Rachid Taha

Rachid Taha, 2011

Rachid Taha at a live concert, 2007

Rachid Taha (born September 18, 1958 in Sig , Muaskar province ; † September 12, 2018 in Les Lilas , Seine-Saint-Denis Île-de-France ) was an Algerian- French singer and musician who spent most of his life in France was based. Stylistically, he integrated Arabic influences with house , techno , rock , punk and Raï . His best-known pieces include a new version of the Maghrebian 1970s hit Ya Rayah and the song Barra, Barra, which was used in the film Black Hawk Down and the computer game Far Cry 2 , among others .

life and career

Rachid Taha was born on September 18, 1958 in the olive-growing town of Sig near the western Algerian port city of Oran . Background music of his childhood was Raï (which is strongly present in Oran and the surrounding area) and other North African music - such as the traditional Chaabi style. Traumatized by the war of independence , dissatisfied with the political situation in the country and looking for a better perspective in life, Rachid's father decided to leave Algeria and go into exile with his family . In 1968 the family moved to France - initially to a reception facility in the Vosges region of Lépanges-sur-Vologne , near Strasbourg , and later to Lyon . Taha's father worked as a textile worker . Taha himself sought independence early on. He kept himself afloat with odd jobs, including in a heating factory. The end of the 1970s he founded together with friends Nightclub Les refoulés . The club's musical trademark were house-like samples - mashups of Arabic pop pieces, underlaid with the rhythms of Led Zeppelin , Kraftwerk and other pop bands.

In Lyon, Taha got to know the band members of his soon-to-be-founded formation Carte de sejour : the two brothers Mohammed and Mokhtar Amini, Djamel Dif and Eric Vaquer. This band name (in German: residence permit ) should indicate the unsecured status that many North African immigrants in France were exposed to. Due to their self-confident, racism-critical attitude, the band soon became a figurehead of the anti-racist movement SOS Racisme . Stylistically, Carte de sejour mixed contemporary Raï and other North African styles with rock, punk elements, and later with elements from house and techno. Rhorhomanie, the group's first album, was released in 1983. The follow-up album - 2½ from 1986 - offered a musical-textual crossover (the group's lyrics were partly Arabic , partly French ) . Musically, the record offered a heavily rock-mixed Raï sound . With Ramsa and the mid-tempo ballad Rhadine , the album contained two catchy tracks. The reinterpretation of the popular Resistance hit Douce France by Charles Trenet became a political issue . Taha's ironic adaptation, which left the original text, was partly understood as a deliberately placed provocation and resulted in a far- reaching radio boycott of the piece.

Despite the popularity achieved with it, the band project Carte de sejour was not a commercial success. Taha continued to work in various part-time jobs - among others as a house painter, washer in restaurants and as a representative for encyclopedias . After a third album, which contained compilations of the first two, the formation broke up. Taha moved to Paris , where he settled in the Barbès district near Montmartre . Musically, he intensified his collaboration with producer and musician Steve Hillage . Taha's first solo CD, Barbès from 1991, was another commercial flop. The follow-up album was more successful - the Rachid Taha production, which was heavily enriched with Maghrebian rhythms . The third album - Olé Olé from 1995 - made a significant detour in the direction of house and techno music and was also appreciated accordingly in the dance floor scene.

Two productions from 1998 turned out to be artistic and commercial highlights: the studio album Diwan and the live double album 1, 2, 3 soleils. Diwan contained recordings of old Maghreb hits from the 1960s and 1970s. Recorded, among other things, with hand drums , ouds and an Arab string orchestra , it was - according to the criticism of the Berliner tageszeitung - a homage to the great pop singers of North Africa. Finally, 1, 2, 3 soleils was the recording of a concert by Rachid Taha together with the two Raï stars Cheb Khaled and Faudel in the Bercy Arena in Paris . The album contained not only a French version of Khaled's successful ballad Aïcha (previously only available in Arabic) , but also a live version of Taha's piece Ya Rayah (included on divan ) - a popular hit by the Algerian singer and composer from the 1970s Dahmane Elharrachi, who addresses emigration and the longing for home.

