Rachid Taha
6-11-05, The Half Moon Theatre, Cork
Tickets: €26 from Cork Opera House.
Bookings: 021 4270022,
www.corkoperahouse.ie, telephone bookings are subject
to booking fee of €2 per ticket.
Doors: 8.30pm.
“Algeria’s answer to Johnny Cash.” The Independent
“Taha is a punk rock superstar who would conquer the globe if he sang in
anything but Arabic” Time Out
Rachid Taha’s Rock El Casbah, a furious Arabic cover of the Clash classic,
and the album Tékitoi have announced the long-time French star on the
international stage.
The raw sweat of his music and his stance against racism, hypocrisy and
nostalgic ghetto complacency, have earned him a fearsome reputation in
France, North Africa and the Arabic world. His music mixes rock, punk,
techno and North African music. With a recent sell-out UK tour,
collaborations with Brain Eno and even a South Bank Show special now Taha
arrives in Ireland…
In 1998, when he was joined onstage at the Bercy Stadium in Paris by rai
rulers Khaled and Faude, Taha created an epoch-defining moment in French
music. It was one of the most significant points in recent French culture,
the resultant live album 1-2-3 Soleil went on to sell over one million
copies and make Taha an unusual star.
Having enjoyed many hits with his band Carte de Sejour (Green Card) he was
soon to go solo with powerful effect. Over the years Taha has created a
whole canon of innovative, powerful and enduring songs which jostle rock,
electronic and North African influences in the service of honesty and risk.
Voilà Voilà was like a national wake up call to the growing tide of racism
in France. The album Olé Olé was a head-on collision between the sounds of
the Maghreb and techno culture, and its cover, depicting a peroxide
blue-eyed Taha, was a perfect piece of social and sexual disorientation.
Diwan was an homage to the Arabic and North African stars of yesteryear and a skilfull job of musical restoration crowned by the hit Ya Rayah, which
rode the charts in France and far off places like Lebanon and Colombia.
Made In Medina heralded a new maturity as well as a new obsession with the
dark and gathering storm clouds on society’s horizons.
Now with Tékitoi, Rachid Taha, producer Steve Hillage and collaborator Brian
Eno have produced his definitive album. Rai, punk and electro, this is world
music of an appeal not seen before…
“A furious declamatory album…a punk classic”, The Guardian
“A potent hybrid of rattling Arabic percussion, sweeping Egyptian strings
and other North African instrumentation, allied to crunching guitar riffs
played with a force more usually associated with Led Zeppelin”, The Times
Rachid Taha | Cork gig | Nov 6
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