RACHID TAHA
"Tékitoi" (2004)
Rachid Taha has always argued that North African styles and rock are closely linked, and this is his most convincing evidence to date: a furious, declamatory album that is firmly rooted in his native Algeria but has the sparse vitality of a punk classic. The stand-out track, inevitably, is Taha's tribute to his hero, Joe Strummer. It starts with a wailing burst of desert flute and hand drums before introducing the familiar guitar riff of what is now titled "Rock El Casbah".
Elsewhere, Taha's blend of anger and angst has been distilled into a set of songs that match crunching guitar chords, simple riffs and angry French and Arabic lyrics with subtle, wailing flourishes of North African embellishment. Steve Hillage has been Taha's producer for the best part of a decade now, and he, along with Brian Eno, helped write the music for the most powerful, original and direct rock-and-raï fusion album that he has released, ranging from the chugging, insistent "H'asbu-Hum" to the pounding and thoughtful title track. Strummer would approve.
Robin Denselow
"The Guardian", September 17, 2004
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If the HAPPY MONDAY's Shaun Ryder had been born in Algeria, he might have made music something like Rachid Taha - the wild man of Algerian raï. "Tékitoi?" is French slang for "Who are you?" and maybe it's directed as much at himself as his audience. That's because, even by the mix-and-match standards of his chosen style, he's an eclectic artist, drawing on rock, dance, hip hop and reggae for inspiration, as well as the diverse North African sounds he's absorbed in France since his family left Algeria when he was only ten.
"Tékitoi?" is Taha's first studio recording since "Made in Medina" (2001) and falls somewhere between the rockiness of that album and his earlier, more folkloric masterpiece "Diwân". As ever, his long-term collaborator Steve Hillage contributes guitar, programming and production, sensitively combining digital beats and swathes of rock guitar with more earthy and acoustic sounds. These include Hossan Ramzy's Arabic percussion, oud-like mandolute from Hakim Hamadouche, Magid Serour's brightly metallic qanun (North African zither), the swirling atmospherics of rosewood gasbah flute and the grandeur of the Egyptian String Ensemble. They feature on more than half the tracks of the original album, beefed up in this edition to a generous 72 minutes by the addition of the evergreen "Ya Rayah" and a Spanish-language version of "Voilà Voilà". It also comes with a 45 minute DVD documenting a recent tour of Mexico, featuring onstage action and some pithy interview footage with the man and his hard-working band.
Fans of THe CLASH will instantly recognise "Rock El Casbah", which has ironically lost a little of its swing in translation. Never mind; the rest of "Tékitoi?" is largely top-notch original material co-written by Taha with Hillage and various others. The best known of these is Brian Eno, who contributes synthesiser and drums to "Dima!", which cheekily recycles the rhythm track from Chaka Demus & Plier's monster hit "Murder She Wrote". Hey, they probably stole it from somebody else!
Another highlight is the rocking hip-hop flavoured groove of "Nah'Seb", with its alternately jabbing and swooning strings and some typically guttural growls from Taha. His vocals are seldom less than compelling and stand out best on the more stripped-down and rootsy arrangements of songs like "H'asbu-Hum" and "Mamachi". The title track is a nifty duet with Christian Olivier, who seems much better paired with Taha than Georgian singer Kaha Beri on the rather limp "Winta". It's one of the few weak points on an otherwise solid and often impressive album.
Jon Lusk
"BBC World Review", September 20, 2004
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One of the most exhilarating things about the global justice movement is the opening up of different worlds and stepping into them through music.
Taha's world is very different to ours and on first listening to his music we had to sit down and rest! The fusion of raï (north African/French modal music), Middle Eastern music, rock, punk, hip-hop and American funk and soul combined a mixture of familiar and unfamiliar sounds. Rachid's friend in the accompanying DVD describes how because his music comes from elsewhere it disrupts the system.
Rachid Taha's family experience as Algerian immigrants living in France is one of the main influences in his passion both for music, and for music as political expression. His Arab roots together with the influence of rock and punk have led to a blending of sounds that is musically multilingual. His early music has been described as "burning with the fire of a young immigrant generation exploding with the anger of punk". His first band, formed in the mid-'80s, CARTE DE SÉJOUR (GREEN CARD) made an ironic cover of the patriotic "Douce France", a song made popular at the time of the Resistance. It was a response to the racist nationalism of the Front National.
