Rashid Tach Biography

For the French, he remains an Algerian artist, in North Africa they look at him as a European, ordinary music lovers see a rock singer in him, not taking his flirting with African music seriously, while for Taha the traditional African melodies are the foundation of his musical baggage. Those who consider it a European delegate from the ethnic style of "RAI", born just in Algeria, are also mistaken.

But the outsider position has its advantages. Not drawn into the epicenter of the mainstream, not branded by a sticky label, Rashid Tah can soberly observe everything that is happening and do what he most wants at the moment, without afraid to deceive someone’s expectations or not to justify his status. A multifaceted personality, Rashid Tach was born on September 18 in Oran, the second largest city in Algeria, located in the north-west of the country.

His childhood passed in the town of Sig, known for his olive groves. The war for the independence of Algeria and its destructive consequences, the political corruption of the new government forced the head of the family to look for a more calm life in France. So in the year Rashid Tah was in the French province. He studied for several years in a Catholic school, not spinning at any special successes, and as a teenager at his own peril and risk waved to Lyon.

The artificial security of the immigrant ghetto - this is what he most wanted to escape from. This is the path of conformists. "The Great Industrial City immediately showed him what the difference between the provincial commune and real France. In Lyon, he first encountered real racism. A dishwasher, a cook, a handyman at the factory - that’s the whole career that he could do in Lyon.

But Rashid was not going to stop there.

Together with several friends, he began to get involved in the club scene of the city, in which no one was in which no one was in the city. This is an invaluable, sometimes extreme experience of Rashida, the traditional Algerian style of RAI, which is more suitable for the scene of Varieta, served Rashida only by the starting point. Songs replaced him with a rostrum with which he could proclaim his political views.

Unlike adherents of traditional Arab art, Rashid Tah did not hide his beliefs behind the metaphors' veil, preferring to express himself directly and frankly. He possessed an excellent appetite in terms of causing gestures and an undisguised rebellion. A year later, the team introduced the debut long-play "Rhoromanie". The second and last album "Deux et Demi", released in M, included their most famous single "Douce France" - the ironic cover version of the hitter Charles Trenge.

They turned this sentimental post -war ballad, adored by nationalists and orthodox patriots, they turned into a bizarre stylistic cocktail. But the frontman was not enough with a light wave of indignation caused by a song in musical circles. He threw out the then Minister of Culture Jack Lang with letters demanding to distribute copies of the single "Douce France" to all members of the French parliament.

In the person of Algerian Rashid Tah, France essentially acquired the first real punk - a rebel in spirit, beliefs and mental inclinations. Rashid Taha went into solo voyage, which began already in Paris, preferring juicy dance music with the eastern color during Arab Rock. Last but not least in the choice of this direction, Steve Hillagej, one of the most authoritative figures surrounded by Rashid, his permanent co -author and like -minded person, producer and arranger, who warmed his love for club and electronic music.

Steve was a great fan of Egyptian and Moroccan music, Rashid admired Steve’s works, in particular, his interpretations of the tracks of Haltum, made in the style of rock and psychics and presented on his solo albums. Supporting and reckoning each other, they developed their own song canon, with the excitement of pioneers, pushing the rock, electronics and north African motifs, with the adventurism of revolutionaries, throwing risky accusations and not embarrassed in the statement of the most radical ideas.

The musician achieved an amazing effect, pushing the sounds of Maghreb and techno-rhythms in his forehead, and at the same time puzzled the listeners and the design of the disk. The blue -eyed tach, a man of clearly non -European appearance, smiled from the cover, a man of clearly non -European appearance, being a magnificent example of social and sexual disorientation.

The lion's share of the track list was unusual interpretations of the classic melodies of North Africa, folklore tunes occupying a special place in the cultural baggage of Rashid. Easy modernization of the sound was carried out by a constant companion and producer Steve Hillagej. The culmination of their creative efforts was the sensational "Ya Rayah" single, which transferred the old African melody in the decoration of the 21st century and burst into club charts not only in France, but also of countries such far from Europe as Lebanon and Colombia.Preferring not to call himself the performer of RAI, Rashid Taha with great sympathy refers to representatives of this direction.

In the year, along with the real superstar of RAI, Haled and the Foreign, he recorded the concert album "1, 2, 3 Soleils", published in North America under the name "Taha, Khaled, Faudel". This brilliant disk that documented the concert at the Berry Paris Stadium in the year, spread in Europe with a million circulation. He was recorded in Paris, London, Marrakesha and New Orleans, which was quite consistent with the cultural polyphony of the material itself.

This time, this time, were not only the duties of the producer - he recorded guitar parties that gave the album a particularly muscular, elastic sound. In that bewitching rhythm that they extracted from their drums, there was something from the Esoteric rituals of Voodoo, driving into a trance. At the beginning of the year, the official French Musyzdostry prepared a pleasant surprise to Rashida Taha: the disk "Made in Medina" was awarded the Victoires de La Musique Awards, the French analogue of Grammy, as the best album of the year.

The concerts of forty-year-old Rashid Tah, as in the "Pankovsky" times of his stormy youth, still represented a very extravagant sight. On the stage, he seems to be a savage just released into the wild, or a small formidable troll, whose smart figure comically contrasts with the frightening roar with which he announces the hall. Often hiding his eyes behind dark glasses, and black hair - under a cap, in his tight leather trousers, he resembles a rocker exhausted by drugs.

But drugs have nothing to do with it, just Taha suffers from a mild form of muscle dystrophy. Work on this album, full of heartbreaking visions, passed according to a new scheme: from the very first day, he conjured over the recording with Hillagej, which usually connected to the studio process much later. Among other surprises of the record are the producer assistance of Brian Ino in the preparation of the Dima track, dedicated to the problems of freedom and autocassura.

The song "Mamachi" is the tribe of Rashida to the rural performer "RAI", who lived in the vicinity of Oran, the first singer, whom he heard in his life and from whom a specific, very rhythmic vocal style borrowed. One of the main events during his European tour was a concert on the main stage of the Bestival festival in tandem with Brian Ino. This was no longer the first experience of their joint performances - Ino and Tah had to play together in Paris, Moscow, St.

Petersburg and London. To achieve a more spectacular sound, Taha introduced the ancient instruments of Gasba, the genus of the flute and Geellla drums. Victoria Prokopovich.