Tunisian producer, Sofyann Ben Youssef, aka Ammar 808, has released his latest track alongside frequent collaborator, countryman and singer, Cheb Hassen Tej. The pair had previously worked on four tracks that appeared on Ammar’s debut LP, Maghreb United, which ended up being included in Bandcamp’s Best Albums of Spring 2018 list, and SceneNoise's own 50 Best Middle Eastern Albums of 2018 list.

'Zawali Fitness Club' revolves around the daily struggle sof the impoverished man, or “zawali” in the Tunisian dialect, with Cheb Hassen’s lyrics translating to, "Whether you run or not (after life), you survive on yesterday’s bread, stolen, fed up, gone, sunk. Zawali fitness club.” The track sees no major shift in Sofyann’s production, which is far from a downfall considering how isolated and in-demand his North African/electronic sound is at the moment.


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Main image by Celine Meunier.