A
gig
held at The Jam Jar
on Saturday 10th May. The event starts at 19:00.
The Jam Jar and Habibi Funk hosts two incredibly talented Lebanese jazz, folk, funk & soul artists from across two generations to the Jam Jar. This will be Roger's first tour since recording his last record in 1981.
Both hailing from Beirut, Charif Megarbane and Rogér Fakhr represent two generations of artists pushing Lebanese music culture forwards, with Rogér starting his career in the late 70's, and Charif taking the helm in more recent years.
Rogér has developed an incredibly strong cult following, with his lost tapes recorded in 1970s Beirut (and later in Paris during the Lebanese civil war) finally being released to the public by Habibi Funk in 2021 on the LP 'Fine Anyway', followed with a second album release 'East of Any Place' in 2023.
Nobody could have expected just how strongly this would connect with the modern audience - on Spotify alone 'Fine Anyway' has so far racked up 25million streams and while Rogér currently has 250k monthly listeners. Rogér is now in the studio recording new material.
Charif is a polymath of the truest sorts - producer, composer, multi-instrumentalist who is prolific with his output (80 albums in 10 years!). His full length LP 'Marzipan' was released on Habibi Funk 2023 to critical acclaim, including a feature as Bandcamp's Album of the Day, as well as praise from Time and The Skinny. Under his main alternative moniker Cosmic Analog Ensemble, Charif also released "Les Grandes Vacances" in January 2024 to critical accolades, including Bandcamp Album of the Day. Charif is set to release an eagerly-awaited new album in Spring 2025 via Habibi Funk.
While Charif has toured live since the Marzipan release, with sold out shows at Jazz Cafe in London, Hosoi in Stockholm and Le Bellevilloise in Paris, Rogér had not performed in public for decades - that is before he took to the stage of a sold out EartH in London in late 2024 - a truly special and emotional night, which saw Charif perform his own set as well as performing as the backing band for Rogér too.
To Rogér's humble surprise, he witnessed full audience renditions of his songs - written discreetly over four decades ago - now connecting with a modern crowd of all ages and backgrounds.
Together, Charif and Rogér now look forward to bringing this truly unique show to cities around Europe for the very first time.