Raï - Khaled, Raï's First Superstar

Although on an overall basis I prefer Cheb Mami and his music to Khaled's, there is no doubt that Khaled is an amazing musician and singer, and that he truly deserves his "king of raï" title. While Mami was the first to move to France and the first to release an album outside of both North Africa and France, it is Khaled who has had the greater success, the wider fan base.

It is not just for his success in spreading the raï that Khaled (Khalidu Hajj Brahim) deserves his title, for his music is superb. Like Cheb Mami, Khaled writes practically all of his songs. His voice is tenor, but it does not have the kind of qualities Western ears expect in a tenor voice. It is a deep, gutteral voice, "world-weary" and able to convey loads of emotion. It is almost harsh, but nonetheless retains a lot of warmth and exuberance - all in all a singular voice. One can even hear these complex, qualities in Khaled's young voice, from back in his "cheb" days.

While Mami's raï is more hip and funky, Khaled's has more jazz influences and on the whole feels more like straight pop/rock. His music is consistently well-done, and makes him worthy of his title, even in the eyes of those like myself who do not consider Khaled their favorite raï artist.

The best way to experience Khaled is to get his albums. (Some of them are: Hada Raykoum, Fuir mais où?, Khaled, N'ssi N'ssi, and Sahra. Khaled also appears on a bunch of other CDs on which he collaborated with others.) But if you can't wait, here're a few pictures and sounds to tide you over till you get his albums for yourself...