V/A: Habibi Funk: An Eclectic Selection from the Arab World - Part 2 (2LP) [HABIBI FUNK]

Why you'll love it

This 2LP set comes with a 12-page booklet and a download card. It's a personal selection of lesser-known artists from across North Africa and the Middle East, licensed directly from the artists or their families.

This edition

• 2LP set
• 12-page booklet
• Download card included

About the album

Jannis Stürtz fell for this music on a trip to Casablanca in 2012, and the Berlin label he co-founded has been tracking it down ever since. Its very first record was a 1970s Moroccan reworking of Free's "All Right Now" by Fadaul et les Privileges, which tells you most of what you need to know about the Habibi Funk approach: open ears, no borders.

Part 2 hops from Egyptian organ funk to Moroccan disco, Libyan reggae, Lebanese protest songs and Algerian soundtrack music, with a musical meeting between Kenya and Oman along the way. Magdy El Hussainy, Ahmed Malek, Sal Davis, Fadoul and Zohra all turn up, and the label calls it a personal selection rather than a history lesson. Tony Benn Feghaly's "Free Blow" brings the set home, after Hamid El Shaeri drops in twice with "Reet" and "Tendme."

Habibi Funk licenses directly from the artists or their families and splits the profits with them 50/50. Stürtz went to Casablanca and came home with a record label; most of us manage a rug.

Also at Kops: more Habibi Funk on vinyl · browse World

Listen

On Habibi Funk, a reissue of the 2021 compilation.