ITAI – “Hafla In Wancy’s World” EP [The Teddy Bear Lounge]

ITAI drops Middle-East-inspired track “Hafla In Wancy’s World” and a remix of KÖNI’s “Indian Resurrection”

ITAI is an American organic house producer who dropped a remix and new original material in January 2024.

Earlier in January, ITAI featured an up-tempo remix of KÖNI’s “Indian Resurrection” that was released by the highly respected record label Pipe & Pochet. Later in January, he also released “Unfinished 08 – Hafla in Wancy‘s World” via his own record label The Teddy Bear Lounge.

Both of the releases have dynamic percussion and organic sounds with cultural heritage, as “Unfinished 08 – Hafla in Wancy’s World” is inspired by the hafla parties that are traditional to Morocco and the Middle East. KÖNI’s “Indian Resurrection” is inspired by traditional Indian music, and ITAI’s remix uses the vocals and snippets of traditional flute melody from the original.

Of the two releases that ITAI put out in January, the remix is the more tightly sequenced of the two, and it’s got a melodic flow that lifts the tempo from 116 BPM to around 124 BPM…

“Unfinished 08 – Hafla in Wancy’s World” is a lot more free-flowing with its plodding piano chords and shuffling percussion, but it’s the Arabic melodies of the clarinet that really define its sound. There are also some trippy atmospherics and an acid synth that bring hallucinatory elements to the track.

The Arabic clarinet and accordion that plays in sections of “Unfinished 08 – Hafla in Wancy’s World” are both instruments that are traditional to a hafla, and they play the uplifting melodies that are associated with the cultural folk law of the party…

It’s also touching that “Unfinished 08 – Hafla in Wancy’s World” is dedicated to ITAI’s partner Wancy who loves a social gathering and the party atmosphere of a hafla, plus other similar events.

It’s great to see that ITAI is already off to a strong start in 2024, as he was making waves in 2023, and looks like he has no plans to slow down this year.

You can buy both of ITAI’s new releases now on Beatport.