Peter Holslin is Seth Rogen’s stunt double
I realized recently that I’m a desert person. I enjoy a hike up a mountain from time to time, and as a resident of Southern California, I know the beauty of the beach more than most. But for years, it’s the sand dunes and backcountry scrub that’s drawn me in. When I went to Joshua Tree National Park in the Mojave Desert a couple months ago, I enjoyed just standing there, letting the sun press down against me. The heat was exhausting and intense, but purifying.
The music on this mixtape is perfect for warm, desert listening. It all comes from North Africa—mostly Algeria, but there’s also a few tracks from Morocco and Egypt. This region is home to the vast and forbidding Saharan Desert, but also the River Nile, many coastal cities and cosmopolitan metropolises. So I can’t say all of this music is “desert” music; in fact, some of it is distinctly urban. But there’s a relentlessness and potency to these songs that set them well against a merciless sun and nice, dry heat.
1. “El Chira illi Nbigha” – Bellemou Messaoud & Ourad Houari
2. “Chab El Goum” – Cheikha Rimitti
3. Unknown title – Cheb Khaled
4. “Darti Fiya Rayek” – Cheb Hasni
5. “Chenar Le Blues” – Les Abranis
6. “Said Fafy Drum Solo” – Hassan Hakmoun / Night Spirit Masters
7. “Dellali” – Houari Benchenet
8. “Evaporating Borders” – Various Artists
9. “I’m the one whose life is so wrong” – DJ Amr Haha
10. “Kwit Galbi Wahdi” – Chebba Djenet
11. “Ana Dellali” – Cheb Zergui
12. “Maktoub Rabi” – Cheikh El Meskine
13. “Chebba” – Cheb Khaled
