Mustafa Dunya Vinyl LP Ghaba Green Colour 2024
Tracklist:
1. Name of God
2. What Happened, Mohamed?
3. Imaan
4. What good is a heart?
5. SNL
6. I’ll Go Anywhere
7. Beauty, end
8. Old Life
9. Gaza is Calling
10. Leaving Toronto
11. Hope is a knife
12. Nouri
Dunya, the title of Mustafa’s masterfully crafted and breathtakingly tender full-length debut, roughly translates from
Arabic to “the world in all its flaws.” It’s a lofty subject for a young songwriter, but as with every theme at the heart of the Sudanese-Canadian artist’s work—from religious devotion to childhood trauma, gang violence to romantic intimacy—he
approaches it through a personal lens. Blending genres and moods, weaving novelistic details into instantly memorable folk
songs, he has crafted a record that feels like a series of personal breakthroughs, arriving one after the other.
The first thing that strikes you about Mustafa’s music has always been his writing: a simple, piercing tone that can make any
story feel as raw and earnest as the words to a love song. With a hushed delivery that can silence his surroundings, Mustafa
evolved swiftly from a child prodigy reciting poems throughout his native Toronto to a behind-the-songs pop songwriting force. On Dunya, he becomes a full-on auteur in his own right.
“I’m trying to preserve and celebrate the ordinary life in the hood,” Mustafa notes of his lyrical inspiration. Exploring his
upbringing and trajectory onward, these songs are equally disarming in their simplicity and multilayered in their emotional
breadth. Featuring appearances from collaborators such as Aaron Dessner, Rosalía, Clairo, Nicolas Jaar, and more, alongside
Mustafa’s longtime creative partner Simon Hessmann, the music reveals a confident, distinctive voice that’s never sounded
more poised for the masses. Even when it sounds like he’s taking on the world, Mustafa is speaking only for himself: a story
that he knows is just getting started.