We have been carrying the idea of a print music magazine for a while now. The idea behind Spotlights is to bring together some of the research we have done for our own releases but also include stories that go beyond the scope of our record label. It took us much longer than we planned but now eventually we're more than happy to share the result with you. 88 Pages, A4 format. Each magazine order comes with a free bonus poster by Raphaelle Macaron imagining the first Sun Ra concert in Egyp.
Gracing the cover of our first issue is the inimitable Sun Ra in 1971, performing in Cairo at the apartment of Cairo Jazz Band co-founder Hartmut Geerken. Alongside these magnificent photos, we publish a comprehensive final conversation with the late Geerken from his Germany home in 2021. We delve into the visual world of Moroccan studio photographer Fouad Zerrei, profile anonymous Soul singer Pale Jay, and explore Mulatu Astatke’s timeless Ethio-jazz hit Tezeta as a cinematic tool in RaMell Ross’ 2024 film Nickel Boys. We also invite vinyl collectors Algerian Vinyl and CrocoDiscos to share the most beloved records.
Edited by Armani Syed, texts by Ahmed Khalil, Yasser Abellatif, Gabrielle Messeder, Joshua Thermidor, Armani Syed & Jannis Stürtz, design by Robert Winter, Jeremias Diekmann and Raphaelle Macaron.
IMPORTANT FOR US CUSTOMERS: Currently due to the US government customs policies all available shipping companies have seized shipping to the USA. For the the Spotlights magazine we have found a fullfillment solution shipping from the USA for a small number of copies. Please keep in mind that this might cause delays for the magazine to get to you as we have to ship it in bulk to the USA first and get it broken up into individual orders from there. We are working for a soluition for our whole catalogue but this will realistically take some weeks until we are able to ship our whole catalogue to the USA again.