Anwar al-Askari | Safar Habibi b/w Mawal Allah (Nefertiti, 1968)

 

Anwar al-Askari was an Egyptian mawal singer with at least one LP and two dozen singles to his name, most of it released by Nefertiti. Discogs includes a citation for this 45, but it has never been sold on the platform and we assume it's somewhat rare. 

The two tracks consist of accordion and al-Askari's voice, but are no less powerful for being so stripped down. al-Askari is credited with the composition -- and we suspect he may have played the accordion as well as sung -- the lyrics are by Said al Shafei. 

Each track grows in intensity as it goes on -- listen all the way through.

 

(Listen to "Safar Habibi")

(Listen to "Mawal Allah")