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artist.....: Issam Hajali
album......: Mouasalat Ila Jacad El Ard
year.......: 2019
label......: Habibi Funk
HABIBI010
source.....: WEB
moodswing..: Funk
releasesize: 80.79 MB
tracks.....: 07
length.....: 35:15
encoder....: LAME
quality....: 320kbps
scenealized: 11.22.2019
The completely unknown debut album of
Issam Hajali (Ferkat Al Ard) fuses jazz
and folk with Arabic and Iranian
influences into unique beauty.
Originally released in a limited run of
75 cassette tape copies.
Issam Hajali might be most known for
being the singer and main composer of
the Lebanese band Ferkat Al Ard. While
they recorded 3 albums only their
classic "Oghneya" release saw a vinyl
release and is probably the most in
demand record in the Lebanese record
collector scene (A copy changed hands
in Beirut this year for 5000$). Before
the band came together Issam recorded a
debut album called "Mouasalat Ila Jacad
El Ard" in 1977 in Paris, most likely
in May or June. Issam Hajali had to
leave Lebanon after the Syrian
intervention for political reasons and
spent one year in exile in France. At
this time he could only afford one
studio day to record the whole project
together with a band compromised of
some musicians from France, one from
Algeria, one from Iran and a friend
from Beirut called Roger Fahr, whom had
left Lebanon around the same time.
While you can hear the musical roots of
what later became Ferkat Al Ard in
"Mouasalat Ila Jacad El Ard", the album
also differs from Issam's later
recordings. "It's more of just me,
whereas the sound of the band was more
of a group effort", he recalls.
Melancholic stripped-down, guitar-based
folk is followed by jazz-fused breaks
and every here and there that unique
sound of the santour glistening
through. While the music is very
accessible, some song structures are
rather atypical neglecting the common
patterns of verse, hook, verse, hook.
The lyrics mostly trace back to the
poetic work of Palestinian author Samih
El Kasem with one song also written by
Issam, who composed the music for all
of them. In late 1977 Issam could
return to Beirut and took the not yet
released album back with him. He could
only afford to spend a short time in
the studio, just to add little bits and
pieces like percussion to finish an
album that still felt unfinished to
him. Even back in Beirut his economic
situation was complicated, and it was
impossible to find a label which was
still operating under the circumstances
of war. So, he started dubbing the
tapes himself and producing black and
white copies at the corner store. Most
of the copies of the album were sold or
given to friends. One record shop had
them on the shelves on a commission
basis. But as the shop owner was no fan
of the music, she did little to sell
them, hiding the tapes behind other
releases. Eventually one of those tapes
fell into the hands of Ziad Rahbani,
Fairuz's son and a Lebanese musical
institution in his own right. Ziad
liked the music a lot and used to play
on most of Ferkat Al Ard's releases.
And Issam also played on some of Ziad's
recordings and sessions. Nevertheless,
the album was never known outside a
very small scene of like-minded
individuals and musicians of late 1970s
Beirut. Issam is fairly certain that
less than 100 copies of the tape were
made back then in total and he only
managed to hang onto one copy himself,
from which this recording was made.
URL:
https://habibifunkrecords.bandcamp.com/
album/habibi-funk-010-mouasalat-ila-
jacad-el-ard
psst, more info at https://facebook.com/habibifunk
01 Ana Damir El Motakallim 11:44
02 Mouasalat Ila Jacad El Ard 03:29
03 Khobs 03:33
04 Lam Azal 03:38
05 Ada 05:00
06 Yawma Konna 04:36
07 Intazirne 03:15