Rachid Taha compares his music to a plate of couscous. Interviewed via translator from his home in France, the 49-year-old Algerian-born singer and global punk icon says he was happy to discover that "Frank Zappa had come to the same conclusion when he said, 'How to describe my music? Difficult to explain if you've never tasted couscous.' "

Known for playing a modified version of the oud called the mandolute, Taha says he represents a link "between Africa, the Orient and the West. In the same way as Omar Sharif is to cinema," he adds wryly.

A career-spanning Taha retrospective, "Rock El Casbah: The Best Of," was released in the United States this month, in time for a four-city tour (which brings him to San Francisco's Stern Grove Festival July 13). Like couscous, the 15-song CD draws its flavor from many different elements. There's the punk side, represented by his celebrated version of the Clash's "Rock the Casbah" and the rabble-rousing "Douce France." Taha's love of traditional folk music comes through on his covers of Farid El Atrache's "Habina" and Dahmane El Harrachi's "Ya Rayah." A philosophical, existentialist aspect shows up in "Kelma" ("Thoughts"), and "Ida" ("If"). And "Menfi" - which translates to "The Exile" - addresses a prominent theme in Taha's music, that of identity.

Specifically, the identity of being Algerian, Arabic and Muslim while living in a country that hasn't always been friendly to immigrants. Coming to France from Algeria at a young age, he says, "I knew what to expect."

Tradition plays a big role in Taha's music. Yet he's incorporated progressive elements into his style, paving the way for such later artists as Natascha Atlas and Cheb Mami. In his solo career, he's worked extensively with producer Steve Hillage, who, in addition to adding electronic textures to Taha's sound, "is a guitar-playing Peter O' Toole," he says. (Think "Lawrence of Arabia," not "My Favorite Year.")

Taha is proudest of the fact that his music has often served as a bridge connecting cultures. His version of "Ya Rayah," for instance, became an interplanetary hit and was used in "around 30" films, he notes.

"The song was No. 1 in Cyprus, equally among the Turks as among the Greeks," he says. "Not only in Cyprus, but also in Greece and in Turkey at the same time. 100 million people singing the same song at the same time! It's the only thing in the history of this country that they've been able to agree about."

Taha has sometimes been associated with Rai - a genre originated by nomadic shepherds that became modernized during World War II when U.S. GIs landed in Algeria, bringing their instruments with them - and he's jokingly referred to himself as "Rai Orbison."

"Rai," he says, "actually means 'opinion' and often rai singers use the expression 'Ya Rai' - 'my opinion.' When I say Rai Orbison, I can also be saying Rai Cooder, or Rai Charles."

However, Chaabi - an earlier form of North African pop - is more his style, he says.

"I find the Chaabi more rootsy," he says, "and more honest somehow."

Still, Rai and Chaabi aren't all that far apart.

"Chaabi came first, and then morphed itself into Rai," he says. "But it's just a question of evolution. And attitude."

Taha has certainly got plenty of attitude. As the lead singer for Carte de Sejour ("registration paper") in the mid-'80s, he remade Gallic crooner Charles Trenet's "Douce France" into a snarling punk anthem - the cultural equivalent of Jimi Hendrix performing "The Star-Spangled Banner" or Sid Vicious singing Sinatra's "My Way."

Playing in a French-Algerian punk band taught him one thing, he says: "You have to stay punk!"

Few things are more punk than singing a Clash song in Arabic.

"During the first Gulf War," Taha says, "the young American soldiers sang 'Rock the Casbah' as an anti-Arab hymn. I wanted to set the record straight. Originally, (the song) was an anti-war song."

Taha's version, called "Rock el Casbah," was approved by Joe Strummer's widow, Luce, and Clash guitarist Mick Jones (who has since appeared onstage with Taha on several occasions). Taha performs the song in the Clash documentary "Joe Strummer: The Future is Unwritten," and it has become one of his biggest international hits, earning him a BBC World Music Award in 2006.

Strummer made an "enormous" impact on him, he says, "in the same way as Chuck Berry, Elvis Presley, Bo Diddley and James Brown." He's also a fan of Neil Young, whom he calls "the ultimate punk."

It's somewhat of a cliche to call Taha a world-music version of Woody Guthrie, Bob Dylan or Bruce Springsteen, but he doesn't bristle at being dubbed a protest singer. Making music with a message is just a way of trying to make life better, he says.

"We sing to improve things, provoke emotions, give joy," he says, "so you could say that all songs are protest songs."

-by Eric K. Arnold