French music makes it big in Japan

Rachid Taha in Tokyo

Franco-Algerian star Rachid Taha, currently on a whirlwind tour of Asia, stopped off in Tokyo on Wednesday night for a one-off concert at the Club Quattro in Shibuya. Dressed in a black T-shirt, brightly-coloured trousers and equipped with his usual razor-sharp sense of humour, Taha whipped up an infectious mix of rock'n'Raï on banjo/lute, keyboards and electric guitar.

After four years living and working in Japan, I've finally decided to bite the bullet and move to Tokyo. And this turned out to be a brilliant idea because on Wednesday, 3rd October, Rachid Taha was due to kick off the "Halou Festival" at the Club Quattro in Shibuya. So on Wednesday night I rushed off to the Quattro with a Japanese friend - and proceeded to spend hours pacing up and down the street looking for the club. After much anxious searching, we finally located the Quattro on the 5th floor of a shopping centre!

The Quattro opened its doors at 6 pm, but there was no sign of hordes of eager Japanese fans clamouring to get in. Will Rachid T. prove to have the necessary pulling-power in Japan, I wondered, as we made our way into a small circular room set with chairs and tables. The stage was right at the back of the room, with a "standing-room only" section just in front - which was handy, because Rachid's concerts are renowned for being "dancing only"!

Making our way to the bar, there was time for a quick beer before the start of the concert (due to kick off at 7). At 7 o'clock on the dot, the hordes of Japanese music fans we'd expected to see queuing at the door poured into the Quattro and we found ourselves packed in front of the stage like sardines. The lights went down and a Japanese man dressed in a yukata (summer kimono) took to the stage, striking up a haunting Oriental melody on the flute. There was complete silence in the room as he performed and all eyes were fixed upon the musician - until a veiled dancer appeared in the background and began undulating her hips to the music. Ten minutes later the lights went up - and it felt like the evening was already over!

But then at 7:15 the lights went down again and Taha's five musicians took to the stage, sending ripples of excitement buzzing through the Quattro as they struck up their opening chords on electric guitars, banjo/lute, keyboards and drums. Then Rachid himself appeared and launched straight into a stirring rendition of "Nokta". The majority of the audience remained calm and impassive throughout the early part of the show, but there was already some dancing action down in front of the stage where we were.

Rachid proceeded to run through a series of songs from his latest album "Made in Medina" and, as his invigorating rock'n'Raï rhythms swirled round the room, the audience abandoned their tables and started getting into the swing of things.

Rachid T. is an expert showman and by the time he had the audience up on their feet he was bantering away with his musicians and joking with the public. "So, I've heard the Japanese really like French singers - especially those who're getting a bit long in the tooth! ...OK, here's a little song in French for you!" Warming to his act, Rachid even made a few tongue-in-cheek references to the terrorist attacks in New York: "So, people are finally beginning to understand that Afghanistan isn't an Arab country, it's in Asia, after all ...We had to have a bit of a shave before they gave us our visas, actually - we used to have beards down to here, you know!"

French fans and a small contingent of Arabs in the audience laughed wholeheartedly at the joke, while Japanese members of the audience turned to us for instant translation. Rachid's bantering in between tracks, coupled with the smallness of the Quattro, gave the concert a cosy, intimate feel. And when, after a particularly wild techno version of "Voilà Voilà", Rachid announced the show was almost over a shout went up from the back of the room "What about 'Abdel Khader'?" "OK, OK!" replied a beaming Taha, "but it will have to be the short version!"

Within seconds, Taha's swirling fusion of rock and Raï rhythms powered round the room once more, crescendoing to a grand finale with the song "Garab". Glancing around the crowd as the lights went up at the end of the show, I saw row upon row of ecstatic faces and many of the more exuberant dancers actually gasping for breath.

There's no doubt about it, Rachid Taha has proved French music can definitely make it big in Japan. And, speaking to the hero of the moment backstage after the show, we found Rachid already begging for more. When I suggested he played a few gigs elsewhere in the country he shouted, "Love to - if someone would just ask us!" So, come on, all you Japanese promoters out there, start lining up those tour dates now!

Cyril Coppini
"RFI Musique", Tokyo, October 4, 2001