• Dalton

Dalton - Alech / Soul Brother

Habibi Funk

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Excellent outernational Soul music from around 71/72 -


Always a nice surprise to hear a great example of musical cross pollination, and this one-off release from a Tunisian band that learnt their trade mainly in a Hotel venue, counts as one of these stories.

The A-Side 'Alech' wins for it's originality (after all we haven't heard a huge amount of authentic soul music sung in the arabic tongue) but the B side 'Soul Brother' is the definite heartbreaker here... Lusciously slow and achingly smooth.

Pressed up on a 7" (wouldn't make sense on any other format!) via the Jakarta Records off-shoot 'Habibi Funk' - dedicated to re-releasing music from the Arab side of the world, this disc is a nice addition for all collectors and purveyors of the smooth groove.

Check the history, from the label itself:

"Dalton was a band from Tunis, the capital of Tunisia. They came together as a band around 1968 when most of the members studied together at the University of Tunis. The band had five members. Faouzi Chekili on guitar, piano and vocals, Ridha Kouhen on bass guitar, Mustapha Rehouma and sax and percussion, Sadok Gharbi on trumpet and vocals and Skaner Alim on drums and vocals.

They were active in the local scene, playing music that was heavily influenced by American soul and funk and at the same time regional musical traditions. In the early 70s the band got a regular gig at a beach hotel called Sahara Beach Resort on the coastline of Tunisia.

They had six month contracts for a couple of years in the early 70s and during that time they would play every single night of the tourist season. While the hotel gig required the band to play sets leaning towards tourist entertainment, the regular work helped put some money into the band's accounts. Using those funds the band was able to travel to Rome to record their one and only 7“ single release "Alech" around 1971/1972. The band eventually dismantled in the mid 70s and returned briefly as a new group with new members in the late 1970s under the name Carthago but that is a different story."

Printed sleeve and insert.

Alech



Soul Brother