Vinyl LP, Compact Disc (CD)
It wasn’t too long after he heard Jamaican legend Bob Marley for the first time that Ibrahim Hesnawi embarked on a decades-long music career of his own, pioneering reggae in Libya and the Arab World. Through the 1980s and into the 2000s, he amassed a sprawling catalog of more than 15 albums, highlights from which have now been compiled by Berlin-based label Habibi Funk Records. Across nine tracks—many of them unheard outside North Africa until now—The Father of Libyan Reggae offers a compact showcase of the reggae pioneer.
Singing mostly in Libyan Arabic and focusing on a message of humanism and peace, Hesnawi’s goal was to bring reggae to the youth of Libya. “[Reggae lyrics] led me to create several political songs about struggles and striving for freedom myself,” Hesnawi explains in the compilation’s liner notes. “I wanted to speak about these things in my music, and I believe that’s what I was good at, and also what I became successful for.” That mission is reflected in tracks like “Al Hob Wal Salam” and “Only World,” which combine existential musings in Arabic and English with electric guitar, vibraslap, and spaced-out keyboards. Hesnawi’s vocal approach—straightforward and heartfelt—conveys his message of love and unity with ease. Tracks like “Tendme” and “Kesati” highlight Hesnawi’s ability to build upward from a reggae foundation, adding touches of funk, Algerian raï, and Libyan pop.
Habibi Funk’s masterful co-curation work with Hesnawi is particularly evident on the compilation’s last two tracks, “Enti” and “Watany Al Kabir.” It took the label years to hunt down renditions of these songs, and their brisk, bouncy melodies, keyboard stabs, and backing vocals further represent Hesnawi’s skilled pairing of Kingston reggae with modern Arabic music, and how his mission remained intact across decades of economic and political upheaval.