"Tékitoi?" follows the theme of identity and musical fusion. The title, meaning "Who are you?" to which he answers, "You're me and I'm you", confronts the idea that we are simply defined by religion or race. Just as he protests against Islamophobia, he is also worried by the rise of anti-Semitism in France that is sometimes the response when immigrant communities close in on themselves. In France this is exacerbated by the response of the left in supporting the state racism that has led to the banning of religious apparel in schools.
The album is an unapologetic expression of protest. The lyrics are in French, Arabic, Spanish and English. The song "Lli Fat Mat!" challenges the idea that everything bad is a result of colonialism. He's saying that we need to look at what national ruling classes and governments are doing today and fight against that also.
The song "Rock El Casbah" is a musical linking of West and East and a tribute to Joe Strummer of THE CLASH, who Taha respects for never having sold out. The song is an emotive reminder of rebellious youth and will have you dancing round your front room, whatever age you are!
However, it would be simplistic, and a failure to do justice to the music, to only describe this as a protest album. There are songs of hope and love recognising, as Taha himself says, "that despite all the closed doors and all the despair, hope exists too". Rachid Taha refuses to stay within the box. Listen to this album!
Paula Champion & Jenny Taylor
"Socialist Review", November 2004
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"Who stares from cover: terrorist or Christ?" they are asking. "Today they wouldn't make difference", answers the apparition with martyr's aura. What haven't accomplished albums "Made in Medina" and "Live", was now done by "Tékitoi?" (Who'r You?" or "Shkoon Enta?"): Rachid Taha at last generally got rid of label raï, pressed on him at home and in the world ever since "Three Suns" with Khaled and Faudel (before that the labels were beur punk, chaâbi fusion, french variete, dance underground etc.). Even more: in England they now promulgate him as the only and the last rocker. Rachid of course never was raï (of course among other maghrebi stylems he did already also use this one, yet rarely and generally protogenre, old raï of cheikhas and cheikhs), there is no doubt that since forever he is primary rocker, about the last and only we could discuss... He's glad too that now finally they speak more about his music and less about it as sociological phenomenon, while interestingly in his discourse he keeps harping on politics - and as usually rarely talks about music he does. So what - the music speaks per se, no?
Of course music speaks also about politics and the phenomenon of Other (without whom we are nothing as "you are me and I am you") as we can gather from title, cover and lyrics, which are - how praising - translated wholly. Less we can gather about Rachid's past poetics of words for presumably this time he is more straight and less methaphorical in his speech to allow us to understand him at last. Musicaly we can faster than ever gather the reminiscences from Rachid’s ancient punk era with CARTE DE SÉJOUR, of course tempered with twenty year's experience and masterfully dressed.
The marriage between North Africa and Europe, between arabian poetic and rock sensibility (and reversed) is very successful this time too, yet slightly differently than usual: first of all egyptian classical-musical orchestration (qanun and strings, recorded in Kairo, percussion of Hossam Ramzy) dominates and colours the majority of songs, much less noticable and present are ingredients of maghrebi genres (Mamachi excluded), represented by bendir and gasba plus conditionally mandoluth; besides that the sound spreads on Mediterranean in widest sense, let's say "H'asbu-Hum" has a tang of Balkan, while "Winta" with slavic melos features georgian singer Kaha Beri. And not least, while arabic sonorities and instruments are still alloyed, compounded, conglomerated with rock ones, they are also in juxtaposition, collation, still in perfect dialogue, correspondence, interlace, yet with a dierhesis; same goes for Rachid’s hyperexpressive rock vocal in relation to music. If I paraphrase: "You're indeed me and I am you, yet also you're you and I am I, while you are me and I am you".
Perhaps because the album was taking shape differently than previous ones and in desire to approach live sound? Longtime companion and producer Steve Hillage (while signed as co-author prior too) usualy interferred more or less at the end, while this time album came into being in collaboration from the very beginning, among other Steve went to record to Egypt, while Rachid occupied himself basicly with rocker's riffs and quitars, who are played in turn by Steve. Album was recorded also in London and Paris, with plenty of collaborations by numerous other musicians: song "Dima" is co-signed by Brian Eno, title-one by Christian Olivier from LES TÊTES RAIDES, who also co-sings it, all three mentioned are also choruses of "Rock El Casbah".
