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CD Review
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Creative Loafing, CD Review >>
Few musicians can merge old-world musical traditions with modern dance music without causing grunts and groans. In the realm of Arabic music, Ofra Haza did it well and Rachid Taha is the current master of this blended world beat. Taha was born in Algeria and cut his musical teeth as a member of the transplanted immigrant community living in France. Taha was weaned on rai, Algerian rebel and dance music, and is influenced by the energy of punk. This confluence pours into Taha's rebel music, which is about fighting ignorance, poverty, racism and complacency. After playing in a band called Carte de Sejour (French for "residence permit"), which initiated a loose "Arabic rock," he went solo and took the dance music route. Tekitoi ("T'es Qui Toi," "Who Are You?") is largely a collection of dance music touched by Arabic rhythms, rai, and rock. An interpretation of The Clash's "Rock the Casbah," here called "Rock el Casbah," would please the late Joe Strummer. "Voila Voila" and the title tune are tracks that bookend Taha's melding of cultural influences with witty observations and a fiery vocal delivery. The better tracks are where the old-world rhythms are treated as equals to or supersede the dance beats.
--Samir Shukla 02/16/05 >> go there
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