The indigenous Algerian music known as raï, which Taha had avidly consumed as a boy, was beginning to be heard on a wider stage, and he was much influenced by the band Nass El Ghiwane, described by one critic as “Morocco’s answer to the Beatles or the Stones.” In 1989 he moved to Paris and made solo albums with Don Was, and with the Gong veteran Steve Hillage, who went on to produce much of his work. He began writing political songs and poetry and founded Carte de Séjour, who combined Arabic music and punk in songs which were intended, he said, to comment on “working conditions and the way that immigrants are treated”.īut despite their succès de scandale with Douce France, which was banned on French radio, they made no money, and Taha’s day jobs included house painting, washing dishes in a restaurant and selling encyclopedias. There, after leaving school he worked in a central heating factory while DJ-ing in the local African community at night. He was immersed in Algerian music from an early age, but when he was 10 he moved with his family to France, where they settled in an immigrant community in Lyon. Rachid Taha was born in northern Algeria, at Sig, or nearby Oran – reports differ – on September 18 1958. Maybe they did hear it after all.” Some years later he recorded a version of the song, Rock el Casbah, with the Clash guitarist Mick Jones. Then, a few months later, I heard Rock the Casbah. “They looked interested,” he recalled, “but when they didn’t get in touch I thought nothing of it. He met the band in 1981 when they were playing in Paris and, he said, he gave them a tape of his music. In 1986, with his band Carte de Séjour (Residence Permit), he kicked up a controversy when they recorded a rock version of Charles Trenet’s sentimental 1949 ode to his motherland, Douce France (“Sweet France”), then handed out copies of the song at the French parliament as legislators were considering changes to the nationality laws.Īmong Taha’s greatest influences was the Clash – perhaps the most political of the major punk bands – although he speculated that he might also have influenced them in return.
He was particularly fond of the The Clash and Led Zeppelin he rose to fame following his debut with group Carte de Séjour.Rachid Taha, who has died of a heart attack aged 59, was a singer and songwriter whose potent fusion of Arabic music and rock made him a giant of the French pop scene, unafraid to tackle political and social issues. Taha was known to have incorporated raï, traditional Algerian folk music, into rock.
“It is with regret and immense sadness that his son Lyes, his family and relatives, his friends and his record label Naïve, announce the death of artist Rachid Taha, following a heart attack overnight at his home in the Lilas ,” the singer’s family said in a statement sent to AFP.Īccording to local French outlets, such as Le Parisien, the beloved artist will not be buried in France where he had lived most of his life since the age of 10, but in Algeria where he was born in 1958.
Photo source: Ahlrmasrnewsįamed French-Algerian singer Rachid Taha has succumbed to a heart-attack in Paris on Wednesday, as per the BBC. With Cheb Khaled and Faudel, the trio traveled the world to perform. Taha was one of the most famous Arab artists having succeeded in Europe, namely in France. King of Rock n’Raï Rachid Taha Dies Aged 59
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