Habibi Funk: The Label Sharing North African and Middle Eastern Gems

Habibi Funk records have a visibly shared identity and a devoted following, but defining the music that the label covers is a tough ask. It would be easy to say it’s Arabic-language music from the 1970s and ‘80s, but they’ve also released an Amazigh-language album from Algerian artist Majid Soula, Chant Amazigh. Or you could say it’s Middle Eastern funk and disco, but then again, they’ve also released music by Ibrahim Hesnawi, the father of Libyan Reggae.

When Stürtz, co-founder of Habibi Funk and DJ under the same name, explains the label’s focus, he sidesteps any attempt to define it by genre. “It’s wherever artists were taking influences from outside their local context and trying to adapt it, finding a way to translate it and make it their own,” he says.

Many of their records draw on genres with origins in the U.S., such as soul and funk. Other times, the label works with artists who pull influences from Congolese or Ethiopian music.

Stürtz first developed an interest in Arabic music while digging in Morocco. In the years since, the label has sought out music that they are both excited by and is relatively unknown. That often means working with records that aren’t digitally available.

Part of the label’s success is due to its selection reputation. Their releases are often eagerly anticipated by a dedicated audience who know that, in all likelihood, they’ll be unfamiliar with the artist but implicitly trust the label’s taste.

For Habibi Funk, building that reputation and marketing the material is a significant part of re-releasing. The label recoils from building hype around claiming to have “found” these “lost” records. The music they work with isn’t lost. It’s just not widely known. Making it known is their concern. Pure and simple.

While that often means digging in its most traditional sense and actively seeking out music on the ground, as the label has grown, it’s also been able to tap into and build networks of people looking out for them and bringing records to their attention.

One such encounter occurred when Stürtz joined Lebanese artist Issam Hajali for coffee a few years back. Mid-conversation, the musician, whose beautiful folk music the label re-released in 2019, suddenly disappeared and then re-emerged from his basement with a record.

Although the records are a testament to the exchange and interchange of musical ideas and identities across borders, few garnered international attention in their time. In releasing this wide variety, Habibi Funk introduces new listeners to music they might never have heard otherwise.

“I don’t like the whole gatekeeping, keeping shit secret approach that is sometimes affiliated with digging,” Stürtz affirms. “In the end, these shop owners and dealers are part of the ecosystem that allows us as a label to function and work.”

That ecosystem helps them find music and can also help alleviate the challenge of finding the artist. An arduous, research-intensive element of the label’s work is trying to find the artist and uncover their story. Then, the label can work with them and bring their music to an audience.

“It’s important for us that ownership remains with the artist,” explains Stürtz. “We are just a partner they work with [to] make their music available.” Rather than buy the rights, the label licenses them and splits profits equally with the artists.

In many cases, their vast network can help the label find an artist within hours, but in other instances, scrolling through niche Facebook groups for contacts can have the team up until the early hours. It’s taken years to track down an artist or their family before.

“Availability” is a theme that Stürtz returns to regularly – digitization is a key part of that, given the shift in music consumption and the risk of destruction facing physical records. A track being digitally available doesn’t automatically mean that people will listen, especially with how vast the ocean of available music is today.