Habibi Gün showcases the works of revered Arab composers such as Riyad al Sunbati and Mohammed Fawzi alongside Western influences like Ennio Morricone, Link Wray, and that late, great Lebanese-American, Dick Dale. The resulting listening experience is sprawling, evocative, and unique—stark and contemplative one moment, abandoned and trance-inducing the next.

The musical collective began as a whimsical and wide-ranging pandemic recording project in which guitarist/multi-instrumentalist/arranger/producer Josh Farrar collaborated on an eclectic and elaborate set of cover songs with local Arab and American musicians including: percussionists Gilbert Mansour and Philip Mayer; reedists Gideon Forbes and Daro Behroozi; kanunists John Murchison and Firas Zreik; and trumpeter Kenny Warren.

The current lineup features Farrar (Spanish Johnny’s Opera, The Foster Family, Bil Afrah Project) and Forbes (NYAO, Nortonk, Brooklyn Nomads), bassist James “Sprocket” Royer (Souren Baronian, Taqsim, NYAO), violinist Insia Malik (NYAO, National Arabic Orchestra, Bassam Saba, Simon Shaheen), oudist/guitarist Gabe Lavin (NYAO, Near East Ensemble, Naseer Shamma’s Oud Orchestra) and on percussion, Inside Arabic Music co-author, Johnny Farraj. (Percussionist Rich Stein is Chief Branding Officer.)

The stylistic range of the compositions — from 60s bellydance to Sun Ra to Black Sabbath and back — keeps both listeners and musicians on their toes. For Farrar, a rock musician who has been immersed in Arabic music for the last decade, and his collaborators, Habibi Gün offers an opportunity to put Western and Middle Eastern genres in conversation with each other, resulting in an idiosyncratic variant of that dirty “f” word — fusion — that is curious, delightful and strange to behold.