Rachid Taha. Biography
It's good to see a spirit of rebellion blasting through the French music scene from time to time - and Rachid Taha, former lead singer of CARTE DE SÉJOUR, certainly knows how to rail against racism, nepotism and conformism of all kinds! Rachid's innovative sound - an exciting musical melting-pot which incorporates everything from traditional Arab zithers to modern electric guitars - helps this Algerian-born "Rebel with a cause" get his message across.
Rachid Taha was born in Oran, a coastal town in Algeria, in 1958. But Rachid would leave Oran in his late childhood, when his family emigrated to France in 1968. Growing up in Alsace and then the Vosges mountain region, young Rachid soon made several major discoveries about his new homeland, experiencing the joys of winter for the first time but also finding himself subject to the racist taunts of his classmates. These soon became so bad that Rachid's father took his son out of the local school and sent him to a Catholic convent school, where he would have a better chance of passing his exams.
Rachid was not destined to go on to higher education, however. In 1979 he left home and found a job as a salesman, travelling across the country selling works of French literature. After a year of door-to-door sales, Rachid returned to live with his family, who had recently moved to a suburb of Lyon. Rachid went on to make a living doing a variety of odd jobs in the Lyon region, then in 1981 he found a full-time job in a local factory. It was here that Rachid would finally be able to indulge in his passion for music, for shortly after joining the factory he met up with two other budding young musicians, Mohammed and Moktar. The trio went on to form their own group (Mohammed on guitar, Moktar on bass and Rachid on vocals) and soon began performing concerts in their lunch-hour.
CARTE DE SÉJOUR
In the early 80's the rising tide of immigration, and particularly immigration from Arab countries, was beginning to cause problems among certain sections of the French population. Indeed, the extreme right party Le Front National was starting to win an increasing number of supporters. But it was also around this time that the children of African and Algerian immigrants, the so-called "second-generation" immigrants who had been born in France, began to develop a strong political consciousness and start defending themselves. The formation of Rachid Taha's trio coincided with this new political awareness and the group deliberately chose a highly topical name, calling themselves CARTE DE SÉJOUR (RESIDENCE PERMIT).
Working in the factory by day and rehearsing at night, the group soon got their recording career off the ground, going into a local studio in 1982 to record their first single. CARTE DE SÉJOUR's first EP, featuring four of the group's own compositions, was not a huge commercial success but it did prove a major hit with the critics. Encouraged by a number of positive reviews, the group returned to the studio the following year and recorded their debut album, "Rhoromanie", with producer Steve Hillage (a former member of the group GONG).
But it was CARTE DE SÉJOUR's second album, "Deux et Demi", which would really catapult the group to the forefront of the French music scene. For this album, released in 1986, featured CARTE DE SÉJOUR's highly controversial single "Douce France". The group's ironic cover version of Charles Trenet's classic French chanson hit, re-recorded with strains of Arab music in the background, was bound to cause a huge stir on the French music scene. And predictably, "Douce France" got an enormous amount of coverage in the media. Yet, this flurry of media interest was not altogether to CARTE DE SÉJOUR's advantage, for "Douce France" would end up overshadowing the rest of the songs on the album which were all recorded in Arabic.
CARTE DE SÉJOUR would embark upon a busy touring and recording schedule over the next few years, but they would never quite equal the success of "Douce France". And in 1989, shortly after returning from a tour of Germany, the group would finally split up. This was not to be the end of Rachid Taha's singing career, however, for he decided to pursue a solo career, going into a Los Angeles studio with Don Was (from the group WAS NOT WAS) to record a demo tape. Unfortunately, this first demo tape would not be enough to land Rachid a new recording contract.
Undeterred by this setback, Rachid decided to take a break from the music scene and go back to his Algerian roots in Oran. He had not given up the idea of launching a solo career, however, and continued to work on a new demo tape - which would finally result in his debut solo album. Named after a famous immigrant area in Paris, the album "Barbès" was released in 1991. But, unfortunately for Rachid, the Gulf War broke out shortly after the release of "Barbès" and French radio stations judged his Arabic songs too "sensitive" to play during the war with Saddam Hussein.
"Voilà Voilà"
In spite of this second setback Rachid Taha persevered with his solo career, returning to the studio in 1993 to record a second album, entitled simply "Rachid Taha". Produced by Steve Hillage, Rachid's new album featured a fusion of African and European music and a series of lyrics which were more sharply ironic than ever. Much to everyone's surprise the dance-oriented single "Voilà Voilà" proved a major hit with English DJs who soon sent it rocketing to the top of the dance charts.
Two years later Rachid flew to London to record his third solo album with his old friend Steve Hillage. Released in 1995, the new album "Olé Olé" proved to be even more of a musical cross-over than Rachid's previous album, fusing Western techno beats and electric guitars with Algerian chaabi, Mexican mariachis and the traditional Arab zither (not to mention Indian melodies and Cajun accordion!). This "techno-ethno" fusion certainly took the French music world by surprise.
Recently, Rachid Taha returned to the forefront of the French music scene, with a new double CD album. This album, entitled "Carte Blanche", features the best of his solo work and a selection of CARTE DE SÉJOUR's greatest hits. After a long, hard 15-year-old struggle Rachid Taha has finally managed to carve a niche for himself on the French music scene, without abandoning his distinctive style. As he himself once predicted, declaring "I will never change my career because of my name, and I will never change my name because of my career!" After fifteen years' experience on the French music scene, Rachid Taha released a double CD of his greatest hits last year entitled "Carte Blanche".
