PRE-ORDER
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DESCRIPTION
This compilation isn’t a sweeping history of Libyan music — it’s a personal journey into the sounds we fell in love with while digging through tapes, conversations, and stories across Libya and beyond. Rather than spotlighting the country’s most famous musical exports, the compilation brings forward a mix of overlooked gems and local classics of the cassette era: artists whose work thrived despite political limitations, and scarce international exposure. The music featured here blends reggae rhythms, synthy disco grooves, gritty pop, house, and funk, a vibrant collision of genres that reflects Libya’s unique sonic landscape from the 1980s to the early 2000s. During this era, Independent artists relied on makeshift home studios or travelled abroad to record in Tunisia and Egypt, gradually building their own infrastructures for creativity. By the 90s and early 2000s, as access to digital equipment increased, a few of the artists began setting up their own studios — a shift that gave rise to a more self-sufficient recording culture across the country. The resulting sounds are anything but homogeneous. They reflect Libya’s geographic and cultural crossroads: North African rhythms meet Arab melodies and deep African roots. Reggae, in particular, took on a local Libyan flavour — not just musically, through the slowed-down cadence of traditional shaabi beats, but socially, as a vehicle for expressing identity and pride. What ties all the artists on this comp together is a boundary-pushing approach to genre and style: recorded in small studios, exchanged by hand, and shaped by a cross-pollination of influences, from Benghazi to Tripoli and beyond.
- Habibi Funk's 31st release and 3rd various artists compilation.
- The album is dedicated to the cassette tape scene in Libya from the late 80s to early 2000s, from disco to reggae to pop.
- Features rare tracks recovered from the demolished TK7 cassette factory in Tunisia, a key site in Libyan music history.
- Includes standout contributions from Ahmed Ben Ali, Cheb Bakr, Najib Alhoush & The Free Music, Khaled Al Melody, and more.
- All songs previously unreleased outside of Libya and not available on any DSP platforms.
TRACKLIST:
Cheb Bakr – Allom
Group Hewaya – Irja
Shahd – Erhal Keef Alshams Tgheeb
Ahmed Ben Ali – Jara
The White Bird Band – Ya Ummi
Khaled Al Melody – Jani Bigool
Fathi Aldiyqz & Sons of Africa Band – Palestine Is My Homeland
Libya Music Band – Kol Al Mawaeed
Stars of Africa – Baed Al Farha
Khaled Al Reigh – Zannik
Khaled Al Zlitni – Jiti Yam Eloyoun Buhoor
Murad Najah – Hubbi Leeki
City Lights Band – Kul Ghrub
Adil Al Ramli – Mawoud
The Hope Duo – La Tgheeb Anni Wala Youm