láska je pes

Attarazat Addahabia & Faradjallah's album came to us as quite a mystery. Our friends from Ra- dio Martiko got access to the studio archive of the Boussiphone label and a reel labeled “Fara- djallah” was among the items they had found there. After listening to the selection of reels they borrowed, Radio Martiko felt it was not a fit for their label and helped us licensing it from Mr. Boussiphone instead. We knew nothing about the band. We just had the reel with the music but very little information. What we knew was that the music was incredible and very unique. Gna- wa sounds were combined with funky electronic guitars, very dense layers of percussions and female backing vocals more reminiscent of musical styles further south than Morocco.

Algerian singer Freh Khodja was labelled as the first Arabic reggae singer in the 1980’s. For this track (date unknown) however, he adopts the genre of the Cape Verdean Creole coladeira. We hear the typical clarinet, trumpet, and guïro, but also a western drum kit and electric guitar. This song is actually a fusion between coladeira and zouk called cola-zouk and has references to the Compas dance style.

Ahmed Ben Ali was born in 1971 in Benghazi. He went to boarding to school in Canada for 8 years, and returned to Libya. For a couple of years he also worked in the UK. Music was never his main job but his “main hobby” as Ahmed says. While going to school and also living in the UK he was always playing music and playing in bands. But it would take him years until he started recording his own music after many of his friends encouraged him to do so. This culminated in recording his first album, which he released in 2003. Since then he recorded maybe 40 tracks and released two more albums. He also started playing gigs in Libya with his own band.

In 2008 a friend of his decided to set up a youtube account for him by starting with two uploaded tracks. He then passed the account to Ahmed, who proceeded with uploading two further songs before he unfortunately happened to forget the password to the account. The account remained untouched since 11 years. At some points two of the tracks from this account started gaining traction. “Sibhana”, the infectious Libyan reggae, which you can also hear on this release and “Damek Majeb”, the second track on this 12 inch. Funnily “Damek Majeb” was uploaded by his friend including the caption “New libyan traditional music remixed by Ahmad Benali. Hope you enjoy!”, so I assumed the song was a folkloric title modernized by Ahmed Ben Ali, just like a lot of other people who heard the track. When I asked him about the original track he started laughing: „You know this is all a misunderstanding. For whatever reason my friend wrote this little sentence but actually it’s an original composition that I did. It’s not a cover or a remix or anything like that. When I saw what my friend wrote I thought it was funny so I didn’t change it.” The other track “Sibhana” is a song whose lyrics are loosely based on the poem „سبحان اللي هنتك وهونتيني“ by the Libyan poet AbdelKader Bouhedma.

Ahmed Ben Ali works as a technical engineer and records music in his own home studio. There he operates as his own sound technician and his own producer recording the music plus writing the lyrics. A one man musical army. Contextualizing his own style Ben Ali pointed out that “The Libyan folkloric rhythm is very similar to the reggae rhythm. So if Libyan people listen to reggae it’s easy for them to relate because it sounds familiar. This is the main reason why reggae became so popular here. [...]We played the reggae Libyan style, it’s not the same as in Jamaica. We added our oriental notes to it and if you mix both it becomes something great.” With a bit of laughter he added: “And to me it’s still original reggae, it’s Libyan style, not some bullshit.”

Orchestre Baba National was a Congolese group with Swahili roots based in Nairobi, Kenya, and led by Baba Gaston. They were known for blending Congolese rumba with elements of highlife, local music, and jazz. The group disbanded in 1976, with members like Lutulu Kaniki Macky and Nana Akumu later seeking opportunities in Tanzania. Some musicians regrouped in the band L'Orchestre de Mangelepa in the 1980s. In 2018, Baba Gaston performed in France as part of the Rio Loco festival.

Togawa Kyoko (戸川京子), also known as Togawa Kyohko, was a Japanese actress, talent, and singer. Togawa made her acting debut when she was five years old in the movie Ai to Makoto. She also became a model for the magazine CUTiE. Before the end of the 1980s, Togawa also debuted as a singer for a short time with the release of her first single, "Kanashimi wa Real Sugite...", in 1984. Herself and her older sister Togawa Jun often helped each other out on songs and each have participated on each others albums.

In 1993, Togawa married ZIGGY's drummer Ooyama Masanori but divorced him soon after. Sadly, Togawa committed suicide by hanging herself at the age of 38 in her apartment on July 2002.