Al Hadaoui
Habibi Funk (36 mins)
Al Hadaoui was the debut album of Attarazat Addahabia, recorded in 1972 but for some reason never released – now we get to hear it in all its glory. The group are from Casablanca, Morocco and their music is a mix of psychedelic and experimental rock and funk that wouldn’t have sounded out of place in the San Francisco or Los Angeles of the same time period. Of course, they also bring in a unique African flavour to it.
The title-track opener shows this off the best: it starts with that recognisable rhythm of the Gnawa played on the qaraqab (metal castanets) before they’re joined by bluesy-funky electric guitar (which is stunning throughout the album), Afro-Latin percussion, an all-female chorus and eventually Faradjallah’s charismatic vocals. If it weren’t for the Arabic language, you could even be forgiven for thinking this record came from Nigeria or Cameroon, such is the importance of its large and interlocking percussion section.
A great thing is that the band obviously don’t take themselves too seriously, making this record is a lot of fun – keep an ear out for the track ‘Aflana’, based on Beethoven’s ‘Für Elise’ – and that helps to bring it all to life and really drive home that 70s sound.