AAJ » Music » Regional » Africa » Algeria » Bands and Artists
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- Al-Jazairia, Warda@ (18)
- Khaled, Cheb@ (2)
- Sabbah, Cheb i@ (4)
- Zazou, Hector@ (1)
Raï - Rebel Music from Algeria
What is raï? To call "pop music" a form of rebel music is to court ridicule. Many Western music lovers, justifiably jaded by a prevalence of inane lyrics and sickeningly commercial motives in pop music, would be hard pressed to take seriously any person who makes such a claim. How can pop be rebel? After all, "rebel" is supposed to be counterculture and antiestablishment, not mainstream pap mass-produced and shoved down our throats by a few big record companies. Enter raï (pronounced with the accent on the second syllable, so that it rhymes with "why stay?"), the name Algerians have given their pop music. What makes raï so rebel, so politically charged, is the fact that it goes against the hard-line conservative government, a religiously fundamentalist establishment. Unlike traditional music, with its subtlety, flowery language, and innocuous subject matters, raï is notable for its blunt imagery and willingness to tackle subjects such as sex, booze, lust, and drink - all of which the deeply religious establishment frowns upon. Still, it is not so much the subject matter in raï that makes it so rebel, for the topics are all rather lacking in political bite. Instead, it's the fact that raï deals with such hedonistic and "party hearty" topics so openly in a country where the ruling party is a conservative religious faction. That, in short, is why raï by definition is highly antiestablishment. Even after reading the above explanation, many readers will still be skeptical. How does one define rebel? After all, many pop musicians try to act the rebel in an effort to better market their music. So exactly how rebel is raï? Consider the following comparison: American rap and Algerian raï are both styles born out of a strong local culture which use the language of the street to express opinions about street life. They value lyrical improvisation and "borrow" musical ideas from many sources if and when necessary. They antagonise the values of "decent" society and the cultural mainstream. They are the musical styles most favoured by the dispossessed in their respective countries, by those who have little to loose [sic] and a lot to say. And for both, their paths to international fame have been littered with controversy and misunderstanding. Just as folk who live comfortably within the cultural pale in America wince when they hear words like "bitch" and "uzi" coming from the mouth of a rap artist, so the cultural muftis of the Maghreb turn red when they hear tales of drunkenness, despair, sex, and hedonism from the lips of a teenage cheb. ["Cheb" is a prefix many male raï singers attach to their names; it translates to both "youth(ful)" and "charming." Female raï singers use "chaba" instead of "cheb."] (Morgan 413) Also, consider that Algeria faced civil war not so long ago. Consider that some famous musicians were killed in the midst of it all. For instance, raï singer Cheb Hasni was assassinated by an extremist Islamic group in 1994. Consider that Cheb Khaled, the so-called king of raï, fled Algeria in fear for his life and now lives in exile in Paris. Consider that many raï musicians have left Algeria for France - where there have long been sizable Algerian and other North African diasporas - and that this exodus has made Paris one of the two main hubs of raï music and album production (the other being Cairo, in Egypt). If all this is hard for a U.S. person to imagine, then try imagining people like the Notorious B.I.G. and Bob Dylan being assassinated by an extreme conservative group sponsored by Jesse Helms. Try imagining Madonna and Ricky Martin fleeing the country for Canada because the American Christian right are out to get them - not because their music may or may not be terrible, but because they are singing sinful lyrics. Such comparisons may be slightly shocking, but they perfectly illustrate how politicized and "rebel" raï is, at least in its home country. Why listen to raï? Its controversial nature aside, the main reason why raï deserves recognition is for its quality. "Algerian pop music" is an inaccurate way to fully describe the sound of raï, as it implies that raï simply consists of Algerians trying to be Western and singing Western-style pop songs in Arabic instead of in English. In truth, raï goes much deeper. With blunt, simple lyrics drawn from the style of the street singing of underclass women in western Algeria, raï takes traditional Arabic elements of melody, intonation, instrumentation, and singing style and superimposes them on Western beats and rhythm structures. This produces an amalgam of sound that is catchy, well-crafted, highly unique, and eminently danceable. Raï can have a very traditional sound, or a very bright, cheery, pop sound; it can have a jazz flavor or it can epitomize the best of funk. In short, it is "world music" at its best. Indeed, raï's global quality is reinforced by the fact that practically all raï musicians sing in both French and Arabic, regularly mixing words and phrases from the two languages together (in French, "raï" is often pronounced as one syllable, like "rye"). This is not a surprising phenomenon, considering France's history as colonial master of Algeria and other areas on the African continent. There is even a large Spanish influence in raï's sound (after all, Spain is right next to Morocco, and like all North African countries it borders the Mediterranean). Raï is truly a form of global music, and it is definitely not just "Western music plus Algerian music." In the case of raï, the whole is much, much greater than the sum of its parts. While raï is rather unknown in the United States, its catchy quality and unique sound have made it a well-accepted genre of music in many parts of the globe, especially France (as mentioned earlier, France boasts a large North African population - another legacy of imperialism). In 1996, Khaled - for he's really too old to be called Cheb Khaled now - was the first musician to ever produce a number one hit song in France that was sung entirely in Arabic. (What's interesting is that France, after importing raï musicians as exiles from Algeria for many years, is now beginning to produce its own generation of young, French-born North African raï artists. Meanwhile, superb raï artists of Khaled's generation and a little bit younger such as Cheb Mami and the duo of Chaba Fadela & Cheb Sahraoui have tried to imitate Khaled's international success, but their popularity has been largely confined to North African countries and "world music" junkies.) Okay, raï sounds cool! What artists do you recommend? Below is a table listing raï artists whose CDs I highly recommend. I also have separate pages dedicated to a few of the musicians, where you'll find pictures, a little info, a short review, and a sound clip or two. Enjoy, and thanks for reading about raï!Contributed by: James/Ganymede
Links:
- Andaloussia Band - plays Chaabi, rai, and berber.
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