Made in Medina (2000) and the highly critically acclaimed production Tékitoi follow as follow-up albums . Barra, Barra, the opener track for Made in Medina, found its way into the soundtrack of Ridley Scott's war film Black Hawk Down . The Tékitoi title Rock el Casbah was an adaptation of the successful Clash track Rock the Casbah . In conversations, Taha told the story several times that Rock the Casbah actually came from him and that it came to the British punk band via a demo tape that was passed on. Guest musicians at Tékitoi included: Brian Eno and the Egyptian percussionist Hossam Ramzy . The seventh studio album followed in 2006, Diwan 2. The follow-up production Bonjour from 2009 was recorded in collaboration with the French rock band Louise Attaque and producer Mark Plati , who had made recordings for industry giants such as The Cure and David Bowie . In 2013, the ninth studio production was the album Zoom . The producer was Justin Adams, a guitarist who had some experience, particularly in the field of African pop music. Fellow musicians on Zoom included Brian Eno and former Clash guitarist Mick Jones .

In 2008 the BBC presented Rachid Taha with the Award for World Music . Taha died of a heart attack in September 2018, a few days before his 60th birthday, in his apartment in the Paris suburb of Les Lilas.

Style and reviews

Rachid Taha himself performed various musical influences in relation to the media. In addition to the music of his homeland - which in addition to Raï also included more traditional forms - he repeatedly named the British punk formation The Clash as a formative band. He listed the Jamaican poet and reggae musician Linton Kwesi Johnson as a lyrical model for the British newspaper The Guardian . He also called the rebellion against injustice and racism a driving force behind him. Because of the chronic lack of money, according to Taha, life has never been easy. Because of their Arab origins, for example, shops refused to sell demo tapes of him and his fellow musicians.

The media highlight Rachid Taha's musical style crossover as well as his rebellious rock 'n' roll attitude. The British Independent characterized Taha as "Algeria's answer to Johnny Cash ". The music weblog Gazelle magazine preferred a well-known French singer and playwright as a reference: "Rachid Taha has been miming the punk rocker and provocateur for over 20 years and has thus inherited the legacy of Serge Gainsbourg in France ." The music weblog schoenetoene sees above all the renewal of North African musical traditions as Taha's most important achievement: “(...) But he does not lose the connection to his roots and his music never degenerates into techno pieces with a touch of folklore, but the Rai is always the basis and most important part of his musical expeditions. His two 'Diwan' albums, on which he re-recorded old classics and songs that were largely unknown to us, are also an expression of his roots in old Algerian musical traditions. For example, he brings the song 'Ya Rayah' to new splendor and fame. "

The album Tékitoi in particular received praiseworthy criticism from the wider public . The WDR announced a broadcast about the singer as follows: “The album 'Tékitoi?' embeds the usual political tones (corruption, war, racism) in a rockier sound, which suits the brash attitude of the Algerian with the grater. Star guest Brian Eno surprises and a noisy adaptation of the clash classic 'Rock The Casbah'. "The New York Times judged Taha's album Tékitoi: " Its grim mixture of Rai, stadium rock, electronica and agitprop is a genre of its own Kind of postmodern North African dance punk. His new album is an ambitious undertaking: a compilation of songs about the chaos that has enveloped the world since September 11, 2001 . Tékitoi? is one of the eloquent musical responses to this day and its consequences, which have to do with the Arab world in a very direct way. "

Discography

With carte de séjour

• Rhoromania (1984; CBS)
• 2 ½ (Deux et demi) (1986; Barclay)
• Ramsa (1987; Piranha)

