Rachid Taha

Early life

Taha was born on 18 September 1958 in Sig, Mascara Province, Algeria, although a second source suggests he was born in the Algerian seacoast city of Oran.{{cite news |access-date= 4 June 2011

He moved with his parents to France when he was ten years old, settling in an immigrant community around the French city of Lyon{{cite news |access-date= 4 June 2011 |access-date= 4 June 2011

In the late 1970s, Taha founded the nightclub called The Rejects or, in French, Les Refoulés, where he would spin mashups of Arabic pop classics over Led Zeppelin, Bo Diddley and Kraftwerk backbeats.

Career

Raï roots

In the 1980s, Algeria's indigenous pop music known as raï began to achieve international attention. Originally raï music was based on "city slickers adapting music from the sticks" and was described as ribald, but it became more of a medium for political protest when young people in the 1960s and 1970s used it to "express their anger and desires." Taha suggested that Algerian musical styles and rock are "closely linked". Taha was influenced by the Moroccan chaâbi band Nass El Ghiwane which has been described as "Morocco's answer to the Beatles or the Stones."{{cite news |access-date= 4 June 2011

Carte de Séjour

In 1981, while living in Lyon, Taha met Mohammed and Mokhtar Amini and the three of them, along with Djamel Dif and Eric Vaquer, would soon form a band. In 1982, Taha was the lead vocalist for the Arab-language rock group which they named Carte de Sejour, meaning Green Card or Residence Permit depending on the translation. He sang in both French and Arabic, but usually in Arabic. Taha was inspired by the group The Clash:

The Clash were militant and [hedonism

hedonistic]] in equal measure ... And that was exciting to me. You could be a rebel and be in the biggest rock'n' roll band in the world! It was also clear that they loved music. [[Joe Strummer]] had nothing to do with that terrible punk cynicism. By the time of Mogador '81 they weren't just a rock'n'roll band, they were doing [[Hip hop music

Taha met members of the group [The Clash in Paris:{{cite news |access-date= 4 June 2011

|access-date= 4 June 2011

Taha believed his early recordings helped to inspire The Clash to create the song "Rock the Casbah". A New York Times music reporter wrote of Taha's cover version of the Clash's hit song probably influenced by his earlier work:

These were difficult years since record stores often refused to stock their records "because they didn't want Arabs coming into their shops". There was little money; the band performed in suburbs of Lyon. Taha took a standard patriotic French song entitled "Sweet France" (in French: Douce France) which had originally been recorded by Charles Trenet in the 1940s, kept the lyrics, but sang it with "furious irony" which irritated many French listeners, particularly coming from a "scruffy, bohemian-looking Arabic singer", to the point where Taha's version was banned from French radio. The "acerbic" song created a "splash", nevertheless, and won Taha some recognition as a serious artist. The group never achieved much commercial success and, as a result, Taha had to work a series of day jobs in a factory, then as a house painter, a dishwasher, and later as an encyclopedia salesman. They recorded their first maxi album Carte De Séjour in 1983. In 1984, with the help of British guitarist Steve Hillage, the group achieved a "sharp, driving sound" which played well on the radio, and the LP was entitled Rhoromanie. In his songwriting, Taha wrote about living in exile and the cultural strife associated with being an Algerian immigrant in France. In 1986, his "sneering punk-rock cover of 'Douce France'" was seen as an "unmistakable protest against the nation's treatment of its immigrant underclass", and caused consternation in French political circles. His song "Voilà, Voilà" protested racism. Taha had to cope with anti-Arab sentiment and confusion; for example, The New York Times stated in a front-page story that Taha was Egyptian rather than Algerian, but later posted a correction.{{cite news |access-date= 4 June 2011 |access-date= 4 June 2011

When performing live, Taha wore various outfits, including at one point a leather fedora hat, then later a red cowboy hat.{{cite news |access-date = 4 June 2011 |archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20121110111132/http://www.canada.com/cityguides/ottawa/story.html?id=a530785c-d88f-447c-8192-6ea3daa5c037 |archive-date = 10 November 2012 |url-status = dead

