Aïcha

To end this week long exploration of Algeria, I'll like to leave you with one of my favorite songs by the king of Raï music: Khaled. Raï music originated in the coastal city of Oran way bank in the 1930s and was basically the rock 'n roll to traditional Arabic songs. By singing about such risqué topics like women rights, you can only imagine this beat of the youth was not appreciated by the government and other traditional entities.

I first heard this song when I was lived in Spain ('99-'00) and it introduced me to a whole new genre of music. Until that time, music sung in Arabic hadn't hit my music stand in any way. While this song was written by French singer-songwriter Jean-Jacques Goldman, it was Khaled who mixed it up with Arabic and now has me singing "Aïcha, Aïcha écoute-moi...."

Have a great weekend!