Based in Berlin, the Habibi Funk’s label’s is dedicated to delivering global listeners “eclectic sounds from the Arab world.” The imprint’s latest compiles mid-’70s tracks from The Free Music, a Libyan outfit with a flair for combining disco grooves and wailing guitars, along with dipping into soul, funk and reggae. Led by composer and producer Najib Alhoush, The Free Music released ten albums between 1972 and 1989, with Habibi Funk’s The Free Music (Part 1) available March 17 on vinyl, compact disc, and digital, culling tracks from two LPs originally issued in 1976. Simultaneously embracing genre rudiments while defying convention, the album’s nine selections don’t disappoint, priming expectations for Part 2.
When listening to archival releases of material recorded outside the USA and Europe that feature dives into highly commercial genres with unreserved gusto, it’s sometimes necessary to take a step back and ask an important question: “would this stuff be at all distinguished if it had been recorded in Des Moines, Iowa?”
Occasionally no, and at other times yes, and in the case of The Free Music (Part 1), the answer is an emphatic affirmative, in large part due to a sound that’ll never be mistaken for its influences. However, the root inspirations are clearly recognizable, whether it’s a specific song (on this album, the Doobie Brothers’ “Long Train Running,” heard in two strikingly different versions) or a particular style, in this instance, disco.
I have no issue with the disco genre, though I do prefer it when a little funky sweat and soul grit is part of the equation, which is fortunately the case with The Free Music (Part 1), even as the band is clearly swept up in disco’s more sweeping gestures of commercialism, and right away in the record’s opener “Mathasebnish.”
Indeed, Habibi Funk’s eventual discovery of The Free Music came through a solo recording by Najib Alhoush, “Ya Aen Daly,” which is a version of the Bee Gee’s “Stayin’ Alive.” It’s just that while The Free Music openly embrace disco’s slick and smooth aspects (but on a budget), there’s a palpable disinterest in merely replicating pop disco. Instead, there’s a surplus of electric guitar of a decidedly rock nature, a connection that clicks through sheer musicality rather than lingering in the ear through a jarring juxtaposition. A flute is also occasionally part of the scheme.
But as the record progresses, there are tracks where disco is essentially left behind, such as the standout folky-funky strummer “Ana Qalbi Ehtar” (which is topped of with an excellent guitar solo) and closer “Al Qalb Mrayef,” which combines the strumming with injections of glistening keyboards and tendrils of flute. Also impressive is how the band integrates unique structural elements into both of their tracks based on “Long Train Running,” so that they are better described as interpretations than straight covers. That the tracks all derive from a tight 1976 timeframe lends cohesiveness to the record.
There’s a lot of background to The Free Music (Part 1), all included in the 12-page 12-inch booklet, so I shan’t spoil it. I will add that this is a fully licensed recording, a gesture that’s standard operation procedure for Habibi Funk. And as mentioned above, a second volume is in the works. It’ll be interesting to hear how the sound evolved in the 1980s.
GRADED ON A CURVE:
A-
