Ya Rayi (Wrasse Records)
For a moment back there it seemed as though we had lost Khaled, for so long the greatest exponent of rai, that glorious North African Arabic-pop fusion. His last album, Kenza, contained moments of utter schmaltz and an unforgivable murdering of John Lennon’s Imagine. At last year’s Womad festival he fuelled rumours of his decline with a performance so schlocky that Songlines, the respected specialist world music magazine, described him as Algeria ‘s answer to Val Doonican.
The cheesy-looking TV smile on the cover of his new album prompts further foreboding. Yet against all expectations, Ya Rayi is a thrilling return to form as Khaled goes back to his deepest roots. The opener, Mani Hanih, has a warm intimacy that sets the tone with its shuffling guitars and accordions. The title track is prime Arabic funk, La Terre a Tremblé is a moving, bluesy ballad about the earthquakes that hit Algeria last year and the lovely H ‘mana is adorned by the presence of two of rai’s progenitors, the veteran pianist Maurice El Medioni and the octogenarian singer Blaoui Houari. But it is Khaled’s voice that carries the day, as he abandons crooning and rediscovers the passionate Arabic soul that made his name.
Nigel Williamson