Charif Megarbane

Hawalat is a kaleidoscopic fusion of groove, nostalgia, and experimentation—an album that feels like flipping through an old Mediterranean photo album while an old tape machine hums in the background. Lebanese multi-instrumentalist Charif Megarbane continues his signature approach of crate-digging through his own imagination, crafting soundtracks for films that don’t exist—but should.

Rooted in Beirut but sonically borderless, Hawalat blends dusty funk riffs, lo-fi jazz vignettes, cinematic soul, and vintage Arabesque flair. It’s playful yet contemplative, sunlit yet smoky. Megarbane pulls from the golden eras of Lebanese pop, Italian library music, Ethiopian jazz, and French chanson—but never imitates. Instead, he repurposes and recontextualizes, turning nostalgia into texture, and kitsch into elegance.

The tracks often feel like sketches—short, intentional, and alive with mood. There’s a sense of collage to it all, like a filmmaker splicing together scenes from different decades and countries, unified by tone rather than story. Hawalat resists genre boxes; it’s mood music for the globally minded, the retro romantics, the crate-diggers, and the dreamers.

A sun-drenched tapestry of retro funk, cinematic soul, and Middle Eastern groove, Hawalat is Charif Megarbane’s masterclass in global crate-digging cool. Playful, poetic, and unmistakably personal, this is mood music for imaginary films and real-life wanderers.