The following year Taha returned to the studio to record a brand new album entitled "Diwân". This fascinating album, produced by Steve Hillage, was made up entirely of covers, featuring Taha's innovative new versions of Middle Eastern classics. Tracks included covers of chaabi compositions by Dahmane El Harrachi and Mohamed El Anka, an interesting new version of a Farid El Atrache song as well as a cover of a hit by the Moroccan group NASS EL GHIWANE. "Diwân" also included "Ya Rayah", a song which had originally appeared on the album "Rachid Taha" in 1994 and had gone on to become a massive hit for Taha in the French charts.
Raï extravaganza at Bercy
Rachid Taha spent most of 1998 performing an extensive tour which took him across the length and breadth of France. He also appeared at a number of major international music festivals, including the Festival d'Ete in Quebec, the Francofolies music festival in La Rochelle (France), La Route du Rock Festival in Saint-Malo (France) and the Vive la World festival organised in the United States. On 26 September 1998 Taha took to the stage with raï stars Khaled and Faudel to perform "Un deux trois soleil" - a raï extravaganza directed by the famous English producer Steve Hillage. Taha went wild on stage, throwing himself body and soul into this exceptional show performed to a capacity audience of 15.000 music fans at Bercy Stadium in Paris.
In the spring of 1999, Rachid Taha branched out in a new direction, performing two concerts in Cairo and Alexandria (although Taha had performed several concerts in Lebanon and the Maghreb, this was the first time that the singer had flown out to meet his Egyptian fans face to face). Taha's Egyptian performances proved to be a huge success, the singer's concert in Cairo attracting an audience of 2.500 fans. Two thirds of the audience at the Cairo concert were Egyptian and - although the majority of Taha's Egyptian fans found it difficult to understand the singer's lyrics (performed in an Arabic which was very different to their own) - they gave the singer an extremely warm welcome. Following in the successful footsteps of raï king Khaled, Rachid Taha has gone on to launch his own musical trend - chaâbi. And, judging by the impressive sales figures of the album "1, 2, 3 soleil", this is a trend which is set to grow and grow!
Taha returned to the music news in October 2000 with a critically acclaimed album entitled "Made in Medina". Recorded between studios in Paris, London, Marrakech and New Orleans, Taha's new album featured an infectious mix of rock, electro, voodoo trance and Arab sounds. Taha invited his old friend, guitarist Steve Hillage, to join him in recording "Made in Medina" and assembled an eclectic list of guest stars, ranging from the all-women Moroccan group B'NET MARRAKECH to GALACTIC, a band from Louisiana. Taha performed tracks from his new album at the Fiesta des Suds festival in Marseilles at the end of October and brought the house down when he appeared in Paris at the Elysee-Montmartre on November 8th.
World tour
2001 rhymed with travelling for Rachid as he set off on an international non-stop tour. He spent the spring touring up and down France before joining in a few summer festivals, such as Solidays on 7 July, La Rochelle a week later, and then the Paleo Festival of Nyon in Switzerland. Meanwhile, he was also braving jetlag, and he performed in Ottawa, Canada, at the end of June and in Los Angeles on 22 July.
Nevertheless, this first semester was nothing compared to the triumphal Asian grand tour that he embarked upon later on. After stopping over in than Singapore, Indonesia, Malaysia, Vietnam, Cambodia, China and, last but not least, Hong Kong, he flew to Australia on his way to perform in New Caledonia. Success seems to be everywhere for Taha who is lucky enough to appeal to diverse cultures, so different from his own.
Travelling the globe as usual, Rachid Taha took part in the Womad festival in Caceres, Spain in May 2002. Then he set off to Brussels where he played at the Couleur Cafe Festival. At the beginning of June, he was performing in Athens. Simultaneously, the artist also prepared a new record. In July, he was invited to perform at the Francofolies in Montreal.
Rocking El Casbah
Taha, the hard-living rock star par excellence, managed to get back into the studio in 2004 to work on a new album, "Tékitoi?" released in September 2004. Recorded between Paris, London and Cairo, the album featured Taha’s long-term collaborator, UK producer Steve Hillage, at the studio helm. As far as lyrics go, "Tékitoi?" found the Algerian-born rocker tackling highly topical themes such as corruption, war and racism. But personal themes also cropped up on certain tracks, too. One of the most striking features of the new album was its cross-over style, fuelled by contributions from prestigious guest stars such as Brian Eno (on the song "Dima!") and Christian Olivier from LES TÊTES RAIDES (on the title track "Tékitoi?"). Taha also included a poignant tribute to Joe Strummer (the late frontman of THE CLASH), recording his own version of the Clash classic "Rock The Casbah". Following the release of the album, the rebel rock star took to the road, performing a series of concerts across France.
Taha, a musician who appears to be torn between traditional and modern sounds, took another trip down memory lane on "Diwân 2", a second album featuring covers of classics from his native Maghreb. The album, released in October 2006 and sung in a mixture of French, Arabic and “Francarabe”, conjured up evocative images of smoky cafés in Barbès, Oran and Cairo. The album included Taha’s reworkings of Mohamed Mazouni’s "Ecoute-Moi Camarade", classics from Oran such as "Rani M'Hayer" and "Mataoul Dellil", "Gana El Hawa" (made famous by the legendary Egyptian crooner Abdel Halim Hafez) and Umm Kalthum’s "Ghanni Li Shwaya".
"Diwân 2", which also included a cover of "Agatha" by the Cameroonian music star Francis Bebey and two of Taha’s own compositions ("Josephine" and "Aah Mon Amour"), was produced by his old friend and collaborator Steve Hillage and featured contributions from the Cairo String Ensemble. Rachid Taha hit the road again in October, presenting extracts from the new album to fans.
Meanwhile Rachid Taha continues his lifelong fight against racism and intolerance of all kinds. Ironically enough, while the Algerian "Rebel with a cause" has maintained his openly provocative profile, Taha has also become an integral part of France's thriving metisse scene.
"RFI Musique", October 2004
