An unknown Maghrebi psychedelic disco-funk gem by Syphax, a Kabyle band from Algeria, North Africa, gets its first-ever vinyl 7-inch release, remastered!!! A labor-of-love release from London's Shakshouka Records, complete with a beautiful gatefold sleeve.
Syphax, a Berber group formed in exile in the Paris suburbs, fused psychedelic rock, funk, disco and North African rhythms with Amazigh (Berber) spirituality, cultural values, poetic lyricism and the rebellious spirit of the 1970s. Side A's "Thamghra" (sample 1) — the title means "party" in Maghrebi — is Maghrebi funk brimming with festive energy, ...Read more (Original Japanese text by COMPUMA)while "Skate Dance" (sample 2), released years before skate culture spread across the globe, is a solid slice of Maghrebi disco-funk that captures just how far ahead of the curve this band was. Utterly killer. (Original Japanese text by COMPUMA)
Immigrants from the Maghreb (Morocco, Algeria, Tunisia and other parts of North Africa) settled in Lyon, France, where their music fused with French and European sounds to form a one-of-a-kind cosmopolitan hybrid. A compilation of recordings originally released on cassette at the time — amazing!
From the 1950s onward, many North African musicians moved to Lyon, France's second city, and this music grew out of the everyday sessions of players who gathered at the cafés in the Croix Rousse district and in the Guillotière district centered on Place Gabriel Péri. It wasn't only the famous raï of Oran in western Algeria that was played here: sta...Read more (Original Japanese text by Shhhhh)ïfi came from the eastern town of Sétif, and chaoui from the inland Chaouia region, with the gasba reed flute used in chaoui replaced by electric guitar, traditional percussion such as the zorna swapped out for rhythm boxes and drum kits, cheap synthesizers used boldly (the "synth" of the album title), and the disco, funk and electronic music then sweeping the world folded in — and out of all that came the hybrid sounds collected here. This set gathers wonderfully oddball Maghrebi music recorded between 1985 and 1997. Less strictly traditional, more DJ-friendly and approachable. Apparently Lyon was full of cassette shops dealing in this Lyonnais Maghrebi music. Maghrebi music itself is well known, but this is a rare compilation surveying the Lyon scene. (Original Japanese text by Shhhhh)
Track List
1. ZAïDI EL BATNI - Malik ya Malik
2. NORDINE STAIFI - Zine Ezzinet
3. GHABATI LE JEUNE - Mani Mani Maane
4. INTRO: RABAH EL MAGHNAOUI - Kountie Ghalia
5. CHEB RABAH EL MAGHNAOUI - Amayna Alik Anti
6. NORDINE STAIFI - Goultili Bye Bye
7. BNAT EL MAâNA - Hata La Lile Ya Moul Jalab Tayfiya
Syphax, a Berber group formed in exile in the Paris suburbs, fused psychedelic rock, funk, disco and North African rhythms with Amazigh (Berber) spirituality, cultural values, poetic lyricism and the rebellious spirit of the 1970s. Side A's "Thamghra" (sample 1) — the title means "party" in Maghrebi — is Maghrebi funk brimming with festive energy, ...Read more (Original Japanese text by COMPUMA)while "Skate Dance" (sample 2), released years before skate culture spread across the globe, is a solid slice of Maghrebi disco-funk that captures just how far ahead of the curve this band was. Utterly killer. (Original Japanese text by COMPUMA)