- Melbourne’s Left Ear Records has just come out with another exceptional reissue – this time of obscure Sydney artist Shahara-Ja. In the past they’ve rediscovered and reprinted brilliant funk and jazz like Starship Commander Wooooo Wooooo and 'Thesda, or lost-Aussie classic’s That Rongeng Sound by Leong Lau. All these discs were previously prohibitively expensive for the casual collector. That being said an LP’s price isn’t indicative of its musical quality. However, Left Ear has maintained its superb quality control, Shahar-Ja being a refined, fun piece of dance music.

Apparently the Arabian Knight 12” is Shahara-Ja’s singular recording, released in Sydney circa 1989. The enigmatic Ja was ostensibly “a regular on Sydney’s wedding and nightclub scene when his record was originally distributed”. Like so much great music it fell through the cracks until it was rediscovered years later, brought to light by a number of tasteful DJ mixes.

For a twenty+ year old track is stands-up pretty well. Apart from the somehwhat hokey-but-enjoyable lyrics, the backing is balanced and varied. First, the drums and bass remind me of the electro of Egyptian Lover or the freestyle produced by Pretty Tony for the likes of Debbie Deb. This is matched perfectly with dreamy pads, glockenspiel-equse synth hits, and tight guitar scratches. Providing that Arabic flavor is the lead-synth, that bends and contorts up and down minor scalings. For me there’s something timeless about that sort of playing, and it's why I’ve enjoyed the recent reissues on both Habibi Funk Records and Fortuna Records, as well as last year’s Ahmed Fakroun retrospective and represses.

Left Ear has done us proud again, proving themselves to be one of the best reissue labels not only in Australia, but Internationally. I can only hope they release more Aussie gold - a compilation of Peter Westheimer is out imminently which I’m hotly anticipating. If that’s the case, between them, Chapter Music, Dual Planet, Efficient Space, and a handful of others, there won’t be any more Aussie electronics left to uncover! I really hope that this is the case, because we make sense of the present by looking to the past, and for too long this music has been out-of-sight and out-of-mind.

- Hamish Hill.