. "Nouh Al Hamam" by egyptian singer Maryam Saleh is the first leak of the project. You can pre-order the vinyl here. Below you can find the infos for this project....

http://jakartarecords-label.bandcamp.com/album/sawtuha

A little less then three years ago the political situation in many countries of the Arab world changed dramatically. Uprisings started in rural areas of Tunisia and from there spread to various countries in the region. Millions gathered in the streets united by their demand for more democracy, rights and participation in the political process. In most cases the reaction of the governing dictators were relentless and severe towards every form of protests. Violence in the streets of Cairo, Tunis and Bengasi escalated and resulted in the overthrow of the governments in Tunisia, Egypt and Lybia.
A year later a group of female singers and musicians from Tunisia (Nawel Ben Kraiem, Badiaa Bouhrizi, Medusa, Houwaida), Libya (Nada) and Egypt (Donia Massoud, Maryam Saleh, Youssra El Hawary) met in Mohsen Matri Studio in Tunis to sing- against corruption, despotism, patronization and narrow-mindedness. The song with Syrian artist Rasha Rizk was recorded some months later in her political asylum in Cairo. Sudanese/American producer Oddisee and Olof Dreijer of the Swedish pop duo The Knife joined the session, participating in the creation of the musical backdrop as well as the often multi-instrumentalist female singers. For the vinyl edition producers such as Brenk, Blackjoy and Blundetto contributed remix versions of the project.

At the time and still today especially musicians and especially women were and are trapped in a spiral of repression, discrimination and violence. "Sawtuha" (Arabic for "her voice"), the album that is the product of the 2-week session, is a vital encouraging testament of rebellion against the repression of democratic rights, gender inequality, and lack of inclusion. The music is an organic mixture of traditional Arabic music, regional influences and various forms of contemporary Western musical genres. A mixture that may sound contradicting at first but makes total sense once you listen to the music.

The studio session was organized by the Berlin based NGO MICT (Media In Cooperation And Transition) and was funded by the German Federal Foreign Office.

www.facebook.com/MaryamSaleh.Official
www.jakartarecords.de
www.mict-international.org

Maryam Saleh - Nouh Al Hamam (Produced by Oddisee)

Taken from the album "Silt" - released 3/11/14 on Wonderwheel Recordings.

Pre-Order the album on Digi + LP, CD, Cassette (and get free, immediate download of 2 songs from the album and 3 remixes) at: http://wonderwheelrecordings.bandcamp.com/album/silt


Soukura EP

Soukura (It's Late)

Pre-Order Album

Alsarah & The Nubatones - Soukura (It's Late)

Badiaa Bouhrizi — Mana'a

From the album Aynama-Rtama out now on CD, LP (black and ltd. edition red 12" vinyl) and Download. 

iTunes: http://smarturl.it/NAWA003IT 
Bandcamp: http://smarturl.it/NAWA003BC
Spotify: http://smarturl.it/NAWA003Spotify
Indiepush: http://smarturl.it/NAWA003IP
Amazon.com: http://smarturl.it/NAWA003AZ
Bleep: http://smarturl.it/NAWA003Bleep
Norman Records: http://smarturl.it/NAWA003NormanRecords

خُيولي 
أخَفُّ مِنَ الرِّيحِ 

سَنابِكُها تَقدَحُ الشَّراراتِ 
إذْ نَدْخُلُ المُدُنَ 

الحَرْبُ تَسْتَلقي 
كالعَروسِ بِإنتِظاري 

والحَتْفُ يَتَكلَّمُ بِاسمي 
فأنا هولاكو: 

سَيْفٌ في غِمدهِ لا يَسْتَريحُ 

ظِلّهُ أَينَما ارْتَمى 
يَستَنسِلُ غَيْمَةً مِنَ العُقبانِ الجائِعَة 
تطفو فوق البيوت 

حيثُ يَراني 
اللاجئونَ في 
كَوابيسِهِم بَينَ الخَرائِبِ 

- شعر لسركون بولص (١٩٤٤-٢٠٠٧). الترجمة الانجليزية لناريمان يوسف 

-------------------- 

My stallions 
are lighter than the wind. 

The fire of their hooves 
singes the earth 
as we enter the cities. 

War reclines, 
a submissive bride at my call, 
and Death speaks in my name, 
for I am Hulagu: 

a sword untiring, 
its shadow, wherever it falls, 
begets a cloud of hungry vultures 
that circle the houses 
where refugees 
see me in their nightmares 
among the ruins. 

- Poem by Sargon Boulus (1944-2007). English translation by Nariman Youssef.

----------------------------------------
Alif is Tamer Abu Ghazaleh (Vocals, Buzuq), Khyam Allami (Oud), Maurice Louca (Keys, Electronics), Bashar Farran (Bass Guitar), Khaled Yassine (Drums, Percussion).

Composed, Arranged, Performed and Produced by Alif

Recorded and edited by Khyam Allami at Tunefork Studios, Beirut, Lebanon, 19-22 Dec 2013 and in Cairo, Egypt May 2014, unless otherwise noted.

Drums recorded by Radwan Ghazi Moumneh and engineered by Fadi Tabbal at Boustros Palace, Beirut, Lebanon, 16-18 Dec 2013.

Bass recorded by Radwan Ghazi Moumneh at Tunefork Studios, Beirut, Lebanon, 18 Dec 2014.

Mixed by Alistair Chant at Toybox Studios, Bristol, UK

Mastered by John Dent at Loud Mastering, Taunton, UK

(c) & (p) 2015 Alif under exclusive license to Nawa Recordings. 

