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Spin Cycle
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Philadelphia Weekly, Spin Cycle >>
With Serpico good looks and a gruff Springsteen rasp, Algerian-born Rachid Taha is a no-brainer as a rock star. Mixing French and Arabic and a little Spanish, Taha purveys a hugely infectious rock roll sound-accessible even to Stateside ears. His latest album features the hit "Tekitoi?", a riffy duet with French rocker Christian Olivier that moves along with such determination that it sounds speed-induced. (Brian Eno is the album's other guest star.) And after years of being compared to the Clash, Taha does a version here of "Rock the Casbah" - in Arabic and with North African instrumentation. Though Tana's music is reliably rock-y - with a familiar chugging of guitars and furiously persistent drumming - he adds elements that are unexpected, including the mandolute. Arabic percussion and, on "Lli Fat Mati", the Egyptian String Ensemble. Such combinations make his songs both sexy and tough, as though Springsteen called up Tom Waits, and they decided to write some music for hot nights on the dance floor. Lyrically Taha's no ranter, but he is resolutely political. "Our culture is not democratic," he sings on the hard-rock "Safi!" "In the assembly, you cannot question the minister, there is no right to speak!" (It sounds more poetic in Arabic.) But Taha's not without hope: On the heels of lamenting oppression, he sings, "As for me, my heart is pure! I like joyous love!" Well, who doesn't? Last month England's Daily Telegraph wrongly reported that Taha's onstage behavior - leaning on the mike stand, staggering around - was the result of a degenerative bone disease. This infuriated Taha's U.S./U.K. manager, who called the reporter an "irresponsible motherfucker" on Taha's website. In fact, Taha has a rare, not-so-bad form of muscular dystrophy. But the illness is nowhere in evidence on the entertaining DVD that accompanies Tekitoi, which follows the grungy rocker as he travels through Mexico charming people with his scrappy assertions about music and politics. Best quote? "World music' is a term for store-keepers." Right on. So don't let stupid record-store shelving conventions keep you from hearing Rachid Taha.
-LizSpikol 03/02/05
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