Raï

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The Raï ( Arabic راي, DMG Rāy ) is an Algerian folk and popular music , originated in western Algeria. The main center is Oran . The Raï rose to become the most important Algerian pop music in the early 1980s and was also widely recognized internationally.

term

The term Raï is ambiguous. In Arabic, the word "ra'y" means something like opinion, point of view or point of view, but also advice, thought, decision, plan or goal. In a special context, the term here also refers to the advice of a Cheikh from the Melhoun tradition .

There is also another derivation from the exclamation "Ya ray!", Which was already used in the forerunners of Raï as a filler to bridge between sections of text, similar to "Yeah!" in Anglo-American pop and rock music .

History - The franking of the Raï

Only with the phenomenon of Pop-Raï from the beginning of the 1980s did the Raï come into the focus of musicology and history began. To this day, many details of its origins are unknown, as neither audio documents nor statements from contemporary witnesses exist, particularly on its early history. Similar to the blues , the origins of Raï lie at the end of the 19th century.

Until 1920

The Raï emerged from simple shepherd music from the Oran area, characterized by simple improvised texts and simple flute accompaniment . During the rural exodus at the turn of the century, many of the shepherds moved to the city and brought their music with them to Oran, where the Raï recorded elements of traditional urban folk and art music.

1920-1960

This new music was adapted and further developed by the Medahates (all women orchestras). The Medahates mostly played at celebrations such as weddings or circumcisions, but also in brothels and bars. Favored by the range of these experiences and the extremely liberal atmosphere of Orange at this time, the choir leaders , the Cheikhates ( cheikh = "old", "wise", "experienced"), increasingly formulated them in their texts in a realistic and critical way Living conditions of lower class women in the Oran of the 1920s, sang songs about love, jealousy, sexuality, poverty and alcoholism. With this content, the Raï was clearly in conflict with the prudish Algerian society, which often considered the Raï to be "a genre that reflects the decline of morals and the decline of decency in the Algerian people".

The most famous of these singers was Cheikha Rimitti , whose name comes from the French "Remettez", which means "Schenk 'nach!" In 1952 she made her first record for the French record company Pathé . Cheikha Rimitti was active until her death in 2006. Her music illustrates the change in content from the orchestral Medahates-Raï to the more individual Cheikha style. Formally, however, the Raï remained unchanged: the lead singer was still accompanied by a vocal ensemble, as well as the gasba , a rosewood flute , and the gallal , a frame drum .

1960-1979

This form of Raï as raw and wild urban folk music lasted well beyond the Algerian war of independence of the 1950s and 1960s. In 1968 with the first recordings of the trumpeter Bellemou Messaoud , the "Pere du Raï" (father of Raï), the Raï undergoes a significant change. The classical instrumentation is complemented by western instruments such as electric guitar, saxophone, violin and accordion, elements of flamenco , jazz and rock music are incorporated and the pieces become more artistic and virtuoso. Singing is sometimes completely dispensed with in favor of the solo trumpet. Messaoud's “Raï Pop” represented a revolutionary turning point in the history of Raï - only comparable with the change from pastoral folklore to urban orchestral music in the 1920s. Messaoud's style was revolutionary not only in terms of instrumentation, structure and interpretation of the music, but also sociologically : By largely dispensing with song and text, the social stigmatization of Raï, which persisted even after independence, was eliminated. The technically and compositionally more demanding presentation opened up a new audience for the Raï. Perhaps the most important change, however, was that for the first time a male interpreter broke into the previously purely female domain of Raï. Especially since he achieved remarkable things in it and thus broke the gender bond in music. In terms of artistic reception, however, this has resulted in the extremely important contribution women made to this music seldom being properly appreciated. In 1975 Messaoud withdrew from music. Another important interpreter of this period is Bouteldja Belkacem .

