Mustafa - Dunya (Ghaba Green Vinyl)

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-scenes pop songwriting force. On Dunya, he becomes a full-on auteur in his own right.

GHABA GREEN vinyl produced by Arts & Crafts Records in 2024.

TRACKLISTING:

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