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Language:

Arabic

Genre:

Rai

Instrument:

Male vocals

Articles:
Banning Eyre's review of "Kenza"
Wikipedia
Interview from Paris about "Liberté".

On the Internet
Music samples
Title track Liberté
Yamina - live Egypt 2008

Biography

He began as "Cheb" Khaled - "Cheb" means "youth" in Arabic. The prefix of the name was removed, but the youthful and "sinful" rai music has become Khaled's trademark.
Khaled is the son of a policeman and grew up in Oran. His earliest musical models were Arabic musicians but he has also been influenced by French artists such as Edith Piaf, Charles Aznavour and Jacques Brel. Khaled began his musical career in the traditional manner, by singing at weddings and circumcision celebrations. He got his breakthrough in 1985 when he performed in a music festival in Oran and was given the name "The King of Rai".
A year later, he appeared in a festival in Paris. In 1991 he signed a contract with the Polygram/Universal based company, Barclay. The album "Khaled" came out in 1992, sold over 100,000 copies, and contained the hit, "Didi". The follow up, "N'ssi N'ssi" in 1993, was used as the soundtrack for the film "1-2-3 Soleil" and earned him the Caesar Prize for best soundtrack in France.
Khaled is known for his riotous lyrics and he is a much-discussed person in Algeria. He smokes and drinks and lives with his girlfriend, something that seriously provokes the Islamic fundamentalists in his homeland. After several threats, and in fear of the fundamentalists' anger toward himself and his family, he settled in France. Khaled continues to feature among the leading artists in the rai genre, a blend of Arabic music and modern pop. He is a very public person in France, often seen on TV, and can sell out the enormous Zenith Concert Hall in Paris two nights in a row.

Relevant artists:
Orchestre National de Barbés
Cheikha Remitti

YOUNG KHALED  
Buda/1978

In the wake of Khaled's international success, Buda Records has now released the oldest recording of The King of Rai. This is an old cassette recording made in Algeria, from the days before his European debut with "Hada Raykoum" (1985), and with rather broader limits when it comes to sound quality. The question is, naturally, "Is it worth it?" Yes, definitely! This is "old fashioned" rai, from the middle of the 70s when the intrepid Cheb and Chabaer reveled in the newly discovered synthesizer, drum machine and electric guitar, used on only 4 songs. Many feel that Khaled was better before, and I reckon that they had already rushed to the record shop to get hold of the AUTHENTIC Khaled album. (In spite of that, and in contrast to his last, there is not a single Arabic instrument here.) As for those others, they can only be encouraged to do the same, because this man is a shining star!

Arne Berg

HADA RAYKOUM/ RAI KING OF ALGERIA
Triple Earth/1985

KUTCHE (m/Safy Boutella)
Sterns Africa/1987

KHALED
Barclay/1992

N`SSI N`SSI  
Barclay/1993

Elegant album produced by the American, Don Was. Khaled's warm voice immediately grabs you, and Don Was has had a successful hand in this melding of Arabic music and modern jazz and funk. Don Was mentions Elvis in his enclosed notes, and the comparison is not misplaced; Khaled has some of the same magic in his voice as the king of rock and roll. And he serves some of the same social functions in North Africa, as spokesman for freedom and individualism versus religious fundamentalism, as Elvis did in the USA and Western Europe.
The best on this disk is, I think, where he plays "Oriental Strings", recorded in Cairo - for example "Les Ailes". Khaled's voice rings powerfully against the strings and the music wells up toward an accordion that also plays in the background. Pretty. There is also a lot of good saxophone by David McMurray that, in a strange manner, complements Khaled's voice. Khaled has quite simply managed to unite old musical traditions and modern studio techniques without losing their souls.

