Reaper sound recors, the first independent algerian record label
Badra Hafiane, Nabil Allaoua / Algeria
Badra Hafiane, Nabil Allaoua / Algeria
Mayhem Corporation is an artistic activism collective that was launched in 2015. Its latest offspring Reaper Sound Record (RSR) is Algeria's first independent record label.
We are at Sidi Abdallah's Cyber Park, 25 km west of Algiers.
On the building's entrance it's mentioned “incubateur”, the French word for incubator. A bunch of young people play ping pong in a big room. This ping pong table is located in one of the recreational areas within the capital's high-tech hub. Around it, all players are initiators of projects in their incubation phase.
Two of them, Zakaria Mohamed Brahami and Omar Haddad, wholeheartedly wished to produce independent musicians from the local scene. Both are aware of the difficulties ahead – the music industry sector being already under the control of older recording companies such as Sun house, Disco Maghreb and other major music labels. But that didn't stop the two friends from pursuing this new and risky adventure for Algeria.
Reaper Sound Record (RSR) mainly targets young artists missing support and money, ranging from metal to rap, rock, modern and even instrumental music. RSR is an engaged label.
Its founders champion an independent and free creation, meaning freedom against the state as a source of funding, but also freedom against the current artistic environment which suffocates under the diktat of commercial production.
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