Rachid Taha - Voila Voilà (feat. Brian Eno) (from album #zoom) A year ago, my Algerian peer Rachid Taha left us due to a heart attack.
He was one of the main representatives of the so-called "pop" raï scene, characterized by continuous mutations within it.
The "Raï" style originates from the intersection of different cultures (Spanish, Bedouin, French, Moroccan, and, of course, Algerian).
All this developed in the years following World War II, in Algeria and particularly in the city of Oran (perhaps precisely because it is the most multicultural), quite libertine with its, ahem, "shady" nightclubs and beyond.
It is a style born from traditional Algerian music (specifically "Raï") and the blending first with French music, and increasingly later with Anglo-Saxon rock, largely due to the introduction of instruments that had until then been practically never used, such as basses and electric guitars.
Starting from the 1970s, and particularly the 1980s, pop-raï began to achieve commercial success even beyond Algerian borders, riding the wave of "world music."
Rachid Taha can be considered on the same level as the more well-known Cheb Khaled (his friend and partner in some performances), as well as a composer and singer. RT also played the guitar and, throughout his intense career, collaborated with artists of the caliber of Steve Hillage from "Gong," Robert Plant from "Led Zeppelin," Patti Smith, and as we can hear from the posted video, even with the unexpected Brian Eno and, well...
