The story of Sudanese band The Scorpios is one about self-reliance, determination, and the wonders that can happen when sounds from different parts of the world converge in a cosmopolitan city, as Khartoum has always been. The band was equally as inspired by Sudan’s “Jazz King” Sharhabeel Ahmed as they were by Louis Armstrong, Ethiopian saxophone player Getachew Mekuria, The Beatles, and the stars of Afrobeat. The problem though was that many of the instruments they needed were not so available in Khartoum — the band had to build their own drum kit, and initially borrow a saxophone from a local highschool. You’d never know it listening to the Habibi Funk reissue though, which sounds like it was recorded just the other day in a top notch studio rather than in 1980. Despite the title, the record is a collection of upbeat, funky pop songs with an unmistakably East African spirit, from the soulful, slightly warbling voice of Saif Abu Bakr, to the echoes of soukous and Ethiopian Jazz.