When I reviewed "Made in Medina", I wrote also, "sometimes one could wish for less softness - which can taint the general impression - and for more constructive anger". "Tékitoi?" repairs both: is badly angry and the softness is grind off in harsh rock and ortoarabic sound. In sum, the general impression is better than ever, even if here and there a pestering trifles can be heard. Neverthless - for me, for now – new album doesn't surpass "Medina". Why? I got too fast too fed up with the french rocking of the title one, and even if there is some pearls and perhaps also a jewel ("Safi"), no song atteins the peerless "Garab" from "Medina" and also doesn't surpass few others, rather opposite. Otherwise great and also brave adaptation "Rock El Casbah" perhaps really gives impression that THE CLASH were those who were adapting, yet also this one I've already heard too much, formerly and lately. To conclude: perhaps from "angry optimist" (as Taha calls himself now in comparison with prior "joyous pesimist") we haven't yet got all that he is capable of, as I pessimistically expected, perhaps we can expect even more - next time (if I join him in optimism).
TC Lejla Bin Nur (Tatjana Capuder)
"Radio Student Ljubljana", 5.12.2004
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Rachid Taha and Khaled are often mentioned (and reviewed) in the same breath. It's not hard to see why. Both are Algerians who live and record in France. Both have enjoyed international success, and both use raï's already hyphenated convergence of beats as a jump-off point for something else.
In Taha's case, that means a sound increasingly more aggressive, guttural, and thanks to a longtime collaboration with former progger Steve Hillage, rock and roll. While his songs still bear many Oriental influences, Taha's a take-no-prisoners kinda guy - even if you don't understand Arabic, it's clear he doesn't do nuance. Six of his new "Tékitoi?"'s titles are punctuated with exclamation points, and one of those, "Safi!" ("Pure!"), kicks off with a modulated, undulating calm before exploding with a fury that'd make Zach de la Rocha jealous. Taha's rebel heart beats loudly in "Rock el Casbah". According to the owner of Brooklyn's Rachid Records - a Middle Eastern/North African music shop where both of these imports are available - Taha's Arabic version of THE CLASH's classic sticks to the original lyrical script. (The chorus, co-sung by Brian Eno of all people, is in English.) Even so, it's hard to deny the impact (and humor) of a Muslim shouting, "Sha-Riff [sic] don't like it!"
If Taha's roaring, Khaled prefers to purr. His mèlange of rubbery funk, jazz fusion, the instrumentation of traditional Arabic music, and creamy (often corny) French cafè has, deservingly, crowned him King of Raï: Khaled's careening, galvanizing tenor has a last-call-for-alcohol burnish (his love of red wine is well known), and in the elegantly accordion-embellished "Man Hani" he's a raï Romeo. As befitting his elder-statesman status, much of his new "Ya-Rayi" is languid and lush. Yet when old cohort Don Was pops up on the title track, Khaled proves that his groove thang is still finely tuned - and that, like Taha, he knows how and when to go in for the kill.
Amy Linden
"Village Voice", January 11, 2005
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Rachid Taha is the best rock star alive. An Algerian who records in France and London and Cairo, Taha's music is Godzilla-big: Arabic music is his touchstone, and because he loves us, he throws in new wave and funk and punk and pop and techno and every other genre in the world. "Lli Fat Mat!" (which means "What Is in the Past Is Dead and Gone!") starts like Algerian raï, but the metallic guitar riff (courtesy of GONG guru Steve Hillage) gives it a tougher edge than you're going to hear playing in the background at the Falafel Hut. New genres seem to emerge with each new song: "H'asbu-Hum" has a second-line shuffle and some slithery bass, and "Nah'Seb" is disco dub thrash with a mandolute and some stomping drums. Throughout, Taha makes it work by sounding absolutely committed to every single song. His vocal performance on "Safi", a condemnation of totalitarianism (and maybe Americanism, too), is epic in great ways, a mutter to a scream and back again. He gets smooth on the sexy boil of "Shuf". And with "Rock el Casbah", rocking THE CLASH song hard in Arabic and English, Taha steps right up to a legacy that might rightly be his.
Matt Cibula
"Seattle Weekly", January 26 - February 1, 2005
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The Algerian-born, Paris based Taha continues his one-man peace mission to not only infuse Arabic rock with Western influences, but to tweak labels. How, exactly, are you going to tag an Algerian version of THE CLASH's "Rock the Casbah"? Or raï twisted with electronics, African rhythms, rock and hip hop? Collaborating once again with producer/arranger Steve Hillage, Taha drives home his opening question - "Tékitoi?" or "Who are you?" - with rhythmic and thematic focus on connections rather than differences between musics and people, with stimulating results. Accompanyimg DVD shows Taha and band touring Mexico last spring - performing concerts, meeting fans, giving interviews, and offering insightful commentary (plus some wicked humor) on shifting meanings of "world" and "rock" music.