SAHRA
Barclay/1996

HAFLA  
Barclay/1998

Live recording during Khaled's tour of France and Belgium in 1997. It opens with the big hit, "Didi", and leads on to danceable concert tracks and more of his big hits, such as "Chebba". It's easy to understand Khaled's position among the Arabic youth - he immediately makes contact with the public, and on "Aicha" they spontaneously sing along with him. This disk has everything, from danceable Arabic disco hits to more reflective songs and reggae-inspired pieces. Maybe it's too much and too breathless. I feel also that much fine detail in the music on "N'ssi N'ssi" disappears in the gruffer live songs on "Hafla". But for all that, here is some beautiful music with a playing time of 73 minutes.

KENZA
Universal/1999

There is no doubt about who is king, and the king does just what he wants to do. If this announcement means that an individual singer and his new work are marked by a little left hand work, I think both Khaled himself and his millions of fans will take it calmly. In the 1990s Khaled went from victory to victory. After leaving his homeland, Algeria, and writing under the auspices of Barclay Records in Paris, he produced albums that were each more fabulous than the one before. He has, all by himself, pushed back the borders for North African popular music. Rai, the bitter-sweet music from Khaled's hometown, Oran, has gradually become Everyman's victory in France, and sometimes reaches as far north as Oslo. There have been other artists, saints preserve us, and individuals such as Cheb Mami and Rachid Taha, who begat masterful albums and built big names for themselves by their own efforts. But it is Khaled, and only Khaled, who without discussion can be called The King – he is a kind of Bob Marley, John Lennon and Elvis Presley all rolled into one.
It's been 3 years since Frenchmen and Arabs hummed together on "Aisha", from the "Sahra" album. "Sahra" was the masterly precursor of "N'ssi N'ssi", that in its turn was a follow up to "Khaled", the album that put him on the map once and for all in 1992.
All these disks have one thing in common: lukewarm reviews and idol worship, great excitement from the public. So, shall I go out on a limb and report that of course he is a singer who sends shivers down my back, he always does, and in spite of everything Khaled has God-given voice - but it is not always maintained? That is just what I feel. I love his collaboration with the Indian, Amar, on the witty "El Harba Wine"; I get a lump in my throat when Khaled, takes up "Aalach Tloumouni"; the rai traditionalist in me rejoices around the floor at the accordion tones and string orchestra on the loveable "Melha". But, at the same time: Funk, Khaled - how will you keep out of mischief with the French funk?

Arne Berg

SALAM MAGHREB
Sonodisc/2000

THE VERY BEST OF THE EARLY YEARS
Nascente/2002

YA-RAYI
Wrasse/2004

LIBERTÉ  
Wrasse/2009

Khaled is back! After years of experiments with French funk, for instance on his "Kenza" album, and layers and layers of synthsizers from his French/Arabic backing band, comes his new album "Liberté", which undoubtly will extend the number of musical followers. "Liberté" contains 17 tracks, all included, and more than 70 minutes of music. We are met by a mature Khaled this time, but he still comes up with brave musical solutions. The album presents big, mainly accoustic arrangements, with a full orchestra, recorded in Cairo. It works splendidly. The orchestra is always in the bottom of the arrangements, while Khaled's incredible voice or solo instruments like oud, keyboard/accordion or even elguitar and brass are playfully(!) present on top of it all. I simply get goose bumps from this interplay, for example on the intro of the title track, where the keyboard/accordion hits a bluesy theme over Khaled's expressive singing. Then comes the bass and the drums, and we're off. If I only understood Arabic! The lyrics are missing on my downloaded version. It's a pity, because one certainly gets an impression of the fact that Khaled is out with some important messages here. On "Zabana" a jazzy theme rolls on, with accoustic guitar, oud and piano in the backing. On "Soghri" the jazz beat is also highly present, even more laidback and with a violin playing over Khaleds eminent vocal. It's like one nearly understands what he sings from his early childhood and youth. Beautiful and gripping, anyway. On "Yamina" the accordion is back on a dramatic intro, before the song starts rolling, emotional and danceable. I could continue to number the peaks; the album consists of a row of emotions from the sore and emotional to the heavy and rocky. But it is never flat or boaring; this is simply great music, a fantastic new album from the King of Rai.

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