WINNER 2005
KHALED (ALGERIA)
by Garth Cartwright
Khaled is a phenomenon and one of the few artists working in the region we call world music that can wear the title "superstar". As Algeria’s heavyweight champion of rai music, Khaled has gone on to enjoy astonishing success across much of continental Europe, Asia and Latin America.
Hadj-Brahim Khaled was born in 1960 and grew up in the port city of Oran. The son of a mechanic he was crazy about music and proved himself a gifted multi-instrumentalist. By the age of sixteen had been expelled from school and released his first single "Trig Lycee". His early recordings were strongly influenced by Algeria’s raw throated female singer Chieka Remitti, legendary Moroccan chabbi group Nas El Ghiwane and The Jackson 5!. Khaled and his collaborators went on to add synthesisers and drum machines and the influence of everything from Elvis to flamenco so shaping rai into the future of North African music.
Called Cheb Khaled - Cheb meaning 'young' and the tag given to all aspiring rai singers – his beautiful voice and strong stage presence soon found him the most popular singer in Algeria. Khaled moved to France in the 1980s and became the first Algerian to be signed to a major French record label. Many music industry insiders wondered if the French public would accept an Algerian singing in Arabic over ethno pop grooves yet almost instantly Khaled was selling huge numbers of CDs. His warm, friendly manner helped him win over the general public and Khaled is now considered one of the most popular musicians in France.
Khaled's 2004 album "Ya-Rayi" (Wrasse) has been hailed as an exceptional return to form. On "Ya-Rayi" Khaled forsakes the electronic backings he normally favours to recreate the classic Algerian music of the 1950s and '60s. "People were forgetting where the music came from, what its roots were," says Khaled, "I feel good making natural music again, playing accordion and other instruments." Khaled, the once and future King of Rai, is a singer to be treasured.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/radio3/awards20...e_khaled.shtml