Solo albums

year	title	Top ranking, total weeks, awardChart placementsChart placements (Year, title, rankings, weeks, awards, notes)		Remarks
		FR	BE W
1998	Divan	FR52 (9 weeks) FR	-	Barclay
2000	Made in Medina	FR38 (4 weeks) FR	-	Barclay
2004	Tékitoi	FR63 (7 weeks) FR	BE W84 (2 weeks) BE W	Barclay
2006	Divan 2	FR43 (25 weeks) FR	-	Barclay
2009	Bonjour	FR126 (5 weeks) FR	-	Barclay
2015	zoom	FR96 (4 weeks) FR	BE W142 (4 weeks) BE W	Naïve
2019	Je suis africain	FR23 (7 weeks) FR	-	Naïve

More solo albums

• Barbès (1990; Barclay)
• Rachid Taha (1993; Barclay)
• Olé, Olé (1995; Barclay)

Live albums

year	title	Top ranking, total weeks, awardChart placementsChart placements (Year, title, rankings, weeks, awards, notes)		Remarks
		FR	BE W
1998	1,2,3 soleils	FR4 (56 weeks) FR	BE W14 (22 weeks) BE W	Barclay with Cheb Khaled & Faudel

More live albums

• Live (2001; Barclay)

Compilations

year	title	Top ranking, total weeks, awardChart placementsChart placements (Year, title, rankings, weeks, awards, notes)		Remarks
		FR	BE W
1997	Carte blanche	FR32 (5 weeks) FR	-	Barclay

More compilations

• The Definitive Collection (2007; Wrasse)

Singles

year	Title album	Top ranking, total weeks, awardChart placementsChart placements (Year, title, album , rankings, weeks, awards, notes)		Remarks
		FR	BE W
1997	Ya rayah Diwân	FR11 gold (16 weeks)FR	-
1998	Ida Diwân	FR80 (5 weeks) FR	-
	Abdel Kader (Live à Bercy) 1,2,3 Soleils	FR6 (21 weeks) FR	BE W36 (1 week) BE W	with Cheb Khaled & Faudel
1999	Comme d'habitude 1,2,3 soleils	FR40 (9 weeks) FR	-	with Cheb Khaled & Faudel

More singles

• Bleu de Marseille (1984)
• Douce France (1986)
• Ramsa (1986)
• Voilà, voilà (1993)
• Barra, Barra (2001)
• Écoute-Moi Camerade (2006)

Individual evidence

1. ↑ ^{a b c d e} Biography ( Memento of the original from January 2, 2015 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. , Short bio on the official website of Rachid Taha, accessed on October 28, 2014 
2. ↑ ^{a b c d e f} Rachid Taha: Rebel from the Maghreb ( Memento of the original from September 24, 2015 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. , WDR, May 23, 2013 
3. ↑ ^{a b c d e} Rachid Taha: Tékitoi? , Werner Leiss, Kulturmagazin Südwind, accessed on October 28, 2014
4. ↑ ^{a b} Rachid Taha - The Definitive Collection , music weblog Schoene Toene, accessed on October 28, 2014
5. ↑ ^{a b c} Nuclear fusion , Robin Denselow, The Guardian, May 28, 2001 (Eng.)
6. ↑ Short message in the daily newspaper , Daniel Bax, daily newspaper, November 16, 2006
7. ↑ ^{a b} MUSIC; Shock the Casbah, Rock the French (And Vice Versa) , Jody Rosen, New York Times, March 13, 2005
8. ↑ ^{a b c} Rachid Taha - World Rai world premiere in Berlin , Gazelle online magazine, July 7, 2011
9. ↑ Le chanteur Rachid Taha est décédé , leparisien.fr, published and accessed on September 12, 2018
10. ↑ ^{a b c d} Chart sources: FR BEW
11. ↑ Awards for music sales: FR

Web links

Commons : Rachid Taha  - collection of pictures, videos and audio files

• Sound carrier by Rachid Taha in the catalog of the German National Library
• Rachid Taha in the Internet Movie Database (English)
• Official homepage of Rachid Taha
• Rachid Taha at Discogs (English)
• Rachid Taha at Allmusic (English)
• Rachid Taha at Universal Music / France (French)
• Interview with Rachid Taha at Radio Vinyle (french)