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Khaled was born in 1960 in Oran,
Algeria, the home of raï, and he was
singing on the streets of the city with
his first group, the Five Stars, by the
time he was 10. At 14 he’d graduated to
the more lucrative circuit of wedding
and circumcision ceremonies (the only
places, outside nightclubs, where raï
was acceptable). While singing at a
wedding, he was heard by a producer who
took the teenager into a studio to
record his first song, “Trigue Lycée.”
Full of youthful exuberance about
skipping classes and watching girls, it
became a smash, offering a fresh young
perspective of the kind that had never
been heard before in Algeria.
By the mid-‘70s Cheb (or Kid) Khaled had
already become a star in Algeria, his
raï cassettes immensely popular with a
young generation. Raï translates
literally as ‘opinion,’ and Khaled’s
opinions reflected those of his
contemporaries, many of whom desired
more social freedom. His forthright
attitudes to women, alcohol, and life,
upset the conservative establishment in
Algeria, and Khaled – like other artists
who followed his lead – received no
airplay on radio or television. His
rhythms and words were simply too erotic
and dangerous to be sanctioned.
Rai has origins in Bedouin oral
traditions, in the music of Berbers who
moved from the Algerian mountains to the
cities of Oran and Algiers, and in
Andalusian music that came to North
African ports after the Moors were
thrown out of Spain in 1492. By the
1930s, these elements had coalesced in a
style called wahrani championed by
cheikhas—female singers—in the bars of
Algeria's "Little Paris," the coastal
city of Oran. Cheikhas like the great
Cheikha Rimitti voiced the complaints of
working class people in French colonial
Algeria, upsetting officials. They also
sang openly about sex, upsetting
conservatives. It wasn’t the music of
polite society, and it stayed for the
most part in the tawdry cabarets and
clubs. But there was no stopping the rai
movement. The terms cheb and chebba--young
man and young woman--put an informal
spin on the more dignified musical
honorifics cheikh and cheikha of wahrani
music.
This was the sound Khaled came to. It
was acoustic and heavily percussive,
sweetened by the accordion, an
instrument brought to Algeria by the
French colonizers. The music, as
befitted its lyrics, was rough and
ragged. But it was changing, and Khaled
was part of the vanguard that altered
raï forever.
Khaled might not have been heard on
radio or TV, but he wasn’t about to let
opposition stop him from becoming a
major figure. The real turning point
came when he teamed with the visionary
producer Rachid Baba Ahmed in the early
‘80s. Ahmed was the modernizer of raï,
bringing in Western instruments, such as
bass, synthesizers, and drum machines,
and completely transforming the music.
He worked with a new generation of
singers, including Khaled and the diva
Cheba Fadela, and the results were
nothing less than a revolution.
Together they electrified raï, creating
the genre that became known as ‘pop raï,’
and Khaled became the music’s glittering
idol in his homeland.
In 1985, Khaled helped organized the
first Festival of Raï in Algeria, a huge
success that legitimized the music so
often treated with contempt. But shortly
after, in part to escape the escalating
violence in Algeria, and also to let his
music develop, he moved to France. There
his career truly began to blossom,
although it took several years of work
and development, and several cassette
releases before he was truly ready for
the international scene. In 1992, Khaled
soared still higher with N’ssi N’ssi
(co-produced by Don Was), which mixed
his glorious raï with thick funk and
rock to cross him into the French
mainstream. The song “Didi” (originally
released on 1991’s Khaled) became the
first raï hit in France, and broke the
genre onto the world music scene.
It was the first step, albeit a giant
one. What Khaled needed was to build on
that, and cement his stature and
popularity. That came fully with 1996’s
Sahra (an album named for his daughter).
It established him as a major
international star, while the single
“Aïcha” being the biggest of the year in
France. The album took Khaled’s music to
another level. Not only did he refine
the framework he’d built, he also
traveled to Jamaica to record with
reggae musicians (including Bob Marley’s
backing singers, the I-Threes, and
members of the Wailers), with a
crossover that worked perfectly, as two
rebel musicians who came together as
one.
If anyone still had doubts that Khaled
was truly the King of Raï, proof
positive came in 1998 with 1,2,3 Soleils
. The landmark sell-out concert in Paris
– the first major event with an
all-Algerian bill - featured Khaled,
along with Rachid Taha and Faudel,
performing career hits. Khaled
effortlessly stole the show with his
charismatic presence and remarkable
singing voice, quite obviously reveling
in the delight of the packed audience.
It was a show that established his
majesty and stature beyond question. His
command of the crowd was absolute, his
assurance total – Khaled was regal. The
question was, how could he follow that?
The answer came in 2000, with Kenza
(named for his other daughter). It
pushed the boundaries of Khaled’s music
even further. Rich Egyptian strings,
arranged by Steve Hillage, merged with
booming, pulsing American funk as Khaled
leaped into the new Millennium on his
most fulfilled album to date, continuing
a magnificent artistic progression. Not
only did he show he was still at the top
of his vocal game, he also roared his
creativity as an artist, staying ahead
of the pack.
In the wake of the 9/11 tragedy, Khaled
became the first Arab artist to headline
a U.S. tour, breaking attendance records
throughout the U.S. in February 2002.
Currently he is preparing and rehearsing
his new band and friends for the much
awaited U.S. debut and re-release of his
new album on Universal France, AZ
Records, originally released in late
2004 in Europe, and the new US Version
due out in late June-July 2005, with a
re-release of this new version in Europe
in August. This will feature the reunion
of KHALED with the Grammy award winning
producer DON WAS on the song YA-RAYI.
In May of 2004 the two performed
together in Rome, Italy, for the first
time since recording Khaled’s hit single
Didi. Together Don Was and Khaled
performed live a new rendition for
Quincy Jones’s historic concert “We Are
the Future”. The song will be part of
the compilation CD and a Live DVD to be
released throughout the world all the
proceeds, to support children of war
torn areas.
Khaled returned to America in December
of 2004 for a special guest performance
at the GRAMMY JAM 2004 in Los Angles,
Ca. He joined a cast of celebrity
artists honoring the great musical
legends Earth, Wind and Fire, performing
Brazilian Rhymes into Didi, showing how
their music crossed the world, fusing
with his North African style.
Khaled also stayed in Los Angeles to
work on the new tracks and remixes of
his new American rendition of his latest
album, YA-RAYI which features a newly
re-tracked, rearranged, interpretation
of the title song YA-RAYI, and two brand
new tracks with Santana on guitar and
guest vocalist Elan, entitled Love to
the People, on which Khaled sings in
English/Arabic and the second in Arabic
and French, produced by multi Grammy
award winning producer KC Porter and
renowned Arab/North African music
producer Dawn Elder.
Khaled, “this is a dream come true to
work with Santana, my friend and
brother”.
Additionally the album has been
completely re-done with new edited
versions, tracks featuring new
arrangements, it has been re-sequenced
and the entire album re-mastered to
create superior audio perfection by
executive producer of the US version
Dawn Elder.
KHALED is the winner of the BBC RADIO3
World MUSIC AWARDS 2004.
And will embark on a historic concert
tour in North America summer 2005.
Peace through Music- Khaled & Friends….
The pretenders to the throne come and
go; some stay around. But KHALED remains
the ruler, a man who loves his music,
who preaches peace, and whose voice
means raï to the world. |
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