For today, I wanted to share with you “المعمل” (“Al Ma3mal“, that can be translated by “The Workshop“), a beautiful deep bewitching Middle-Eastern Soul Jazz track with mesmerizing voices, taken from the album “هدوء نسبي” (“Houdou Nisbi“, that can be translated by “Relative Calm“) recorded in 1985 by the mythical Lebanese composer Ziad Rahbani (زياد الرحباني), and privately released on a now ultra hard to find tape the same year.

This album includes some of the finest musicians of that era, such :

Ziad Rahbani : Composition, Sound Engineer, Bouzouki, Electric Piano, Synth ;

Toufic Farroukh : Flute, Tenor Saxophone ;

Abboud Saadi : Bass, Acoustic Guitar ;

Michel Assaad : Trombone ;

Elie Menassa : Trumpet, Flugelhorn ;

Paul Dawani : Electric Guitar ;

Samir Rafraf : Congas, Drums ;

Walid Tawil : Drums ;

Samir Chabchab : Guitar ;

This tape was repressed again in K7 format again in 1991 and CD in 1995 (both with a different cover than this one), but without the track presented here, which is one my favorite of that legendary album, one of the Lebanese musical holy grails – Hope you’ll like it, enjoy !

Ziad Rahbani – Al Ma3mal (Lebanon, 1985, By-Pass Production) // زياد الرحباني – المعمل 

You can also listen to this song on my Youtube Channel here : https://youtu.be/dC33gobkYfo

Follow me on Instagram too for more exclusive contents : https://www.instagram.com/armand_de_preseau/

Have a nice Sunday, see you next week for another musical (re)discovery !

Armand de Preseau

Following this previous article, I wanted to share with you for today “غيفارا غزة” (“Ghfyara Ghaza“, pun for “Che Guevara from Gaza” in tribute to Gaza’s resistance fighters in Palestine), a melancholic bewitching Middle-Eastern Soul Jazz track with Brazilian influences a la Arthur Verocai & beautiful flute parts, taken from the first album of the Lebanese band “Ferkat Al Ard” (فرقة الأرض) leaded by the guitar player Issam Hajali (عصام الحاج علي) and composed with :

Issam Hajali (عصام الحاج علي) : Vocals, Guitar ;

Toufic Farroukh (توفيق فرّوخ) : Flute, Saxophone ;

Elie Saba (ايليا سابا) : Bouzouki, Oud ;

This album, arranged by the legendary Lebanese composer, musician & producer Ziad Rahbani (زياد الرحباني) & produced by the Lebanese-Armenian producer Khatchik Mardirian (co-founder with Ziad Rahbani of the mythical 70s Lebanese record label “Zida“) is considered by many as one of the hardest to find holygrail Lebanese vinyl record album ever out.

This album as been reissued in 2022 by the German record label Habibi Funk but without this track, so now it’s available widely.

𝘛𝘩𝘪𝘴 𝘢𝘳𝘵𝘪𝘤𝘭𝘦 𝘪𝘴 𝘥𝘦𝘥𝘪𝘤𝘢𝘵𝘦𝘥 𝘵𝘰 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘵𝘳𝘢𝘨𝘪𝘤𝘢𝘭 𝘤𝘶𝘳𝘳𝘦𝘯𝘵 𝘔𝘪𝘥𝘥𝘭𝘦-𝘌𝘢𝘴𝘵𝘦𝘳𝘯 𝘦𝘷𝘦𝘯𝘵𝘴. 𝘔𝘢𝘺 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘸𝘰𝘳𝘭𝘥 𝘣𝘦 𝘴𝘢𝘧𝘦𝘳 & 𝘲𝘶𝘪𝘦𝘵𝘦𝘳, 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘮𝘢𝘺 𝘵𝘩𝘪𝘴 𝘮𝘢𝘥𝘯𝘦𝘴𝘴 𝘴𝘵𝘰𝘱.

Ferkat Al Ard – Ghfyara Ghaza / فرقة الأرض – غيفارا غزة (Lebanon, 1979, Zida)

You can also listen to this song on my Youtube Channel here : https://youtu.be/BlHpQlps1CY Follow me on Instagram too for more exclusive contents : https://www.instagram.com/armand_de_preseau/ Have a nice Wednesday, see you on next Sunday for another musical (re)discovery ! Armand de Preseau