Benadryl Fever Dreams

Bouteldja Belkacem - Milouda Ouine Kounti

A quick sidenote before setting you up for today’s hymnal: A few weeks ago, in the manic period of me discovering this platform, signing up and planning my complete media empire, I applied for a number of fellowships that Substacks was offering. I didn’t really expect to win one, there are a number of really interesting and way more deserving writers using this service, and I’m more disappointed that some of the ones I subscribe to and really believe in, like Micro-Chop (https://microchop.substack.com/), didn’t get picked. That said, it did lead to a familiar period of self-doubt, which is why today’s post is coming so late in the day. I’ve put a lot of time into SERMONS! (and the overall bigger picture Musik Klub) over the past 5 years or so. I regularly ask myself why it even matters, since it really hasn’t given me much back in return. Maybe it’s all a pipe dream that people still appreciate a music guide or maybe I just haven’t used the right technology, or maybe my interests are way too far spread. I don’t know. I get really passionate about this stuff, and expect everyone else to as well, which is the first foolish mistake anyone can make about sharing their passions. Also, I could be a terrible writer and maybe should just stick to putting together video screenings and playing records.

But since I can’t do that for the foreseeable future, my obsessive hunt for the great music of the world is limited to this. I’d love to see this grow though. If you know anyone who might appreciate this weird thing, please share it with them. And if you have any feedback, give it to me. This is all an experiment anyway and the stakes are so low.

And now for todays song.

I’d like to do some deeper research here, because the ethnomusicological aspect of Raï music deserves some digging into for some long form writing in the future. Raï music originated in Oran, Algeria. Oran is also the setting of Camus’ The Plague. Coincidences that have nothing to do with this song choice, but are worth noting since that book was a on a lot of people’s tongues back in April and May. I originally included this song on a playlist to accompany a lecture a few years back on fascism in the Muslim world. All of these things are timely in some way. I love this record cover also.