1979-1989

In 1979 a piece called Ana Ma H'Lali Ennoum , in German I can't sleep , was released, the first Raï piece in which a synthesizer can be heard. Sung by a singer named Chaba Fadela and produced by Messaoud Bellemou, it suddenly became a huge success. Even the name of the singer was a rebellion: Chaba means "the young" in opposition to the Cheikh and Cheikha of the ancestors. With its heated nervousness and the haunting, shrill tone, the piece hit the Algerian youth to the core. 70% of the Algerian population was under 25 at the time and they suffered from high unemployment and housing shortages. The deeply “ossified” Algerian society had long suppressed the rebelliousness of its youth. In this piece her anger and frustration found new expression.

The Raï modern spread suddenly when studio music was first solidly produced and musically expanded with the massive use of synthesizers and drum computers - above all by the producer Rachid Baba Ali Ahmed . Within a very short time, new artists appeared such as Cheb Hamid , Cheb Khaled , whose piece Aïcha became an international hit again in 2003 as a cover version , Chaba Zahouania or Cheb Sahraoui , the later husband of Chaba Fadela.

The government, beginning to fear the unrest potential of the youth, banned the Raï from radio and television, but the small, fast, and highly flexible cassette markets created a counter-public against which the government was powerless. The ban was only lifted in 1985 with a large, televised festival - not least because the Raï phenomenon had meanwhile also gained international attention. Particularly successful careers began with Cheb Khaled, who later dropped the "Cheb" and still operates as Khaled today, and Cheb Mami .

Since 1989

The situation shouldn't stay that good for long for the musicians. From the end of the 1980s the “ Islamic Salvation Front ” (FIS) had gathered the dissatisfied, and the FIS won a landslide in the 1992 elections. To prevent an Islamist government , the Algerian military staged a coup . A civil war that lasted for years and cost the lives of well over 100,000 people ensued. The Raï musicians were also targeted by the Islamists. Many went into exile in France as early as 1990 because the Islamist pressure was too strong. The singer Cheb Hasni , who was the most important representative of the Raï Love style, a style with smooth arrangements and lots of love poetry, suffered a tragic fate . Cheb Hasni persistently refused to go into exile and was finally shot on the street on September 29, 1994 as the so-called "enemy of God" who "spread evil on earth" by GIA assassins , also in February 1995 legendary producer Rachid Baba Ahmed (the Phil Spector des Raï) and in September 1996 Cheb Aziz .

According to the Algerian writer Aziz Chouaki , "Cheb Hasni's assassination changed the texts, turned the Raï scene into a protest movement." Where the content of the Raï was previously only sex, alcohol and restlessness, a political awareness suddenly arose.

Cheb Mami was only able to give a concert in Algeria again in 1999 after 10 years, followed in 2000 by Cheb Khaled , who had not been in Algeria for 14 years. Part of the youngest generation of the Raï now works in Paris or Marseille , where he had found an interested audience among the so-called Beurs since the early 1980s. The necessity of exile offered many musicians the opportunity to work closely with international music and to absorb its influences. Hybrid forms with techno , house , drum and bass and hip-hop have emerged, one of the most important of these "crossover" performers was Rachid Taha, who died in 2018 .

Despite the repressive conditions of the 1990s, the Raï musicians remained active in Algeria and have not fallen silent, even if little is heard about them in the media of the western world.

Important performers

literature

  • Jean Trouillet: Rai! By the beard of the prophet. , in: Jean Trouillet / Werner Pieper (eds.), WeltBeat , Löhrbach, 1989, ISBN 3-925817-32-8
  • Marc Schade-Poulsen: Men and Popular Music in Algeria: The Social Significance of Rai (Modern Middle East Series). University of Texas, 1999, ISBN 0-292-77740-X
  • Frank Tenaille: The Music of the Rai. 2003, ISBN 3-930378-49-3

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Raï | musical style. Retrieved February 11, 2020 .
  2. ↑ djalel: Rai music. In: Maghreb magazine. December 20, 2015, accessed on February 11, 2020 (German).
  3. ↑ Raï | musical style. Retrieved February 11, 2020 .