Bliss
"Pasadena Weekly", 10.02.2005
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Following up on the excellent "Made in Medina", Algerian-born singer Rachid Taha returns with the equally impressive "Tékitoi", his fifth album. Taha has long mixed North African raï and chaâbi with alternative rock, electronic sounds (Brian Eno co-writes one song), techno rhythms and a smattering of other styles. But instead of turning these diverse sounds into a cacophonic bowl of mush, Taha and longtime collaborator Steve Hillage balance muscular rhythms, a panoramic feeling of space, and Taha's own rock star leanings - never has this fusion been better illustrated than here on "Safi (Pure)". Taha also shows a wicked sense of humor with his ironic and somewhat tongue-in-cheek version of THE CLASH's "Rock The Casbah", taking some of the funk out while adding strings (by Egyptian Strings Ensemble) that push up the kitsch value. This album and its maker's many fans prove that not everyone of Middle Eastern origin is a conservative or a fundamentalist. For Taha, though, it's simply another boundary breaking effort.
Tad Hendrickson
"Amazon.com"
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As a music fan, I love music that you can't categorise by putting it in a box labelled "folk", "country", whatever. Perversely, as a reviewer, that's what is needed to explain in words what music sounds like. Simply saying "vibrant", "up-tempo" etc just ain't enough! A subject for a thesis, I'm sure. So, imagine my delight when the limited edition interview DVD with "Tékitoi?" has Rachid Taha describing himself as a "rock and roller" whilst live shows have audience members holding up banners acclaiming Rachid as "King Of Raï". Add to this the considerable electronic inputs of Steve Hillage to Rachid's music down the years and you have a real magical, musical soup.
Opening up with the title track (named after a piece of Algerian street slang along the lines of "who the hell are you"), Rachid is in a Europop mode sounding like an up-beat Manu Chao with attitude. The attitude comes to the fore when he re-works "Rock The Casbah" by THE CLASH. Though it doesn't bear comparison to the original, you have to admire Rachid approaching a song that has often been misinterpreted as some sort of veiled attack on the Middle East. Hopefully, this is the record on this put straight for good. However, it's not the inclusion of this cover that grabs the ears but the amazing blending of Arabic tunes with heavy rock. "Safi", for example, finds an Egyptian String Ensemble happily rubbing shoulders with electric guitar at its most abrasive. That blend, like on earlier records, sets the tone though I would say that this CD has achieved a musical consistency which wasn't always present on his earlier releases. Yes, it's another "must have" release from "Wrasse Records" and, like the recent Khaled record, you need to be down the shops early to get the version with the limited edition bonus DVD with live footage and interviews.
Steve Henderson
"NetRhythms"
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Born in Algeria, Rachid Taha has a French passport, an understanding of rock music's placement within the vast musical weave, and a desire to create complicated new genres. Voiced mostly in Arabic, Rachid Taha creates his identity through his work adding influences as he encounters them geographically... to produce something one is unable to categorize.
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For several years Algeria's Taha has been pushing to find the perfect mix of rock and North African music. His previous disc, "Made in Medina", came very close, and this time he's nailed it. There's a brooding, abraded quality to his increasingly raw voice, and the balance between strings, flailing percussion and the crunchy guitars - usually by Steve Hillage - is just about perfect, all pushed by an unstoppable, at times even punishing, backbeat. The highlight for some will be the Arabic remake of THE CLASH's punk anthem "Rock The Casbah", which not only turns the song on its head and reenergizes it, but also pays tribute to one of Taha's inspirations.
Chris Nickson
"Saudi Aramco World"
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Rachid Taha is often thrown in the same bin as Khaled, his fellow Algerian and practitioner of raï, the Algerian dance-pop hybrid that crosses Western funk with traditional Arabic sounds. But, as Taha's startling new "Tékitoi?" proves, grouping the pair together is kind of like saying David Bowie and James Taylor both wrote songs in the '70s - true, but so what? Taha, an Algerian living in Paris, owes as much to the late '70s' punk movement (witness his tongue-in-cheek Arabic translation of THE CLASH's "Rock El Casbah") and Western electro-industrial outfits like MINISTRY or even NINE INCH NAILS as he does to traditional Algerian music, which means "Tékitoi?" snarls more than most raï albums. Still, raï and Arabic music purists might be surprised at how much they like this album. For every crunchy guitar riff on tunes like "Winta" and "Tékitoi?" ("Who Are You?") there are touches like the delicate mandolute (a cross between a guitar and an oud) on "Meftuh'" or the Egyptian string orchestra that shows up on nearly every track, making this that rare release that straddles the line between East and West without compromising to either. As a bonus, the disc comes with an extra DVD documentary (subtitled in English and Spanish) about Taha.
