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)