Solo years

In 1989, Taha moved to Paris to launch his solo career. At one point he was invited to Los Angeles to record with musician Don Was, who had been a producer associated with the Rolling Stones. Taha mixed a variety of instruments and styles for his sound. With a drum instrument called a doumbek or darbuka, his new group played Arabic-style beats. It appeared at one point that Taha might become an "overnight success", but after the release of the album Barbès, sales were disappointing in the United States, possibly because Americans were not keen on Arabic-sounding music during the time of the first Gulf War.

In 1993, Taha again worked with Hillage who helped produce his second solo album, the self-titled Rachid Taha and helped him achieve "the kind of clubland-raï synthesis". Hillage worked on nine solo Taha albums from 1993 to 2006, helping Taha return to his "north African roots". In 1995, he released the album entitled Olé Olé with Taha looking like an "Aryan androgyne" with dyed blond hair and blue contact lenses, to make a point about anti-Arab bigotry and at the "homophobia of North African culture." Valencia features the singing of Kirsty Hawkshaw. In 1997, his song "Ya Rayah" became a hit. He performed in the Canary Islands.{{cite news |access-date= 4 June 2011

In 2001, Taha released Made in Medina, and a music critic commented that he used a "full and varied instrumental palette" along with "a dizzying vocal facility that transcends whatever style he's plugged." The album was recorded in Paris, New Orleans, and London with input from the American jam band Galactic. Taha saw parallels between African and American music and said "New Orleans is like Algiers ... They were both French colonies at one time, and there's even an area there called Algiers," and he noted that Louisiana Zydeco drum patterns were similar to raï music. Made in Medina combined Algerian roots, techno, pop music, and early rock and punk influences with "remarkable consistency" with previous works, according to Hillage. There were elements of political protest in his music leading a BBC critic to describe him as a "shit-disturbing artist who risks challenging his own culture as undemocratic." A report in The Guardian suggested that Taha had achieved a cult status in pop music.

Taha's breakthrough album as a solo artist was his bestseller Diwân, featuring remakes of songs from Algerian and Arab traditions. The album featured traditional instruments like the oud but with a "contemporary veneer of programmed percussion and samples added in." Taha mixed the oud with strings using a contemporary beat along with guitar work, according to one account. Taha's album Tékitoi, produced by Steve Hillage and released in 2004, brought acclaim and recognition from other rock musicians. The title track is "street slang" meaning, roughly, Who the Hell Are You? (from the French Tu es qui, toi ? shortened into T'es qui, toi ?) and the music had "echoes of Joe Strummer", according to a review in The Observer.{{cite news |access-date= 4 June 2011 |access-date= 4 June 2011 |access-date= 4 June 2011

Taha played in Morocco in 2006.{{cite news |access-date= 4 June 2011

|access-date = 4 June 2011 |archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20121110111127/http://www.canada.com/montrealgazette/story.html?id=1fb289c7-8e14-4785-960a-058656a3ae00 |archive-date = 10 November 2012 |url-status = dead

In 2008 he performed with the band Dengue Fever. He was described as a ""wild Algerian punk fan" performing among a lineup which read like a "Who's Who of West African music", and was part of "Africa Express", a response to the lack of African musicians at Bob Geldof's Live 8 musical extravaganza.{{cite news |access-date= 4 June 2011

In 2008, Taha was growing increasingly prominent, with greater audiences in places such as Canada, although there were reports that his music had "trouble getting airplay" in France. He performed with Nigerian artists Femi Kuti and Seun Kuti in Lagos at a "Felabration" of the music of their late father Fela Kuti,{{cite news|author= Robin Denselow|title= Collaboration with every nation|newspaper= The Guardian|quote= But Fela's sons Femi and Seun will certainly be present ... Rachid Taha. |date= 26 September 2008|url= https://www.theguardian.com/music/2008/sep/26/worldmusic |access-date= 4 June 2011|location=London}} as well as with Brian Eno in an anti-war concert in London.

