Cheb Khaled

In the autumn of 96, Khaled turned his attention to his recording career once more, releasing a new single, in French, entitled "Aïcha". Written by the renowned French singer/songwriter Jean-Jacques Goldman, "Aïcha" would go on to become an absolute smash hit in the French charts. The single was soon followed by a brilliant new album, "Sahra" (named after Khaled's baby daughter Sarah who was born just a few months before the album's release). This album, recorded in France, Los Angeles and Jamaica, innovatively fused Rai sounds with reggae and hip hop influences, featuring a host of special guest artists including Rita Marley, The I Threes and French rap stars IAM. Catapulted to the top of the charts after the success of the single "Aïcha", the album "Sahra" went on to sell 500,000 copies, while "Aïcha" earned Khaled another Victoire de la Musique award. (This time for Best Song of the Year).

Khaled followed his chart success with a series of new concerts, kicking off another international tour with three sell-out concerts at the Olympia in Paris in March 1997.

1997 also saw Khaled launch a successful acting career. The singer's natural charm and charisma made him the ideal choice for a role in Zemmouri's film about the Arab community in France. Khaled's co-star in Zemmouri's comedy "100% Arabica" was fellow Algerian Rai idol Cheb Mami.

After completing an extensive tour, Khaled took part in the Rai extravaganza "Un deux trois soleil", organised at Bercy stadium in Paris on 26 September 1998. Performing on stage with fellow Rai stars Faudel and Rachid Taha, Khaled brought the house down, sending the capacity audience of 15,000 music fans wild. As Khaled, Faudel and Taha performed a series of solos, duets and three-part versions of their hits, the crowd sang along at the top of their voices below, shouting out the lyrics to Khaled's hits "Didi" and "Aïcha". The exceptional ambience of this concert was captured on a live album of the show (which is due to be released later this year).

Khaled spent most of the summer of '99 performing on the international festival circuit. It was while appearing at the Montreal Jazz Festival that Khaled fell victim to a conman who claimed to have arranged a series of concert dates for him in Israel. This series of false dates ended up getting Khaled into hot water and the singer had to cancel several of his planned appearances (including his concert at the Cornouailles summer festival in Brittany scheduled for the end of July).

Following the election of President Bouteflika, the political situation in Algeria appeared to stabilise and Khaled considered returning to his homeland to perform a concert in Algiers in November '99. This concert never actually took place, but Khaled did return to the Algerian capital on 28 November to defend himself in a court case involving his former record company Zeid El Youm. In fact, the Rai star's first label tried to sue him for abuse of "intellectual and artistic copyright" but Khaled was acquitted at the hearing.