Bodega Pop – Love Raid: Arabic Leftfield, Novelty, and Protest 45s 1960-1974
Various Artists
Bodega Pop – Love Raid: Arabic Leftfield, Novelty, and Protest 45s 1960-1974
Boomkat Product Review:
An outstanding treasure trove - some 20 years in-the-works - of vintage pop and chaabi bangers from Egypt and Lebanon via NYC cornershops and offies - aka Bodegas - and mobile phone shops, culled from tape and collated by Gary Sullivan ov WMFU and the blog Arabic Singles Going Steady, for DINTE
Gary Sullivan gives the lowdown: “A series of random discoveries in the mid-1990s led me to abandon American and British pop and focus on non-English-language music, predominantly Arabic, for the next two decades. Feeding my ears required biking down to Bay Ridge, Brooklyn, or hopping on the subway to Steinway Street in Queens, where I would pop into a handful of the local bodegas and immigrant-run cell-phone stores, some of which offered music from North Africa and the Middle East on cassettes and compact discs.
When CDs spiralled into obsolescence in the mid-2010s, I reluctantly made the switch to vinyl, concentrating on 45s and intentionally filling holes not well represented in the digital era – more artists than not hadn’t made the transition from analog in the 1980s. This meant focusing on singles by a lot of artists I’d not heard of, and it quickly became evident just how much of the era – from approximately 1960 to 1974, when 7″ records were all but abandoned in Egypt and Lebanon – had been forgotten.
What also became evident was the breadth of popular music issued by even hegemonic titan Sono Cairo. The consensus is that state radio and music publishing ignored traditional folk, shaabi, and other lowbrow pop in favor of the exalted art song we associate with Oum Kalthoum, Abdel Halim Hafez, and Farid al-Atrash. While this active neglect of the broadest Arabic pop spectrum is mostly true, I accumulated a not inconsequential number of what I can only describe as “novelty” records by mostly one- and two-hit wonders.
From catchy gimmicks like the “doktor, ya habibi” of Maha’s “Doktor” and the “boom boom boom” of twins Thunai Badr’s “Love Raid,” to the Monty Python-level silliness of Sayed Mandoline’s fake Italian crooning and maniacal laughter in “I Present to You the Mandolin,” these were sounds I was genuinely surprised to hear.= Even more remarkable were the songs recorded in English: Karim Shukry’s celebratory “Ramadan” and Motyaba & Nada’s civil-rights plea “No Black No White” are two of my favorites, and thus included in the present collection.
The tracks compiled here are often as beautiful as they are beguiling, but while the intention was to absolutely put together a solid listen, it was also my hope to slightly expand our understanding of Arabic music of this period beyond not just the usual suspects, but also subjects – and treatment of same.”
View more
Available To Order (Estimated Shipping between 7-14 Working Days)
This item is to the best of our knowledge available to us from the supplier and should ship to you within the time-frame indicated. If there are any unforeseen issues with availability we will notify you immediately
Boomkat Product Review:
An outstanding treasure trove - some 20 years in-the-works - of vintage pop and chaabi bangers from Egypt and Lebanon via NYC cornershops and offies - aka Bodegas - and mobile phone shops, culled from tape and collated by Gary Sullivan ov WMFU and the blog Arabic Singles Going Steady, for DINTE
Gary Sullivan gives the lowdown: “A series of random discoveries in the mid-1990s led me to abandon American and British pop and focus on non-English-language music, predominantly Arabic, for the next two decades. Feeding my ears required biking down to Bay Ridge, Brooklyn, or hopping on the subway to Steinway Street in Queens, where I would pop into a handful of the local bodegas and immigrant-run cell-phone stores, some of which offered music from North Africa and the Middle East on cassettes and compact discs.
When CDs spiralled into obsolescence in the mid-2010s, I reluctantly made the switch to vinyl, concentrating on 45s and intentionally filling holes not well represented in the digital era – more artists than not hadn’t made the transition from analog in the 1980s. This meant focusing on singles by a lot of artists I’d not heard of, and it quickly became evident just how much of the era – from approximately 1960 to 1974, when 7″ records were all but abandoned in Egypt and Lebanon – had been forgotten.
What also became evident was the breadth of popular music issued by even hegemonic titan Sono Cairo. The consensus is that state radio and music publishing ignored traditional folk, shaabi, and other lowbrow pop in favor of the exalted art song we associate with Oum Kalthoum, Abdel Halim Hafez, and Farid al-Atrash. While this active neglect of the broadest Arabic pop spectrum is mostly true, I accumulated a not inconsequential number of what I can only describe as “novelty” records by mostly one- and two-hit wonders.
