Cheb Khaled

With the Raï movement beginning to lose some of its initial momentum and rumours circulating that Khaled’s voice was no longer as powerful as it once was, the singer decided it was time to make a comeback. He immediately got done to work writing new songs and fired off a series of demos to his record label Barclay, but these were all turned down. Subsequently, Khaled’s new album was scheduled for release on AZ (another subsidiary of Universal).

Khaled’s new album, "Ya-Rayi" ("My Opinion"), came out in September 2004. The majority of the eight songs on the album – which were all written and recorded in Arabic – were produced by Philippe Eidel, one of the singer’s most loyal collaborators. (Khaled openly admitted that one of his main aims on this new album was to work with people he had already had hits with in the past). Interestingly enough, apart from two pure Raï tracks, "Ya Galbi" and "El Ghira", the rest of the album returned to the roots of Arab music, harking back to the days of châabi (a genre which started out as popular street music in Algiers). The album thus had a distinctively retro feel with Khaled slipping easily into the role of a 50s-style crooner. On the song "H'Mama", he even went so far as to invite two of the Algerian music scene’s greatest living legends, Maurice El Medioni (the Jewish pianist from Algiers) and Blaoui Houari (an Algerian singing star from the 50s).

Khaled could not appear to stop himself from throwing in a touch of his habitual Raï fusion, however. This time round, he concocted a new, and highly unusual, mix of Raï and zouk, working with Antillais star Jacob Desvarieux (from the group Kassav) on the song "Zine Zina." Another prestigious guest star, the American producer Don Was (who produced Khaled’s hits "Didi" and "N'ssi n'ssi"), intervened on "Ya-Rai", the title track and first single release from the album. Failing to get a visa to join Was in the States, Khaled communicated with him via Internet and the track was recorded in cyber-space.

Meanwhile, following the success of "Aïcha" and the album "Sahra", Khaled's career continues to go from strength to strength. Hundreds of thousands of teenagers around the world are now committed Khaled fans. Indeed, the international Rai star's exuberant personality and rebellious nature appear to have transoformed him into a universal spokesperson against intolerance.