Tunisian producer Ghoula (ogre), head of the electro-cultural appropriation label, Shouka Records, announces his second album with “Jougar”, an exclusive single on PAM.
Whether it is Nuri, Mettani or Ghoula (from the Arabic al-ghoûla, “the ogre”)… At Shouka Records, the artists play masked. In the twilight of the year, the Tunisian-Lyonnais electronic stable continues to deploy its motto on the free world: “Third World music and cultural reappropriation“. While the label is preparing to release new nuggets of producer Khalil EPI – turbulent half of the duo Frigya – and the first and long-awaited album of Arabstazy which is in the works, the record company has just released “Jougar”, a new single from the second album of Ghoula.
“Jougar is the name of a village in the mountains of Tunisia, within the governorate of Zaghouan,” explained the Bass music producer. “In fact, I was looking to record women’s voices and forgotten songs, and I met three singers there that I recorded.“
Rocked by off-center bass music and mosaic experiments, the Tunisian producer breaks a progressive hit, oriented to the club, but firmly rooted in the popular sound heritage of North Africa: “yet, I am not a specialist in Tunisian heritage,” says Ghoula. “My approach is not academic, even if I was lucky enough to have access to some national funds, such as the association Nejma Ezzahra in Sidi Bou Said. In fact, I listen, and, if I feel something to develop, then I take my keyboard or my guitar. It’s a very subjective and sensitive approach. Jougar, as well as the other tracks of the upcoming album, start from a discovery and a feeling. When I started this piece, I immediately felt that it would work well, because there are two energies that confront each other, one very fluid and stable, the other vibrant. Almost frenetic. I like this question-answer dynamic in the music, and this perpetual movement that induces trance. I see there the common point between Stambeli, Funk, or even the music of Aphex Twin or that of Amon Tobin.“
With his first album “Hlib El Ghoula” (Ogresse Milk) released in 2016 on the label Shouka, Wael “Ghoula” Jegham conjured up fragments of his North African musical heritage with hints of IDM or sounds from the beat-making culture. Celebrated in our pages and everywhere around the Mediterranean, this first effort will give way to Demi-Skimmed, the producer’s second album, set for early 2023.
Jougar by Ghoula out 2023 via Shouka Records
