Listen to the record

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Some records make you drop everything and leave. Fine Anyway by Rogér Fakhr does just that: soft guitar, a calm voice, late-afternoon light, and the exact feeling of driving toward the sea with a neatly folded heartbreak in the glove compartment. But the story behind the record is far from postcard-perfect. In the 1970s, Rogér Fakhr wrote and recorded in Beirut as the country’s music scene was being cut off mid-flight. War came, venues closed, musicians fled, projects stalled. Fakhr moved through Paris, played in the Metro, returned to Lebanon, and left again. His music kept going, but without the steady world that might have carried it. Fine Anyway circulated like a private object: roughly 200 hand-dubbed cassettes with sleeves he drew himself. Sunny, folk-leaning, with jazz, soul and a touch of psychedelia, it was destined to live in suitcases, living rooms, memories and a few musician circles. For decades it almost disappeared. Then Habibi Funk reissued it in 2021. Something small and beautiful happened: a Lebanese summer we thought lost began to exist again in the headphones of people who weren’t even there. Maybe that’s why the record lands so hard. It doesn’t sound like a dusty archive. It sounds like the beach you missed, the terrace you would’ve loved, a youth interrupted that still manages a gentle smile. Handy, then, for driving to the sea feeling free, nostalgic and marginally deeper than you expected. Quick facts: Work: Fine Anyway Artist: Rogér Fakhr Country / era: Lebanon, 1970s Reissue: Habibi Funk, 2021 Listen via the link in bio. Credits: Music: Rogér Fakhr Reissue: Habibi Funk Records Images: Rogér Fakhr archives / Habibi Funk / D.R.