Aït Meslayene, Itij Ougherval b/w Hazav Iouakale (Hillali Disques)
According to the cover of this Algerian Kabyle (not Arabic) single by Ait Meslayne, the A side is "Tassadit"; however, as you'll see, the disc itself tells another story -- and that's the story we're going with here. If that weren't confusing enough, the label on the cover is Sawt-Hilali; the disc proudly displays the label name Hillali Disques. Born Idir Benhabouche in 1944, the artist took on the name of his village, Aït Meslayene, about a two-and-a-half-hour drive southeast of Algiers. Meslayene emigrated to France in the 1970s, where he ran a café and wrote and recorded some 220 songs spanning dozens of singles and about 30 cassettes and LPs. The two tracks on this single are lovely and decidedly rare -- we weren't able to find listenable versions of them anywhere on the web. ( Listen to "Itij Ougervel" ) ( Listen to "Hazav Iouakale" )
