Afaf Radi & Baligh Hamdi | Qadayna Allayali b/w Rihla (Soutelphan, 1970)

 

First, in the interests of transparency, that is NOT the cover of our copy of this marvelous single; ours came with a generic Soutelphan sleeve. That image above comes from one of Qadayna Allayali's four or five Discog entries. (While we're on the subject, take a look at the cover of the French pressing.) But, my goodness, you can't expect us to not share that mesmerizing cartoon image, can you?

The actual cover of our copy

This single consists of the gobsmacking five-minute title track ("We Spent the Nights," according to Google Translate) and a B-Side ("A Trip" or "Journey") that is a slightly shorter, instrumental version of the A-Side. Baligh Hamdi was a freaking genius composer and we can't think of a single track we've ever heard, song or instrumental, that wasn't emotionally and intellectually bracing. The guitar lick on this thing is simple, restrained even, but hits like a Class A drug.

Afaf Radi, who leads off this terrific recent compilation of cassette hits compiled by Moataz Rageb for Wewantsounds, is a very popular singer with at least a dozen albums to her name. She launched her recording career at age 15 or 16 with a couple of singles from 1970, including this one. Her voice is sweet, high, measured, confident -- not terribly different from that of Fairuz. 

(Listen to "Qadayna Allayali")

As already mentioned, the instrumental version features an incredible repeated guitar lick and is about a minute shorter than the song version on Side A.

(Listen to "Rihla")