v/a BORN IN THE CITY OF TANTA: LOWER EGYPTIAN URBAN FOLKLORE & BEDOUIN SHAABI LP

$

40

(Various Artists) 'Born In The City Of Tanta - Lower Egyptian Urban Folklore And Bedouin Shaabi From Libya's Bourini Records 1968-75' LP (US, Sublime Frequencies, Catalogue #SF127) Brand new/unplayed copy (still factory sealed) of limited (and now SOLD OUT/OUT OF PRINT) year 2025 Sublime Frequencies label LP edition/collection of rare recordings originally issued on the Libyan Bourini Records label on an album entitled Born In The City Of Tanta - Lower Egyptian Urban Folklore And Bedouin Shaabi From Libya's Bourini Records 1968-75. For fans of the historical/ethnographic field recordings LPs on the Folkways and Ocora labels.

(NOTE: ALL RECORDS ARE PACKED AND SHIPPED IN PROFESSIONAL, SUPERIOR QUALITY RECTANGULAR SHAPED, CORNER PROTECTING CORRUGATED CARDBOARD RECORD MAILERS WITH FILLER PADS. SATISFACTION GUARANTEED!)

(NOTE: BRAND NEW/FACTORY SEALED ITEM!)

(NOTE: LIMITED VINYL EDITION!)

Egypt’s “official” popular music throughout much of the 20th Century was a complex form of art song steeped in tradition, well-loved by the middle and upper classes, and even accommodating to certain non-Arabic influences. It was highly structured by professional musicians working an established industry centered in the capitol, Cairo.

However, far from the bustling cosmopolitan center of Cairo, north and northwest, in towns like Tanta and Alexandria and extending across the Saharan Desert to the Libyan border, dozens of fully marginalized artists were developing a raw, hybrid shaabi/al-musiqa al-shabiya style of music, supported by smaller upstart, independent labels, including the short-lived but deeply resonant Bourini Records.

Launched in the late 1960s in Benghazi, Libya, Astuanat al-Bourini اسطوانات البوريني (Bourini Records) published some 40 to 50 titles from 1968 to 1975. Bourini released 7-inch 45 RPM singles by 15 artists, all but one of them Egyptian, igniting brief careers for Alexandrian singer Sheikh Amin Abdel Qader and the blind Bedouin legend Abu Bakr Abdel Aziz (aka Abu Abab).
The tracks compiled here comprise a full range of styles covered by the label, while highlighting some of its most gob smacking moments, from Basis Rahouma’s beastly transformation into a growling and barking man-lion by the end of “Yana Alla Nafsa Masouda,” to Reem Kamal’s hopeful-if-bitter handclapping party pivot “Baed Al Yas Yjini,” which descends into an almost Velvet Underground outro-groove of nihilistic dissonance.

All the tracks on this compilation were laid down in stark divergence from the mainstream Egyptian popular music topography of heightened emotions buoyed by lush arrangements. The contrast is most evident in Mahmoud al-Sandidi’s “Ana Mish Hafwatak,” wherein his voice weaves heavily but deftly through a constant accordion drone, and Abu Abab’s “Al Bint al Libya,” a sparse, slow-burning lament with minimal percussion, violin, and Abab’s nephew Hamed Abdel Muna'im Mursi on lyre.

Whereas the Egyptian mainstream was aspirational, attempting to reflect Egyptian culture at its most refined, the performances captured by Bourini were manifestations of everyday life lived by the mostly otherwise ignored masses.

More than half century old, this music has lost none of its urgency, presence, or relevance. We hear these artists as if they’d just joined us in our living room, and not on a stage decades ago surrounded by tens of thousands of long-forgotten acolytes.

Tracks on this LP are as follows:

Shipping rates to the following locations at this present time (note: all shipping rates are subject to change.)

Shipping in US (including ALASKA & HAWAII), PUERTO RICO (MEDIA MAIL) is $6.98.

Shipping to CANADA (AIRMAIL) is $21.98.

Shipping to UK, EUROPE, RUSSIA, GREECE, TURKEY, ASIA, CHINA, JAPAN, KOREA, SINGAPORE, THAILAND, VIETNAM, INDIA, AUSTRALIA, NEW ZEALAND, SOUTH SANDWICH ISLANDS, ETC. (AIRMAIL) is $25.98.

