Wewantsounds

Following the success of the special Record Store Day ‘Abu Ali’ edition, we are reissuing a standard version of Ziad Rahbani's mythical Disco 12" which was originally issued in Lebanon in 1978. This reissue on black vinyl features the original artwork, with remastered audio. A highly sought-after EP fetching high prices on the market, Abu Ali is a must-have for all fans of Lebanese groove and collectors of Arabic Funk.Ziad Rahbani is a cultural icon in Lebanon. The musician, pianist and producer is also a renowned playwright and a political activist, one of the most important exponent of the lebanese left-wing counterculture to emerge from the 70s.Coming out of an illustrious artistic dynasty (his father is the famous composer and musician Assi Rahbani, member of group The Rahbani Brothers and his mother is the legendary Middle East Diva, Fairuz), Ziad Rahbani started his music career during his late teens, composing music for his mother.Rahbani quickly spread his wings further. He started producing his own music during the early 70s and released records under his own name at 17. Among these was "Abu Ali" recorded in Greece at the EMI Studios in Athens in 1978 with a full orchestra (there he also recorded his mother's album "Wahdon") and released it as a limited run EP for the lebanese market. Legend has it that the album was only pressed at 500 unit hence its rarity.The result is a fabulous New York-meets-Beyrouth Disco exctasy developing over two 13-min tracks and one of the most collectible albums on the international dance and disco scene which Wewantsounds is happy to finally make available.

The highly sought-after 1978 album by lebanese diva Fairuz produced by her son Ziad Rahbani and featuring the cult arabic groove classic "Al Bostah."Following the reissue of Ziad Rahbani's "Abu Ali" album, Wewantsounds is pursue its exploration of great Lebanese music with the reissue of "Wahdon," released in 1978 by legendary Middle Eastern diva Fairuz and recorded during the Abu Ali sessions and including the Lebanese dancefloor cult classic “Al Bostah“.1978 is a turning point for the Lebanese Diva. The 70s had seen her rise as an international star, playing sold out concerts in the US and in Europe, and appearing on national TV in France. She had had a long-lasting artistic collaboration with her husband Assi Rahbani and his brother Elias (aka The Rahbani Brothers) who, together, had penned most of the singer's classics. In 1978, Assi who had suffered a brain haemorrhage in 1972 got weaker and the collaboration finally ended (together with their personal relationship). Their 22 year old son Ziad took over Fairuz's musical reins and set to work on their first album together, "Wahdon" ("Alone"), serving as her mother's producer, composer and musical director.Wahdon typifies this key moment in Fairuz's career when she switched from traditional to more modern arrangements. The first side of the album encapsulates the more traditional side of the singer with such mesmerising songs as "Habaitak Ta Neseet Al Naoum" ("I loved you so much i forgot to sleep") or "Ana Indi Haneen" ("I'm Nostalgic"), filled with gorgeous arabic strings and percussion.The Second side though is a whole different affair. Recorded in Athens at the EMI Greece studio at the same time as the Abu Ali sessions, the two long tracks brings a hipper, contemporary funk and disco feel that has made the album such a collector's item with DJs and diggers around the world. Clocking at almost nine minutes "Al Bostah" ("The Bus") tells the story a woman in love remembering a bus journey with her lover under a scorching heat, enhanced by an hypnotic uptempo funkified disco beat, while "Wahdon" brings a slower and jazzier underlay to Fairuz's superb singing. These tracks shocked some of the diva's fans at the time but they've since passed the test of time and have become highly sought after.Whadon has since become both a classic Fairuz album and a cult Ziad Rahbani production that Wewantsounds is delighted to bring to a wider audience for the first time.