Hot Picks Sahara Band Habibi Best Record Italy vinyl record

1983 Rare Italo Disco Repressed – Sahara Band’s ‘Habibi’ is an Italo-disco classic from 1983. It was reissued digitally once in 2017 but now finally makes a welcome return to wax. An original copy will cost you a fair few quid on the second-hand market so do not sleep on this one as it is incredible Egyptian-influenced Italo with Arabic vocals. It has been remade by other artists over the years but this version remains the best with its cultural sounds and worldly grooves set to bring greatness to any set.
Super rare Italo electro-pop project Habibi made available by the unstoppable archive label BEST RECORD. Habibi is a joyous Egyptian-influenced Italo piece from the time that Egyptian Lover and Arabian Prince also had their Egyptian influences. Many of the typical elements of the ‘Italo-Disco’ era give the song a very friendly and reassuring mood, especially the (probably) Linndrum beat with tom fills and tambourine, alternating bass, a sequencer emphasizing the eights, and strings, a nice Hammond added/ “Habibi” was conceived in 1983 by Arcangelo Li Calzi after the success of the one-off project Sahara Band, with Giancarlo Ragni, the skilled arranger from Genga that produced the piece entirely in his Vallemania Recording Studio, the studio where most of the afro-cosmic songs of the dee-days of the nearby Baia degli Angeli were made, including the album “Africa Mediterranea” by Fabrizio Fattori. The artist Myriam Ferrucci did a lovely job on the graphic work on the cover which is represented in its original way. Worthy re-issue from the depths of the golden Italo era.