Karim Shakry | My Wonder Land b/w Ramadan (Sono Cairo)

Singer and lyricist Karim Shakry released fewer than a dozen singles in the early to mid-1960s, all of them on Egyptian labels. Most were in Arabic, but a couple, including this 7", were in English. Given that another English-language single for which Shakry wrote the lyrics was 1961's "Take Me Back to Cairo," our best guess is that our man was possibly not living in Egypt when he cut these. The fact that his two compilations ("The Perfumed Garden of Allah" and "Take Me Back to Cairo") were released decades apart on LP and CD by Canadian imprints, we suspect Shakry might have been an Egyptian-Canadian performer.

Egyptian composer Taha al-Ugayl wrote the music for each of these delightful tracks; novelist and journalist Gazbia Sidqi wrote the lyrics for Side A's "Wonderland"; Shakry wrote them for Side B's "Ramadan." We have never heard a song quite like the swinging "Ramadan," and we strongly suggest you listen to that one first, if you're in any doubt about whether this record is download-worthy.

"Wonderland" is no less swinging and features some of the strangest tourism-forward lyrics we've ever heard ("The Aswan Dam/ Tells you 'I am/ the greatest wonder/ made by man'") delivered with the utmost heartfelt deadpan care over a swinging 60s Egyptian beat.

(Listen to "My Wonder Land")

As delightfully puzzling as that track is, it's "Ramadan" that had us sitting up and taking notice the first time we gave it a spin. A rocking mid-sixties track hyping the act of fasting and praying throughout the daylight hours is not something we've spent any time imagining might exist out there on 7" 45 RPM vinyl, but it does, dear reader, let us emphatically assure you that it does.

(Listen to "Ramadan")