Its been a slightly overlong hiatus but I’ve eventually gotten around to making a short mix of some Arabic music I’ve been listening to a lot in the last year.

Mostly tracks from the Maghreb area, especially Morocco, Tunisia & Algeria as well as a couple from the middle east. This mix was inspired by a short trip to Morocco last year where I had the chance to pick up some cds from street music vendors. Also inspired by the great Sublime Frequencies record Radio Algeria which is often sounds like an audio homage to the now abandoned Disco Maghreb record shop & label in Oran, Algeria which apparently ‘In the 80s was to Raï, what Motown Records was to African-American soul in the 1970s’.

Omar Souleyman’s pounding electronic wedding disco Dabka style was also a big influence (check out this video from his track on this mix, a kurdish style of Dabka that I found in Marrakech) so I thought I’d mix up some Arabic Ghetto Bassquake party style tracks: Rai, Moroccan pop, Dabka, Chaoui & Staifi. Also included are a couple of tracks that just make me laugh. It starts off with what sounds like Algerian juke from Blida’s awesome DJ Amine. Enjoy!

Download

Vamanos – Sandstorm Mix

DJ Amine – Intro Remix Rai 5
Omar Souleyman – Naffat Noura
Leïla El Berrack & Faudel – Dana Dana
Cheb Khaled – Rikoum
Unknown artist – Track 13 from 100% Al Dabka
Hassane Idbassaid & Raiss et Scorpion – Arouah Anmoune
Zombies For Money – Bhangra Dance
JalaL El Hamdaoui – Ma Tgoulishe MaÖndish (DJ Amine remix)
Shafik Kabbah – Debket Ferket Jabal Ennar
Djamila & Kamel Nemri – Aardatoni
Mokobe feat. Mohamed Lamine – African Tonic
Yasmina & Kamel Nemri – Douni ya Douni