Anaconda

The Algerian legendary rai music star, Cheikha Rimitti, passed away on May 15 in Paris.

Shortly after the release of her new album “Nta Goudami” (Face Me), the Algerian diva, 83, died in a Paris hospital with a heart attack.

Rimitti was still an active performer and recording artist. She was to appear at the BBC Proms season in August.

The history of a militant singer

The rai godmother was born in Tessala, a small village in the countryside of western Algeria. She was the first women voice to denounce through rhythmic poetry and songs women's repression in society.

She has long been a legend to whom all young rai singers have owed their freedom of expression as well as their linguistic and moral rebelliousness.

Her brilliant career stretches back to the 1950's. She was the spokesperson of the Arab Maghreb population. Her songs focused on everyday struggle of living, pleasures of sex and love, alcohol, friendship and war, all performed in the everyday language of the streets.

Born at the beginning of the 1920's and soon orphaned, Rimitti wandered from a neighbourhood to another and slept in hammams. At the age of 20, she joined a music troupe, singing in cabarets and dancing till exhaustion.

Her first verses were inspired from the desolating scenes of the pest which spread at that time in Algeria.

Rimitti participated in local festivals which several great artists attended like Oum Keltoum.

“In addition to singing, I used to ride horses during the Fantasia, taking a rifle in each hand and shooting,” reads an extract of her biography.

In 1954, the Algerian artist marked an uncontestable success after the release of her controversial single “Charrak Gattà” which was considered as an attack against the virginity taboo.

She composed over 200 songs, which constitute a real repertoire.

For all rai musicians, she is a queen. The great women is venerated by young generation singers who see in her “the mother of rai music”.

The Algerian artist, Rachid Taha, dedicated a song entitled “Rimitti” praising her talent.

Main ambassador of rai music worldwide, she triumphed internationally in New York, Paris, London, Amsterdam, Stockholm, Geneva, Madrid, Berlin and Cairo.

She was awarded the “Grand Prix du Disque 2000” by Charles Cros Academy.

Rimitti's talents were recognised in every continent, and praised at festivals from Tokyo to Toronto. In 1994 she collaborated with Robert Fripp and Flea from the Red Hot Chilli Peppers on the album 'Sidi Mansour', produced by Fripp, which nudged the creative boundaries of the rai genre out further than ever before.

Officially banned in Algeria, Rimitti marked rai history by taking the defiant step of recording her last album at the Boussif Studios in Oran, the city where rai music was born over a century ago.

Rai Story

Rai (opinion in Arabic) is a music movement which appeared at the beginning of XX century in Oran.

The origin of the word “rai” goes back to the time when the Cheikh, poet of Melhoun, used to turn his wisdom and advices into poetry sung in local dialect. The singer used to express his unhappiness and complain about his sufferings addressing his “rai” which led him to take wrong decisions.

Songs yet always started with “Ya Raii”.

In the 1920's, Algerian singers used to sing the official register celebrating religion, love and moral values during festivals, weddings or circumcisions. Songs dealing with alcohol and physical pleasure were forbidden and sung only in souks and cafés.

In the 1930s, Algerian artists started singing the Wahrani, a Melhoun's adaptation accompanied with Oud (a lute-like musical instrument), accordion, banjo or piano. This music was mixed with not only other Arab musical influences but also with Spanish, French and Latin American music.

In the 1950s, with Cheikha Rimitti (Charrak Gattà), this music, which was limited to a small range of singers, was spread all over Algeria after the independence.

The traditional musical instruments of rai music (flute, derbouka and bendir) were accommodated with the electric guitar, trumpet and saxophone.

At the end of 1970s, rai music integrated other styles like rock, pop, funk, reggae and disco with the music performed by Mohammed Maghni, Rachid and Fathi Baba Ahmed.

It was only at the beginning of the 1980s that rai skyrocketed to reach the national music class with the arrival of a great number of singers, the Chebs (Cheb means young for males and Cheba for females): Cheb Hasni, Cheba Fadila (You Are Mine, 1988), Cheb Khaled (Kutche, 1989), Cheb Mami (Let Me Rai, 1990), Cheb Sahraoui, Cheba Zahouania, Cheb Kader (From Oran to Paris), Abdel Ali Slimani, Ahmed Saber and the Moroccan Bouchnak Brothers.

This new music brought together traditional instruments with electronic drums and bass and renovated some old melodies.

The first rai festival had taken place in 1985 in Oran. Seeing the infatuation of the Algerian youth, the government ended up recognizing officially the rai music as a national music form. The recognition was judged intolerable for some extremist groups who gave full vent to their anger till assassinating certain rai artists like Cheb Hasni.

The enchanting melodies of rai music spread at the end of the 80s to reach the other side of the Mediterranean. In France, rai reached a strong popularity in the 1990s. The most renowned artists of this exotic music in France were Cheb Khaled (Didi), Rachid Taha (Ya Rayah) then Faudel (Tellement n'brick). Cheb Mami is known at the international level thanks to his duo with Sting.

Rai music attracted several composers like Jean Jacques Goldman who composed the famous single “Aciha” for Cheb Khaled. Several singles were sung in French for the European audience which appreciated the music. Rai started mixing with different music forms like Rap, Rock or Techno, and recently with RnB.

Since 2001, in France, the Conseil supérieur de l'audiovisuel (CSA), an independent administrative authority which was created to guarantee broadcasting freedom, recognized the rai as a musical genre. Rai music was granted 2 radio frequencies in Paris region for FM radio called “Only rai”.

Oumnia Guedda

Morocco Times