In 2009, Taha released Bonjour which The Guardian music critic Robin Denselow described as "calmed down" under a new producer, Gaëtan Roussel.{{cite news |access-date= 4 June 2011 |access-date= 4 June 2011 |access-date= 4 June 2011

In 2013 Taha released the Zoom album, which was produced by guitarist Justin Adams and featured guests Mick Jones and Brian Eno;. Jones toured with Taha as part of the Zoom project. The album included a new recording of "Voilà, Voilà". Taha also recorded "Now or Never" (words and music by Aaron Schroeder / Wally Gold and previously recorded by Elvis Presley), which features Jeanne Added singing in English.

Use of Taha's songs in movies and computer games

The song '"Barra Barra'" from his album Made in Medina was featured in the 2001 film Black Hawk Down as well as in the Games Convention 2008 trailer of the game Far Cry 2. It was also featured in the 2007 film The Hunting Party.

His song "Garab" from Made in Medina was used in the movie The Truth About Charlie in 2002, and also in Blood and Chocolate in 2007.

His song "Ya Rayah" from his album Carte Blanche (Rachid Taha album) was used in the movie Something New (film) (2006) https://m.imdb.com/title/tt0437777/?ref_=m_nmfmd_act_15

"Ya Rayah" was also allegedly plagiarized by the composer duo Sanjeev–Darshan for their song "Kali Nagin Ke Jaisi" in the soundtrack of the bollywood film Mann (transl. The Psyche).

Reviews

Some critics attribute Taha's unique sound to his use of the mandolute, a mixture of the traditional oud with European fretted instruments. One critic described his arrangements as "no less bombastic" since they mixed North African rhythms and "string orchestra flourishes" with "pummeling big-beat techno, distorted electric guitars, snatches of Bo Diddley, Led Zeppelin and other macho sounds."

• Music critic Philip Brasor in Japan Times commented that Taha's album Made in Medina featured Arabic "chanting" which was meant to evoke "the generalized chaos of society" and which features "heart-stopping break beats, flamenco guitar, African choruses, crunching hard rock and the inevitable sappy love song."
• Music critic Danny Wiser praised Taha for both his emphasis that he places upon fellow Arabs in North Africa to have pride in both parts of their dual-identity as Arabs as well as Africans, in addition to complimenting him for his infectious personality that shines through on his posthumous album, Je Suis Africain, commenting that "one can almost hear his smile beginning to shine through as he plays; simply through the tone of his voice one can detect that he seems to really enjoy performing his music."
• Music critic Robin Denselow felt Taha's Bonjour album was calm – "he switches between Arabic and French in this mix of pleasant ballads and novelty pop, with just the occasional reminder of the old passion and anger." Denselow felt his album Tékitoi (2004) was his "most powerful, direct fusion of rock and North African styles to date."{{cite news |access-date= 4 June 2011

• The New York Times wrote about Taha's song "Ah Mon Amour":

• BBC News music critic Martin Vennard described Taha's music as a "seductive mixture of traditional North African, rock, techno and dance music."
• Canadian music critic Philly Markowitz named a Taha album one of the best in 2005.
• French music critic Amobe Mevegue described Taha as an "eclectic artist".{{cite news |access-date= 4 June 2011

Discography and filmography

Main article: Works of Rachid Taha

Personal life and death

Taha was described as "gregarious" and "quick with a smile." A person who liked to party throughout the night, he also had a cosmopolitan group of friends. Taha was quoted as saying "I've never wanted to just stay in my own neighborhood, my own community ... It's a kind of conformism. You have to be adventurous."

Taha was not fond of contemporary French cinema and said "I'd much rather watch some dumb Hollywood movie than another haute bourgeois auteurist piece of crap." He was a critic of the Bush administration although he made comments favoring a bombing raid on Iran, and said that "Iran shouldn't be allowed to have nukes."

