Traveling at an unhurried pace from the Atlas Mountains to the Red Sea, Café Arabica introduces a collection of modern artists from the Arab World. The ten featured artists come from culturally distinct regions, each with its own language, tradition, and history, yet the music shares striking common ground: relaxed arrangements that reward close listening.

The legendary Roger Waters and acclaimed Palestinian musician Mona Miari are releasing a re-imagined version of the iconic song Comfortably Numb. 47 years after it was first released, with new Arabic verses that transform the Pink Floyd classic into a powerful battlecry to bring global attention to the continued genocide in Gaza. This new interpretation amplifies the song’s original message of rejecting extreme alienation and apathy.

Eric Truffaz has covered a lot of ground - both literally and metaphorically - since releasing his first album on the Blue Note label in 1996. Recorded in several locations but cut to sound like a single concert, Face-a-Face reveals the success of this artist who, with consistency and determination, has travelled a long road to success that has been filled with detours, long stretches in the fast lane and occasional pit stops, but which has never veered away from the source of his originality and the happiness of his waking dream. For Truffaz, each concert is a chance to meet his public "face à face".

This compilation of songs is not meant as a historic reflection of popular music of the “Arab world.” It is a very personal selection of songs we grew to like at Habibi Funk. It is music that historically never existed as a unified musical genre. We think it’s important to make this distinction and to have the listener understand that the majority of the music on this compilation does not come from the highly famous names of the musical spectrum of North Africa and the Middle East. Instead, the final body compiled for this record consists of some – at least for us – nichey pearls and often overlooked artists; resulting in a diverse range of styles from Egyptian organ funk, disco sounds from Morocco, an example of the lively reggae scene of Libya, political songs from Lebanon, soundtrack music from Alge- ria, a musical union between Kenya and Oman, and much more.

Featuring artists from Morocco to Mauritania and from Tunis to Timbuktu, Desert Blues showcases the soulful and entrancing sounds of North Africa’s Sahara and Sahel regions. Bringing together international icons, rising talents, and exciting new discoveries, the album invites both longtime fans and first-time listeners into a vibrant musical landscape.

The young Egyptian soprano Fatma Said, praised for the luminosity and rich colours of her voice, makes her recording debut for Warner Classics with El Nour. Her enticing and absorbing recital programme crosses cultures, combining art songs by French, Spanish and Egyptian composers with Egyptian folk songs and popular songs from the Middle East. As she explains, “‘El Nour’ in Arabic means ‘the light’, and this album sheds light on how music that has been interpreted many times can be perceived in a different light. The idea is to connect three cultures – Arabic, French and Spanish – and to show how much, despite cultural, geographical and historical differences, they have in common when it comes to music”.

Taken from material released in the '80s by the French Melodie label, these pieces were recorded before N'Dour became a major international star (as the title indicates). As such, he was making music for the home market, which wanted its mbalax sound hard – and that's what he gave them. He was still putting the elements together, but the basic components were in place – the rhythm and that remarkable high griot voice, then at its raw best. It's interesting to compare "Alboury" in this version to the one on Set, several years later. There's a pumping energy here that has become channeled on the later recording – maybe not as focused, but with a flavor of youth that's undeniable. And that energy transmits itself through all these tracks.

Siwane is the synthesis between the talented vocalist Mounia Siwane and some of the most exceptional jazz musicians from Lyon, France. The project is a passionate voyage through time. The compositions, written by guitarist Stani Jardel, are influenced by popular melodies from the Al-Andalus era, the historical, Muslim-ruled area that comprised most of the Iberian peninsula between between 711 and 1492. This is very special music, which mixes the antiquity of the original melodic material with modern, jazz-based language.

Iolanda Cristina Gigliotti, professionally known as Dalida, was a French singer and actress, born in Egypt to Italian parents. She won the Miss Egypt beauty contest in 1954 and began a 31-year singing career in 1956, selling 170 million albums and singles worldwide. Dalida earned 45 gold record awards and a pair of platinum records for her sales in Europe, the Middle East, and Japan, and was the first singer to receive a diamond disc.. A superstar in France and much of the rest of Europe, Dalida enjoyed hit records in three different decades.

Habibi Funk is happy to present a selection of works by Algerian-born, Amazigh artist Majid Soula. With synths, driving drums, prominent repetitive guitar lines, Majid’s music blends the best of Kabyle sounds, disco, highlife and groovy funk into something wholly unique. At the same time for Majid Soula music is a vessel for his political message.

Delving into the deepest recesses of raï, this compilation serves as a tribute to its roaring years, but also as a rejuvenation of the genre in its sulphurous, subterranean version. It seemed like a good idea to dig into nearly untraceable cassettes, thus confirming it’s in the oldest of Oranese pots that the very best of raï is to be found. Just 50 years ago, no one would have believed even a bit in a genre seemingly bound to forever turn round and round in its native Oran, laying low in one of its many coastal road clubs.

Night Reign is the new album from GRAMMY-winner Arooj Aftab, an ode to the night as her primary source of inspiration and a vivid reflection of the creative community she has fostered in her home of Brooklyn, New York. Featuring nine original compositions, three English-language tracks, and an array of guest artists, Night Reign is a perfumed, public garden of renewal, desire, shelter, and love guided by Aftab’s voice – its reach and intensity complementing the sun’s departure.