Getatchew mekurya ethiopiques vol14  getachew mekurya - negus of ethiopian sax yegenet muziqa

Out NOW on LP, Digital, CD and Tape! Purchase from our Bandcamp http://wonderwheelrecordings.bandcamp.com/album/silt

Wonderwheel Recordings is proud to present the debut album, Silt, from Sudanese singer Alsarah and her band the Nubatones. Called “The New Star Of Nubian Pop” by The Guardian, the album was produced solely by Alsarah who describes the sound of Silt as “East African Retro Pop” - it’s music that harkens back to the hazy sounds of 1960s and 70s Nubian music with it’s Eastern instrumentation, soaring vocal melodies, and pentatonic arrangements. 

The album has it’s musical roots in the Nubian “Songs of Return” that began to spring up after mass displacement and resettlement of hundreds of thousands in a region of lower Nubia that went under water after Egypt built Aswan High Dam to control the flooding of the Nile in 1970. The focus of these songs, both thematically and lyrically is about a return to home and the beauty of home and embodies a certain kind of saudade – a nostalgic longing for a place that no longer exists. The album encompasses Alsarah and her band’s musical curiosities in the concept of migration and Silt is their take on this mixed with the musical fusion happening in 1970s Khartoum, along with Arabic and North African influences appearing in the mix. 

Alsarah, is a Sudanese born singer, songwriter and ethnomusicologist. Born in the capital city of Khartoum, where she spent the first 8 years of her life, she relocated to Taez, Yemen with her family to escape the ever stifling regime in her native country. She abruptly moved to the US in 1994, when a brief civil war broke out in Yemen. Now residing in Brooklyn, NY, she is a self-proclaimed practitioner of East-African retro-pop. Working on various projects, she most recently has been working with The Nile Project and was featured on their debut release, Aswan (named 1 of the Top 5 “Must Hear” international albums by NPR). She has also collaborated with French producer Débruit on the album Aljwal, released this past November via Soundway Records UK. 

The Nubatones started out as dinner conversation between Alsarah and percussionist Rami El Aasser in his living room, digging thru archives of old music from North Africa, and reading about migration patterns in modern day Nubia, Soon the conversation opened into a musical one and spread to include master Oud player and Luthier Haig Manoukian and bass player Mawuena Kodjovi. With a collective love for pentatonic music and a common understanding of what it means to be an immigrant, the group went on to perform both nationally and internationally at prestigious venues such as The Kennedy Center, The Apollo Music Cafe, Celebrate Brooklyn at Prospect Park, The World Music festival in Chicago, and the Festival du Mond Arab in Montreal just to name a few. 



Silt

Wad Alnuba ft. Sounds of Taraab

Alemayehu Eshete Honey Baby

Bsslama Hbibti / Argos Farfish

Argos Farfish

Kulun mankwalesh   Mahmoud Ahmed   Various Artists   Ethiopiques Vol. 3   The Golden Years Of Modern Ethiopian Music 1969   1975-1.mp3

Getatchew Mekurya - Ambassel

Grabado en vivo en La Rambla
Córdoba - Argentina

Yekatit (Mulatu Astatke)

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

Pre Order

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

This Rough Guide bursts at the seams with everything from golden age Ethio-jazz to contemporary dub fusion. Classic tunes from Mahmoud Ahmed and Alemayehu Eshete appear alongside Krar Collective, Dub Colossus and more.

Mahmoud Ahmed - Ohoho Gedama (taken from The Rough Guide To Ethiopia)

After a journey through the cosmic desert, aJan is finally ready to release their mixtape "Opposite Side" to the world. Focused on their mission to rebrand the notoriously over generalized term "world music", aJan has been working relentlessly in the past year to collaborate with leading artist and labels to form this exceptional mixtape, synthesizing their rich musical heritage with accessible and modern music production. In addition to their original material, you can find UK's based rapper Afrikan Boy’s story about his DNA test in “Ancestry”, as well as remix versions of “Mabruk” and “Sukkar, Sukkar, Sukkar” by the late Ali Hassan Kuban, the Godfather of Nubian Funk.

Ali Hassan Kuban - Sukkar, Sukkar, Sukkar (aJan Remix)

Habibi Funk's 13th release by Sharhabil Ahmed, the actual King of Sudanese Jazz (he actually won that title in a competition in the early 1970s). Sonically it sounds very different from what Jazz is understood to sound like outside of Sudan. It's an incredible unique mix of rock&roll, funk, surf, traditional sudanese music and influences from Congolese sounds.

The King of Sudanese Jazz

Sharhabil Ahmed - Zulum Aldunya (Habibi Funk 013)

Formed in Berlin, 2017, aJan is a brand new musical experience that creates a unique combination of desert groove sounds with a rave-like atmosphere on stage. With infectious African and Middle Eastern grooves, blended with driving rock guitar and the Berlin electronic influence, aJan delivers immensely uplifting live performances. aJan is a band composed of musicians with musical backgrounds ranging from Nigeria, Middle East to the UK and Germany. Brought together by a love of music and the shared desire to create a live experience that is so irresistible and accessible that you can't help but dance your troubles away. aJan aims to bring people together from all walks of life, tap into something inside all of us and share in a special moment which will live long in memory.