Ezra Gale
"Shop Andy Warhol"
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The Algerian roots rocker returns with the album he's been threatening to make for a long time, mixing crunchy guitars, Arab percussion and strings in perfect balance, all topped by that marvellous raw voice. Most notable is the Arabic cover of "Rock The Casbah", turning the song perfectly on its head (but with an English chorus) - now we need the video all over the place. With this Taha fulfills all his promise, and the bonus DVD is a treat.
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Taha's fifth solo album asks the question "T'es qui toi": Who are you?". This is his exploration of himself through his sound. The answer to the question? Liberal doses of Algerian chaâbi and raï, French aesthetics, Arabic lyrics. On the musical side alone, this is an astounding album, moving from French banter to a cover of "Rock The Casbah" with a different message in the lyrics back into Taha's bread and butter with Arabic-infused rock. The rock slams as hard or harder than even big hits from "Made in Medina". Also though, softer sides are explored a bit with love songs, complete with a female backing chorus and something of an underground hip-hop groove. Every aspect of his music previously visited in earlier albums is taken up again here with more energy, more raw power. The album is arguably one of the top releases of the year in any genre. Taha is certainly one of a handful of artists who deserves wider exposure than he receives, especially in U.S. markets. This album would make a welcome introduction for curious newcomers and an excellent addition for fans of the contemporary Algerian master.
Additionally included is the DVD of a Mexican tour, with bits of concert footage, soundchecks, interviews with bandmembers, a massive number of press interviews with Rachid, and some surprisingly artistic footage from the travels throughout the country.
Adam Greenberg
"All Music Guide"
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In a belated attempt to introduce Algerian raï star Rachid Taha's eighth album, 2004's "Tékitoi?" ("Who Are You?"), to a wider American audience, his label has re-released the album for the third time in under a year. The new edition translates the album and song titles into English (fair enough) and remixes the sound a bit to emphasize the dance beats and tough rock guitars over the traditional North African elements, which is not anywhere near as much of a travesty as it might sound to purists since producer Steve Hillage (GONG etc.) had already smartly integrated the electronics into Taha's sound. So far, so good, but "Who Are You?" mystifyingly makes the mistake of dropping the last three songs ("Stenna", "Ya Rayah" and the Spanish-language "Voilà Voilà") from previous editions of the album; this is particularly frustrating since the traditional-sounding "Ya Rayah" (a tune popularized by the late Dahman el Harrachi) and the nearly acid-house dance groove of "Voilà Voilà" added much to the album's musical depth and sense of variety. There are still plenty of gems on this album, the slyly sarcastic reworking of THE CLASH's "Rock the Casbah" and the dub-like sonic depth of the Brian Eno co-write "Dima", but shortening the album by removing some of its best (albeit least representative) songs is no way to treat the audience that the label is trying to court.
Stewart Mason
"All Music Guide"
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If an artist can turn the classic CLASH hit, "Rock The Casbah" into a wild mishmash of exotic Eastern culture and get away with it, then they're alright in my book. And that's exactly what Rachid has done. The only difference here being, the song title changes slightly (now "Rock El Casbah") and so does the line "Cherie don't like it", now "Sha-riff!"
Of Arabic origin, based in France, fluent in Spanish and with a genuine love of Western rock'n'roll, Rachid Taha has an incredibly diverse and totally unique sound. "Tékitoi?" is both energetic and defiant and on it, Rachid surges forward with his brand of World music clashing head on with Western influences. It's raw, it's visceral and at times confronting but that's what music should be about. The only downside for us one-language speaking hicks, we've got no idea what he is singing about but thankfully some of the lyrics have been reprinted in English. Tracks to watch out for range from the vibrant, self-titled opener "Tékitoi?" where he duets with Christian Olivier, the aggressive nature and grandiose scale of "Safi (Pure)" and of course "Rock El Casbah", his homage to the late great Joe Strummer.
Mark Rasmussen
"Mediasearch"
