Spotify Playlist of various songs from the trip

Habibi Funk - An Eclectic Selection of Music from the Arab World

Habibi Funk Records Bandcamp: habibifunkrecords.bandcamp.com

A family member of mine recently went to Jordan and had come back with a lot of new music. Among the mix, a few pieces piqued my interest that diverged far away from my notions, and many of our own notions as Westerners, of what Arab music truly was, and could’ve been.

He had brought a collection of music, from modern hymns to an Arab take on reggae (track 1) to Yemeni dream pop. What I was especially interested in was a number of reissues of old Arab rock and funk he had brought back that were distributed by the label Habibi Funk, especially a compilation reissue that was the 7th release by the label (linked above). In the collection were songs that you could never imagine existing in the religious and zealous Arab World that so many Americans think has existed since time untold.

Punk songs that seemed to channel the mannerisms of Jimi Hendrix (track 2) mixed themselves in with the rock and roll chants of Elvis and (track 3) and the dreamy desert ballads of Steely Dan (track 4.) What amazed me was how the Western spins in the music never muddied the true Arab-ness of what I was hearing. Melodies (track 5), inflections, and lyrics that have become to be known as distinctly Arab still filled the songs. Lines about dowries and camels , and crackly women harmonizing to Für Elise like a Bollywood movie created a mix that felt truly unique.

I did some digging and looked into the label Habibi Funk. Started by a German based in Berlin, Habibi Funk aimed to reissue and rerelease lost vinyls of funk, rock, and dance records across the Arab world, from Morocco across to Iran and from Turkey down to Sudan. Much of what they reissue was found physically by the founder digging through crates all across the Arab World, and ranges in release from the 1950’s to the 1980’s, when authoritarian and religious fervor spread through the region, largely putting an end to this cultural revolution. Alongside this, the founder issued new music from various artists like the first song posted it. I’ve found that they center a lot more on

The experience of discovering a whole world of music that perfectly aligned with my interests reinvigorated my love for music and my love to share music with others. It taught me that things we take at face value will never just be such, and it gave me an opportunity to expand borders and see new spaces.

Next week I’ll be talking about Sofrito, a label that discovers, reissues, and mixes lost disco, cumbia, calypso and funk from Subsaharran Africa and South America made in the 1950’s-1980’s

pls read

habibi ya nour el ain

i like that bollywood s***

ill listen to this later

lolz

Classic

bump

apparently the middle east got a booming rock scene rn

Funk and reggae are actually mad popular in North Africa surprisingly

in! mashallah!

Yeah in the more secular countries like Tunisia, Jordan, Lebanon, etc. there’s a ton of new underground scenes that really bring back the 90’s in their sound

lots of grunge and alt rock

Bollywood? D’fuck b**** 😂

this is my favorite song

Got dat in my samples playlist

@FIFTY950 this is the work that samples fur Elise

very bollywood with the women’s’ melodies

I can see dat, my fault. Thought he meant arabic music is bollywood lul

Oh damn I was under the same impression as well

@sbtrkshS my apologies

Reggae track slaps no cap, thanks for linking this

also my fav, big fan!

Habibi Funk greatly underrated sadly! Thank you for the thread <3

in

Yo this s*** fye arabic dancehall. Dis mindblowin

thanks a lot for this post man, i really gotta check some of this out

middle eastern music has been a blind spot for me, closest ive got is turkish rock but i assume the arab stuff is pretty different

This s***s a Libyan classic I can't believe this is on KTT