Cheb Khaled

Khaled rocketed back into the charts in December '99 with his new album "Kenza". (Named after his second daughter, the title means "Little Gem" in Arabic). Released three years after his previous album "Sarha", this 15-track extravaganza included a cover of the John Lennon classic "Imagine" (recorded as a duet with Israeli diva Noa) and two songs in French written by Jean-Jacques Goldman - "Derviche tourneur" and "C'est la nuit" which was chosen as the first single release from the album. Khaled also branched out in a new direction, experimenting with a mix of Rai and salsa rhythms on "Gouloulha Dji" and trying out electro dance beats on "E'dir e'sseba". This eclectic - and highly mainstream - new album was certainly a long way from Khaled's early Rai hits.

During his international tour, Khaled put in at the Heineken Festival in Sao Paolo, Brazil, in April 2000. He was met with a great success in this country, where his album, "Didi" had sold up to 200.000 copies. On August 11th of the next summer, his father died in Oran. Although Khaled could not make it for the funeral ceremony, he joined his family as soon as he could.