The Free Music

One of the many African bands in the 1970s who married funk, reggae, and soul to traditional sounds, Libya's the Free Music took the added step of adding hard-edged, guitar-solo-heavy disco to the mix as the decade moved forward. Led by guitarist and singer Najib Alhoush, the group issued ten albums while trying (and sometimes failing) to stay on the good side of an oppressive government. Their music was discovered by the Habibi Funk label, which gave the band their first worldwide release with the 2023 compilation Free Music (Part 1).