Search - Various Artists :: Pop Rai & Rachid Style

Before he was machine-gunned to death in 1995 by the Islamic Salvation Front, Algerian producer Rachid Baba Ahmed had almost single-handedly transformed traditional rai into sophisticated pan-Arabic pop music. This 1990 collection featuring some of the music's biggest names (including rai's "king," Cheb Khaled) would be the perfect introduction for anyone new to a genre whose influences include French, Bedouin, and Moroccan tinges. Rather than veiling their passion behind religious ecstasy in the manner of other Islamic styles, pop-rai singers lay their sexual interests on the line in fervent declarations that cut sharply through Rachid's artful clutter of sinuous synthesizer lines, chittering drum machines, and keyboard horn sections. Rai means "opinion" in Arabic, and these singers testify to debauchery, desire, and youthful rebellion at its finest. --Richard Gehr