Diwân (1998)
11 tracks, 69 minutes
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Rachid Taha was a revolutionary of raï. The style started as Bedouin folk music used for weddings, but when it evolved to take on the characteristics of chaabi and Latin music and European pop styles in the 1980s, it became the all-pervading sound of Algeria, and the Maghreb in general. Then Rachid Taha came along, all anger, alcohol and cigarettes, and kicked down the door. He brought a real punk aesthetic to the music, with screaming guitars, heavy beats and his own growl, as well as his overall demeanour and dress-sense. In the West, he’s particularly known for his brilliant (and Arabic-language) take on the Clash’s ‘Rock the Casbah.’
This album is a bit different, though. Diwân takes Rachid back to his roots, with a bunch of covers of classic pieces from raï’s forefathers and early stars. He hasn’t left the punk entirely behind (the production and electric guitar of Steve Hillage assures that), but it’s not the foundation of the sound this time around. Instead, oud (lute), gasbah (flute), riqq (tambourine) and bendir (frame drum) dictate the whole feel of the album, with Rachid and Steve being able to imprint their own personality on it from there.
The opening track is Dahmane El Harrachi’s ‘Ya Rayah,’ one of the most famous anthems of raï and chaabi music, and Rachid’s take on it here is as definitive a version as you can get for a song that has been covered so many times in so many different styles. His version of the Egyptian film song ‘Habina Habina’ by Farid El Atrache is similarly iconic, with a really well-utilised club beat and heavy bassline laying a great foundation beneath the massed strings and qanun (plucked zither).
Rachid Taha’s punk redefined a genre that was already the biggest musical phenomenon in the region, but for me, Diwân is his best work. The music is unmistakably his but it retains the beauty of the originals, and shows his deep respect (and huge skill) for that classic raï sound.
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