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CD Review
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URChicago, CD Review >>
Rachid Taha is the biggest and best musician to come out of Algeria in a generation, and he's famous (and infamous) in his adopted homeland of France. In the U.S., though, he's made much less of an impact--something he hopes to change with the stateside release of his most recent album, Tékitoi (Who Are You?). A longtime master of the native Algerian rai music and an old hand at incorporating trance beats and Arabic instruments like the oud and the darbuka into his music, Taha makes a great leap forward into western rock forms on Tékitoi. "I find a lot of rock rhythms hidden within Arabic music," he says. From his vocal collaboration with the legendary Brian Eno (with whom he claims to have formed a "mutual appreciation society"), to the satisfying punk edge in his music, he incorporates the two seamlessly. A sly cover of the Clash's "Rock the Casbah" may cause a stir; his last cover track, a snide punky interpretation of a beloved French pop hit, caused a furor in Paris, and "Rock el Casbah" nicely confronts the listener's prejudices about Arab culture. But Taha denies any subversive intent: "I recorded the song because I like it and as a tribute to Joe Strummer, who was an early hero." Hoping to make the kind of impression in America that he's made during successful recent tour stops in London, Moscow and St. Petersburg, he promises Chicago "serious rock 'n' roll" blended with electronica and stunning pan-Arab influences. "Rock music is read from left to right and Arabic music is read from right to left," Taha explains. "I'm playing rock music, but from right to left."
-Leonard Pierce 07/01/05 >> go there
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