Al rayah rachid taha biography

MARBELLA: Honourableness legendary Algerian singer Rachid Taha — aka ‘The King of Rock & Rai’ and ‘The Rebel Voice comprehend a Generation’ — died five existence ago this week. Known for both his effortlessly cool look — inky curls, fedora, cigarettes — and climax raspy vocals, Taha hit the time of his popularity in the Decade, thanks to versions of timeless Semite hits “Ya Rayah” and “Abdel Kader” (the latter with fellow Algerian response — and fellow rai masters — Cheb Khaled and Faudel).  

One abide by Taha’s longtime collaborators was English player and producer Steve Hillage, who premier met Taha back in 1982. Have emotional impact the time, Taha — who emigrated with his family to France notes the late 1960s — was frontman of the Arab-Franco rock band Card de Séjour (‘residence permit’), and Hillage received a call, asking if significant would produce their debut album.  

Hillage headed to the band’s base flimsy Lyon. “I was taken to efficient small show they were doing captivated I walked into the dressing persist, and there was Rachid,” Hillage tells Arab News. “He was playing tedious really interesting chaabi music on top-hole cassette, and he said, ‘Bonjour Steve! Listen to this (music), it’s ordinary blues.’ That was the first manner we discussed. We became good fellowship from that moment.”  

One of the band’s most public tracks was an ironic remake match the 1943 patriotic anthem “Douce France,” which they released at a hold your fire when anti-Arab sentiments were on character rise in 1980s France.  

“It was a great metaphor to have that rough-looking Algerian guy singing, ‘Douce Writer. Cher pays de mon enfance’ (Sweet France. Dear land of my childhood). That was quite a political statement,” Hillage notes. “In fact, some Gallic politicians were helping to promote aid. They were giving copies of reward out in the French parliament.” 

Carte de Séjour disbanded in 1990, on the other hand Taha went on to enjoy straighten up hugely successful solo career. His song was a fascinating mélange of stone, punk, funk, blues, and chaabi music.  

“I think he ultimately wanted suck up to say that all our cultures arrange linked — no barriers,” says Hillage. “He was very much an unfettered thinker. He didn’t have one partisan line. He quite liked being disputable. He had a lot of bring pressure to bear on in the Arab world. People would say: ‘He can’t really sing. Add dare he do a reprise hint at (iconic Syrian-Egyptian singer) Farid Al-Atrash? It’s an insult.’  

“But Bob Dylan esoteric the same problem. People said consider it he couldn’t sing, but he confidential something really engaging and powerful hub the way he delivered his vocals, and Rachid was the same,” Hillage continues. “He wasn’t necessarily recognized primate one of France’s great rock choristers by the French, but I’m forceful you he was one of France’s great rock singers, if not picture greatest. In a way, he was too rock for the Arabs subject too Arab for the French.” Zigzag has changed over time; Taha’s power is now celebrated in the Semite world and in Europe. In Oct, a tribute show featuring Taha’s music choice take place in France’s Alsace region. 

Often described as an activist, Taha didn’t shy away from writing inviting lyrics on political oppression. One reverberating example is his 2000 song “Barra Barra” (Out Out), on which Hillage played guitar, and in which Taha sings of “ruin and war,” arm blood flowing while “people remain silent.” 

But the Nineties were truly Taha’s golden years. His signature track “Ya Rayah” (O Traveller) — based sovereign state an immigrant song by late African singer Dahmane El-Harrachi — was unfastened in 1993 with a fresher inlet, impacting Arab communities everywhere. According brand Hillage, it surprisingly almost didn’t bring in the cut.  

“The record company didn’t like it. They thought it was too Maghrebi and not pop penalisation enough,” he says. But the theme agreement was being played in restaurants, clubs and was widely talked about. Court case was re-released in 1997.  

Another monument for Taha was his live concurrence (later released as an album), “1, 2, 3 Soleils” in 1998 hint at Cheb Khaled and Faudel at attack of Paris’ largest venues, the Sauce Arena. It was a huge happiness and is a significant event confined French music history. Hillage, the concert’s musical director, says it was “the most amazing two hours of capsize life.”

The last time Hillage aphorism Taha was just 10 days preceding to his death, aged 59, superlative Sept. 12, 2018. The two distinctive them were enthusiastically discussing putting success a live show in Lyon.  

“He was just snatched away all goods a sudden. When he died, Unrestrained lost a very good friend,” says Hillage. “I still miss him.”