From catchy gimmicks like the “doktor, ya habibi” of Maha’s “Doktor” and the “boom boom boom” of twins Thunai Badr’s “Love Raid,” to the Monty Python-level silliness of Sayed Mandoline’s fake Italian crooning and maniacal laughter in “I Present to You the Mandolin,” these were sounds I was genuinely surprised to hear.= Even more remarkable were the songs recorded in English: Karim Shukry’s celebratory “Ramadan” and Motyaba & Nada’s civil-rights plea “No Black No White” are two of my favorites, and thus included in the present collection.
The tracks compiled here are often as beautiful as they are beguiling, but while the intention was to absolutely put together a solid listen, it was also my hope to slightly expand our understanding of Arabic music of this period beyond not just the usual suspects, but also subjects – and treatment of same.”
More from Various Artists:
-
Various Artists Rough Trade 45s: Volume 1 Rough Trade Electronic- 8 x 7" Box Set
-
Various Artists Pattern Gardening Wisdom Teeth Techno / House
- MP3
- FLAC
- WAV
- 12" (Black Vinyl)
-
FREE MP3 WITH VINYLVarious Artists Can't Stop It! Australian Post-Punk 1978-82 (2025 Deluxe Edition) CHAPTER MUSIC Indie / Alternative
- MP3
- FLAC
- WAV
- Black Vinyl 2LP
-
Various Artists Spiritual Jazz 18: Behind the Iron Curtain, Pt. 1 & 2 Jazzman Jazz / Fusion
- MP3
- FLAC
- WAV
-
Various Artists Artist Series Alt Dub Records Basic Channel / Dub Techno
- 12” (Colour Vinyl)
More from Death Is Not The End:
-
FREE MP3 WITH VINYLVarious Artists Stars from Another Sky Pt. 1: Film Songs from the Subcontinent Before the World Was Torn Asunder, 1932-1939 Death Is Not The End Early Electronic / Soundtracks
- MP3
- FLAC
- WAV
- Tape
-
Various Artists Straight Outta Tenggara: Southeast Asian Hip-Hop, 1990s-2000s Death Is Not The End Beats / Hip Hop
- Tape
-
FREE MP3 WITH VINYLVarious Artists In Search of Revolutionary Voices: Mexican Wax Cylinder Recordings, 1900-1910 Death Is Not The End Folk / Roots
- MP3
- FLAC
- WAV
- Tape
-
Various Artists French Post-Punk & New Wave: 1980-1983 Death Is Not The End Industrial / Wave / Electro
- Tape
-
Various Artists French Post-Punk & New Wave: 1988-1990 Death Is Not The End Indie / Alternative
- Tape
People who bought this also bought:
-
FREE MP3 WITH VINYLVarious Artists Let Me Perish Without Return: Lament and Longing from the Fading Russian Empire, 1889-1917 Death Is Not The End Folk / Roots
- MP3
- FLAC
- WAV
- Tape
-
Fatima. Douz Douz Music Takes Me Up Disco / Boogie / Funk
- 12" (Black Vinyl)
-
Queens End Times Dial Indie / Alternative
- MP3
- FLAC
- LP
-
FREE MP3 WITH VINYLTirzah & Mica Levi Taz and May Vids DDS Electronic
- MP3
- FLAC
- WAV
-
FREE MP3 WITH VINYLAKIRA RABELAIS Context In The Moment Boomkat Editions | Documenting Sound Electronic
- Cassette
-
FREE MP3 WITH VINYLEmma Tate (Timo Van Luijk) Ame Matte Boomkat Editions | Documenting Sound Dark Ambient / Drone / Metal
- MP3
- FLAC
- WAV
- Cassette
-
FREE MP3 WITH VINYLWojciech Rusin Syphon AD 93 Modern Classical / Ambient
- MP3
- FLAC
- WAV
- Tape
-
FREE MP3 WITH VINYLScheich In China DEATH MIX V I S Dark Ambient / Drone / Metal
- Cassette
-
FREE MP3 WITH VINYLMother Live '23 FELT Electronic
- Cassette
-
FREE MP3 WITH VINYLClara La San Made Mistakes CLS Music Electronic
- MP3
- FLAC
- WAV
- LP (Black Vinyl)
- Colour LP