Cheb Gero
— "Exploring the world in sound"
Cheb Gero’s DJ sets focus on MENA areas and offer a wide vision of popular cultures and sub-cultures from the 1960s to nowadays. From Algerian chaabi to Syrian electronic dabke his selections based on vinyl, tapes, cd or digital suggest to dance and reflect well the rich musical heritages of these regions.
A music lover and chronic collector, Cheb Gero aka Fabrice Gery dug his way through as many musical worlds as he could since his teens. First engrossed in the reading of extreme rock mail-order catalogues before the Internet, then stuck to peer to peer softwares in search of the most psychedelic and progressive 1960s and 70s bands from East to West, North to South. Cheb Gero completed his music knowledge during the 8 years he spent as a record dealer. All styles and niche came to his attentive ears: from classical to popular, from mainstream to underground. His nickname illustrates the diversity of the musical worlds is wants to share; 'Cheb' is a hommage to Algerian Raï singers, whereas 'Gero' refers to a Japanese noise cult band of the same name, and to his own surname.
Habibi Funk
C’est le projet d’un Berlinois - Jannis Stürtz, également co-fondateur de Jakarta Records, qui rend hommage depuis plusieurs années à la musique funk ayant émergée dans le « monde arabe » au sens très large. Al Massrieen, The Scorpios, Kamal Keila, Ahmed Malek, Raze de Soare…autant de noms longtemps tombés dans l’oubli, et réhabilités par ce passionné qui ressort des disques comme d’autres ouvriraient des tombeaux de rois d’un passé égaré, sacrés mais aucunement maléfiques (NOVA)
Bien loin de nos conceptions stéréotypées au sujet de la musique orientale, Habibi Funk nous fera danser et découvrir des artistes, qui ont métissé les musiques traditionnelles de leur pays avec le funk, la soul, la pop et le rock.