Rai Arabic music -Some facts
Arabic music has a long history and tradition mainly based on
religious influences.
Well to tell you the truth, we really liked Rai Arabic music. But just
as you would have in any music, Arabic music has several local and
international variants and Sufi is just one of them. One of my favorite
songs is by Khaled, a famous Rai singer that created a record smashing
Arabic song that no one understood but everyone liked. He is considered
one of the top proponents of the art and has the title "King of Rai" as
he has several songs that are top on the US song lists.
He is basically an Arabic singer but he combines Arabic with French
to create songs that are combinations Arabic with reggae. Several of the
hardcore Rai singers however consider his music to be more on the pop
side rather than pure Rai. But as we said, music like beauty depends on
the person listening to the music. At present, singers like Alabina also
are hot on the international market with main line Arabic music songs
that are popular due to the beat and rhythm. Here is a list of the top
Rai Arabic music songs that you can listen to find out what Rai Arabic
music is like. A little history first though!
Rai Arabic music has evolved through the ages and several people are
now familiar in this genre of Arabic music. It has been around for
several years now but the main tweak in the sounds of Arabic music came
when Ahmad Baba Rachid blended traditional music with pop sounds to
create a new type of sound. This Arabic music style is really
controversial in Algeria as the Islamic Revivalist Movement considered
the music to be a part of western culture due to its pop and French
language inclusions.
Rai singers were now considered to be rebels due to their Western form
of singing that can be really pop oriented. To many initial listeners
the sound of Rai Arabic music is not unique and they often mistake the
beat as an international rhythm. But if you listen hard enough you can
find the influences of traditional Bedouin music, and local Arabic music
instruments that sound in the background creating the rhythm.
What about the singers? Singers of the Rai Arabic music genre are
famous in the local Arabic populace and of them all Khaled is the most
well known. You can easily find his Arabic music in any international
music store. Male singers of the Arabic music genre are called as cheb
or cheba for female singers. There are several different styles of Rai
Arabic music styles present and singers specialize in them to ensure
popularity. If you want an accurate idea of Rai Arabic music, listen to
either Khaled with his chart topping DIDI or LAYLA or take a minute to
appreciate Sting with his DESERT ROSE that has Rai Star Cheb Mami
singing his heart out in the background. Sting has even arranged his
vocal styling to follow Rai Arabic music in the track!
We can’t understand the lyrics!
Unless you speak a combination of Arabic and French, you will not be
able to understand the lyrics. Most singers prefer to create songs about
their daily life and lyrics are bald and somewhat bawdy too. But on the
whole the singers prefer to accentuate the problems present in daily
life and work and the political situations of the time. The inflammatory
lyrics however have been a cause of political problems with the singers
resulting in several Rai singers clashing with fundamental Muslims and
being banned for Algeria.
We frankly love this style of Arabic music and you need to listen to
it too! |
