Our favorite reissue label, Wewantsounds, offers yet another gem to one of the coolest catalogs around. This album comes from Egyptian diva Nagat, and it’s an example of a type of disco homegrown in Egypt – Disco Arabesquo – which combines the erstwhile dancing style of the 1970s with Arabic Continue Reading
Egypt
Abdel Halim Hafez – Mawood
Though it is always with great sadness that modern record labels who release spectacular vinyl editions don’t offer such releases on digital formats for sale, it’s a forgivable sin, as our dear friends at WeWantSounds continue to impress with their choices of artists they so lovingly reissue. Abdel Halim Hafez Continue Reading
Maha – Orkos
The legendary Habibi Funk will be releasing another scorching release on October 10, 2022. The release will feature a singer called Maha, who hails from Egypt and who worked with Salah Ragab’s Cairo Jazz Band as their main vocalist. There is an amazing backstory you can find on the release’s Continue Reading
Abadir – Mutate
SVBKVLT is a label based in Shanghai, China who have an international outlook. A perfect example is this band, the Egyptian artist Abadir, who works in the field of experimental electronic music and glitch.
Various Artists – Sharayet El Disco – Egyptian Disco & Boogie Cassette Tracks 1982-1992 – LP with 2p col Insert (Black Vinyl)
Though I don’t think this banger will be available as a digital download (my friends at Wewantsounds will be happy to clarify this), Sharayet El Disco is going to be an indispensable part of your world disco collection! From the label’s Bandcamp site: “Wewantsounds is delighted to release ‘Sharayet el Continue Reading
Msylma & Ismael – The Tenets of Forgetting (مذاهب النسيان)
Saudi singer Msylma & Egypt’s Ismael are two musicians who come from the rich Middle Eastern electronic music scene. Msylma’s rich, mournful and introspective voice gives depth and emotion to the electro music produced underneath. I have to admit, though this isn’t the kind of music I normally listen to, it’s Continue Reading
Adjin Asllan, Tarik Bulut, The Garabed Brothers, et al. – In An Egyptian Garden
From the legendary Canary Records Bandcamp site: From the 1910s through the 1950s, immigrants released 78rpm discs marketed to their own language / ethnic groups, and that practice survived for a century well into the era of the 33rpm, 45rpm, cassette, and CD era. But from the mid-50s though the Continue Reading
FRKTL – Prose Edda
FRKTL is the nom de plume of British-Egyptian composer Sarah Badr, and her work straddles so many genres that it’s quite hard to describe accurately (a wonderful thing, as it means her work is incredibly fresh-sounding). There are, of course, long, drone-y elements to the music, but once you go Continue Reading
Alif – Aynama-Rtama
I trust you, my friends, had a lovely Gregorian-Calendar Boxing Day. I spent mine listening to a Lebanese experimental band called Alif. At least as the liner notes on their Bandcamp site explain, it looks to be a collaboration between Lebanese and Egyptian musicians, and features the talents of the Continue Reading
Baligh Hamdi – Instrumental Modal Pop of 1970’s Egypt
Sublime Frequencies never ceases to amaze me with the gems they dig up. From their Bandcamp site: Sublime Frequencies finally unleashes it’s ESSENTIAL compilation from 1970’s Egypt. Modal instrumental tracks from Baligh Hamdi – one of the most important Arabic composers of the 20th Century (writing for legends Umm Kalthum, Continue Reading