----------------------------------------

http://www.nawarecordings.com 
http://twitter.com/nawarecordings 
http://facebook.com/nawarecordings

http://www.alif.xyz
http://twitter.com/alif_music
http://facebook.com/alifmusic1

Get it on iTunes

Alif - Holako (Hulagu) الألف - هولاكو

Mazen Kerbaj: trumpet
Umut Çağlar: flutes,percussion
Sam Shalabi: oud
Maurice Louca: organ
Özün Usta: double-bass
Sharif Sehnaoui: drums
Recorded and mixed by Fadi Tabbal at Tunefork Studios - Beirut - Feb 2014

Karkhana

Lyrics and Music by Haya Zaatry 

Lyrics:
كلمات : 
بعيد، مهما تكون قريب
بعيد، مهما تكون قريب
بعيد، مهما تكون قريب
بعيد، مهما تكون قريب
نفس البحر والشط
نفس الهوا والريح
مش نفس القفص بالضبط
نفس الطير الجريح
حدود ووعود
والامل موجود
بس بعيد
بعيد، حكي مش اكيد
بعيد، حكي مش اكيد
راح أشوفك شي يوم
وراح تحبني من جديد
راح تقدر تيجي لهون
ونمشي ايد بايد
حدود ووعود
والامل موجود
بس بعيد
راح أشوفك شي يوم
وراح تحبني من جديد
راح تقدر تيجي لهون
ونمشي ايد بايد
حدود ووعود
والامل موجود
بس بعيد

Translation:
So far no matter how close
So far no matter how close
The same sea and shore
The same air and wind
Not exactly the same cage
But the same wounded bird

Borders and promises,
And the hope is near
Yet far away

I repeat, words that aren’t certain
I repeat, words that aren’t certain:
I will see you one day 
You will fall in love with me again
You will be able to come here
And we’ll walk hand in hand

Borders and promises,
And the hope is near
Yet far away

© 2015 HAYA ZAATRY ALL RIGHTS RESERVED

Borders & promises حدود ووعود

Linamdi / Wasl / Kamilya Jubran, Sarah Murcia, Werner Hasler

It's Not Much

Recorded Live at Montreal Club, Alexandria, March 28, 2015
Recorded by Michael Fawzy
Sound provided by Rock Sound

Photo by Abanoub Nabil

Thanks: Alfi Hayati, Sherif Moheb, Sameh Nabil

Object Obscure are:
Samir Nabil on Guitar
Ragy Adel on Drums

https://www.facebook.com/Object.Obscure
https://soundcloud.com/object-obscure

Object Obscure - Sirocco (live @ Montreal Club)

New album out: Lucciole, available here on a "pay what you want basis": http://piearesquared.bandcamp.com

My second full length, "Lucciole", is the outcome of my "74 in 74" project (the link is in the header), where I covered all 74 strategies in Dennis DeSantis' "Making Music". It is also the culmination of everything that makes Pie Are Squared what at is. 

Elements of every single EP or LP that I've released thus far can be heard on this along with new facets of my music that hadn't been touched upon before. It's equal parts glitch, ambient, noise, drone and rock and yet is probably my most accessible album to date. 


Yr Misery, Babylon (You Babble On & On) •NEW ALBUM OUT•

A cover song of  أرجوك اوعى تغير- لطيفة

Recorded and produced by Zaed Naes
Vocals by Maii Waleed
Mixing by Arabs with synthesizers 
Mastering by Moustache Mastering
Artwork by Basel Naouri

Join our Facebook page: https://www.facebook.com/ZaedNaes


7awalaya Kteer (Ft. Maii Waleed)

B1 + B2

خير الشغب . ناصردين الطفّار و السيّدر درويش
إنتاج : Hello Psychaleppo
تسجيل  الرّاس - 2015
Artwork :Hello Psychaleppo

كلمات "خير الشغب" :

لا تنوشل أو تفتكر خبرية موت الملك كذب
مشّي الزجل لنحتفل نترقوَص عنشيد الحزب
بكي من فرح، كلبك سرح، نام بفلا مات الذئب
صار فيك تقول مات أخي، الناضل عالدرب و ما ضلّ
فيك تبادر تنتخي، الضالل للأبد ما ضلّ
فيك تلبّق ألوانك صار فيك تفرجينا سنانك
فيك تقول أني إلى أني معي أني مني فدا صرماية حدا
بطّلت الكلمة تربطا، فيك الجزمة ترفضا
فيك تقول أني مع أني ضدّ و يلعن كلّ شي و كل حدا
ناطر هالتراك من سنين، دروبش و ناصر دين، عموسيقى مريضة نزفّ الخبر لحلب و حمص و العين

ثورة على النفس
بس الذليل إذا أكل الشمس بيضلّ تايه
حيّ على الشعب
حيّ على خير الشغب
بآية عالغضب
الحق شرق على شعر البلد اللي فرد
على صرخة ما في للأبد
حيّ على النّاس
مدد
ثورة على النفس
بس الذليل إذا أكل الشمس بيضلّ تايه
حيّ على الشعب
حيّ على خير الشغب
بآية عالغضب
الحق شرق على شعر البلد اللي فرد
على صرخة ما في للأبد
حيّ على النّاس
مدد مدد مدد مدد.

خير الشغب - بو ناصر الطفّار و الدرويش Prod. Hello Psychaleppo

Rishi

01 Khally Balak Hatmoot

Mash & Munma - Les fleurs du mal

DOWNLOAD!

Mirak

Discrete

Orpheum

نحن موقع مصري يسعى لإنتاج محتوى صحفي خلّاق وشجاع وجذاب.
لدينا أيضًا شغف للموسيقى من المنطقة العربية والعالم.
https://sptfy.com/9h0H :للمزيد من الموسيقى  

Mada Masr strives to champion a practice of independent, professional, intelligent, profound and engaging journalism.
We also have a fondness for music from the Arab region and the world.

for more music: https://sptfy.com/9h0H