Shipping to MEXICO, CENTRAL AMERICA (AIRMAIL) is $26.98.

Shipping to SOUTH AMERICA: BRAZIL, CHILE, ARGENTINA, URUGUAY, PARAGUAY, BOLIVIA, PERU, ECUADOR, COLOMBIA, VENEZUELA, GUYANA, SURINAME, FRENCH GUIANA (AIRMAIL) is $26.98.

Shipping totals will be consolidated for multiple orders/winning bids.

Record shipped in professional, superior rectangular shaped, corner-protecting corrugated cardboard record mailer with filler pads. Satisfaction guaranteed!

----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

HOW WE SHIP RECORDS (AND OTHER ITEMS) TO YOU:

With the exception of a few odd-sized items, ALL LPs are packaged for shipment and sent to you in PROFESSIONAL QUALITY, SUPERIOR RECTANGULAR SHAPED, CORNER-PROTECTING CORRUGATED CARDBOARD RECORD MAILERS WITH FILLER PADS. SATISFACTION GUARANTEED!

We are record collectors here, too, and we pledge to package your records (or any other item) in a way in which we would like to have records/other items packaged, sent to us and received by us as well.

When packaging up records that are non-factory sealed items (as is standard for many import releases) or are open "used" items for shipment, we remove the LP and inner-sleeve from the album cover and place them on the outside of the cover to protect the cover from being subjected to any potential seam-splitting during transit.

When packaging up factory sealed records for shipment, we leave the item sealed, intact, as is. HOWEVER. If a customer REQUESTS that we unseal a factory sealed record to send with the LP and inner sleeve on the outside of the cover (to protect the cover from any potential seam-splitting during transit) we will do so. Please be sure to make this request of unsealing your record for shipment if that is your packaging preference.

When packaging up non-factory sealed items (or factory sealed items that have been unsealed at the buyer's request) that have custom company or other manner of printed inner-sleeves, we remove the record from those printed inner sleeves (returning the printed inner sleeves back into the album cover) and place them inside brand new, generic white paper inner sleeves, which are then placed on the outside of the album cover to protect both the album cover AND the original printed inner sleeves from being subjected to any potential seam splitting during transit. We do this for all new AND used items that are in our stock.

All LPs, be they new or used, are sheathed inside of new, protective plastic outer sleeves (with the exceptions of space or weight limitations that may occur with packaging your items - such exceptions will take place when they allow for a lower cost of shipping charged for your total order.)

We go the extra mile to protect and preserve your items, folks!

With but a few exceptions (odd size combined orders or other package configurations and considerations...)

All 12" records are sent to you packaged in quality 15" x 1" x 13" rectangular shaped corrugated cardboard LP mailers.

All 10" records are sent to you packaged in quality 13" x 1" x 13" square shaped corrugated cardboard LP mailers.

All 7" records are sent to you packaged in quality 8" x 1" x 8" square shaped corrugated cardboard 7" record mailers.

All Compact Discs are sent to you packaged in quality 7" x 1" x 5" rectangular shaped cardboard CD mailers.

All Cassettes are sent to you packaged in quality 5 1/2" x 1" x 3" rectangular shaped cardboard Cassette mailers

(Note: Cassettes sent to international addresses will be packaged in a larger box of some appropriate size configuration to accommodate the size and application of mailing/customs labels sent to international addresses.)

All Cassettes and CDs or records that come packaged in odd-sized or odd-custom packaging are sent to you in quality corrugated cardboard boxes of various unspecified dimensions, with various sorts of interior padding (styrofoam peanuts, bubble wrap, cardboard filler pads, etc.) to protect and preserve your items. 

----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

If you have any questions about any items that we have in stock or anything else, please feel free to inquire with us at any time (we are at your service and will get back to you with answers to your questions as soon as possible.)

----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

WE ARE GRATEFUL FOR ALL OF OUR CUSTOMERS (be they first time customers or our many repeat customers) and WE GREATLY APPRECIATE YOUR PATRONAGE!

----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------