Les Frères Mégri
Thou shalt not judge a book by its cover. With records it's different though and so in this case we did, we trusted our gut feeling on this one and were rewarded with a once-in-a-lifetime album. Recently reissued via Marseille-based label Sudiphone in a limited edition of 500, this highly sought-after album by the three Moroccan brothers Mahmoud, Hassan and Younès Mégri, known as Les Frères Mégri, was first released in 1974. The band originally formed in Oujda in the late 1960s and consisted of four members, including their sister Jalila Mégri. Previously the Mégri brothers had made a name for themselves as "popular session musicians, composers and producers in Morocco, starting in the late '50s". After releasing four singles in the early 1970s (El Harib/Heya Essamra, Galouli Ensaha/Kellemtini, Sebar/Ououd Ou Chouk in 1971 and Sabar/Chaaltiha Nar in 1972) this groundbreaking collaborative LP marked their second album release.
Now beautifully remastered, this album was almost impossible to track down for the past 40+ years and is considered a holy grail among diggers today, "one of the finest examples of the early '70s progressive, psych, folk sounds coming from North Africa and beyond [...] and a high point for the genre globally. A baroque folk approach that demonstrates utterly mesmerising results, psychedelic, electric guitars, sitars, bongos, swirling multi-tracked vocals that sound like prime era Fairport Convention, Pentangle, Trees, and the first two Pink Floyd albums -- It is of that pedigree".
Listen to "Galouli Ensaha" below and head over to Staalplaat now, to place your order. Don't sleep on this one.
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