Taha suffered from Chiari malformation diagnosed in 1987. "I'm tired of people thinking I'm a drunk on stage. While these are the symptoms of Arnold Chiari disease. I'm stumbling because I'm losing my balance. I'm wavering. It generates a disruption in the body."

Taha died from a heart attack in his sleep on 12 September 2018, six days before his 60th birthday. A posthumous album, Je suis Africain, previously finished before his death, was released on September 20, 2019.

References

• Plastino, Goffredo (2003). Mediterranean Mosaic: Popular Music and Global Sounds. Routledge. .

References

1. Jon Pareles. (7 July 2008). "Algerian Singer Mixes Rock and Rai". The New York Times.
2. Al-Taee, Nasser. (Spring 2003). "Running with the Rebels: Politics, Identity, and Sexual Narrative in Algerian Rai". Echo.
3. Plastino, pp. 111.
4. Curiel, Jonathan. [http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2005/06/27/DDG7TDE9EU1.DTL "Arab rocker Rachid Taha's music fueled by politics, punk attitude and – what else? – romance"]. ''[[San Francisco Chronicle]]''. 27 June 2005. Retrieved 14 March 2013.
5. Morgan, Andy. [https://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/music/features/can-rachid-taha-rock-the-casbah-1815510.html "Can Rachid Taha rock the Casbah?"]. ''[[The Independent]]''. 6 November 2009. Retrieved 8 November 2009.
6. (2012). "Rachid Taha – "Rock El Casbah" feat. Mick Jones". YouTube.
7. (27 November 2005). "Rachid Taha – ''Rock El Casbah'' feat. Mick Jones & Brian Eno – live at Stop the War concert". YouTube.
8. Ben Sisario. (16 April 2008). "ARTS, BRIEFLY; Summerstage Fills Its Lineup". The New York Times.
9. CanWest MediaWorks Publications. (3 January 2008). "Jean Leclerc, Malajube, Rachid Taha. ... Know their music?". The Gazette (Montreal).
10. Dwight garner. (23 January 2008). "Living with Music: A Playlist by David Rothenberg". The New York Times.
11. (23 December 2013). "Rachid Taha, 'Zoom'". [[Rolling Stone]].
12. (4 December 2012). "Trans Musicales de Rennes 2012 : 12 concerts à ne pas louper". FranceTVinfo – Culturebox.
13. John Lewis. (26 June 2013). "Rachid Taha/Souad Massi – review (Barbican, London)". The Guardian.
14. (2012). "Rachid Taha – ''Voilà, Voilà'' feat. Agnès b., Femi Kuti, Mick Jones, Christian Olivier, Eric Cantona, Camélia Jordana, Oxmo Puccino, Rachida Brachni, Sonia Rolland, Rodolphe Burger (Official video clip)". rachidtahaofficial.com.
15. (2013). "Rachid Taha – Now or Never feat. Jeanne Added (Official video clip)". YouTube.
16. (12 September 2018). "Algerian singer Rachid Taha dies at 59". BBC News.
17. (21 August 2008). "GC 2008 – Far Cry 2".
18. "Eclectic International Soundtrack Backs 'Charlie'".
19. "Blood and Chocolate - Songs and soundtrack music from the film".
20. Wiser, Danny. (2020-07-16). "ALGERIA: Je Suis Africain - Rachid Taha".
21. Philly Markowitz. (2005). "Best Albums of 2005". cbc.ca (Canadian news).
22. (13 September 2018). "Rachid Taha souffrait de la maladie d'Arnold Chiari : Courage et dignité {{!}} El Watan".
23. [https://www.lemonde.fr/disparitions/article/2018/09/12/le-chanteur-rachid-taha-est-mort_5354006_3382.html ''Le Monde'': Mort du chanteur Rachid Taha, légende du métissage musical] {{in lang. fr
24. (20 September 2019). ""Je suis Africain" de Rachid Taha "sort de manière posthume mais l'album était terminé de son vivant" : Le musicien Toma Feterman raconte deux ans de complicité".