Rachid Taha

Rachid Taha

Born: September 18, 1958
Died: September 12, 2018
in Sig, Algeria
Rachid Taha (Arabic: رشيد طه, Rashīd Ṭāhā; 18 September 1958 – 12 September 2018) was an Algerian singer and activist based in France described as "sonically adventurous". His music was influenced by many different styles including rock, electronic, punk and raï. Taha was born on 18 September 1958 in Sig, Mascara Province, Algeria, although a second source suggests he was born in the Algerian seacoast city of Oran. This town was the "birthplace of raï" music, and 1958 was a key year in the Algerian struggle for independence against French authority. He began listening to Algerian music in the 1960s, including street-style music called chaabi. Additionally, music from the Maghreb region was part of his upbringing.

He moved with his parents to France when he was ten years old, settling in an immigrant community around the French city of Lyon in 1968. His father was a textile factory worker, with long hours and low pay, such that his life was compared to that of a "modern slave", according to one account. Aged 17, Taha worked during the day at a central heating plant, described as a "menial job", and hated this work, but at night worked as a club DJ playing Arabic music, rap, salsa, funk and "anything else that took his fancy."

In the late 1970s, Taha founded the nightclub called The Rejects or, in French, Les Refoulés, where he would spin mashups of Arabic pop classics over Led Zeppelin, Bo Diddley and Kraftwerk backbeats.

In the 1980s, Algeria's indigenous pop music known as raï began to achieve international attention. Originally raï music was based on "city slickers adapting music from the sticks" and was described as ribald, but it became more of a medium for political protest when young people in the 1960s and 1970s used it to "express their anger and desires." Taha suggested that Algerian musical styles and rock are "closely linked". Taha was influenced by the Moroccan chaâbi band Nass El Ghiwane which has been described as "Morocco's answer to the Beatles or the Stones."

In 1981, while living in Lyon, Taha met Mohammed and Mokhtar Amini and the three of them, along with Djamel Dif and Eric Vaquer, would soon form a band. In 1982, Taha was the lead vocalist for the Arab-language rock group which they named Carte de Sejour, meaning Green Card or Residence Permit depending on the translation. He sang in both French and Arabic, but usually in Arabic. Taha was inspired by the group The Clash: "The Clash were militant and hedonistic in equal measure ... And that was exciting to me. You could be a rebel and be in the biggest rock'n' roll band in the world! It was also clear that they loved music. Joe Strummer had nothing to do with that terrible punk cynicism. By the time of Mogador '81 they weren't just a rock'n'roll band, they were doing hip-hop, reggae, ska, country and western, disco, but making it sound their own. I think that's what gave French musicians the confidence to do the same with whatever music they were into. In some ways, they introduced us to the world." – Rachid Taha, in The Guardian, 2007. ...

Source: Article "Rachid Taha" from Wikipedia in English, licensed under CC-BY-SA 3.0.

Movies for Rachid Taha...

Rachid Taha, rockeur sans frontières
Title: Rachid Taha, rockeur sans frontières
Character: Self (archive footage)
Released: September 15, 2023
Type: Movie
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Title: Raï Is Not Dead
Character: Self (archive footage)
Released: February 6, 2023
Type: TV
What musical genre can claim to have gone, in the space of fifty years, from a hidden cabaret in Oran to Super Bowl halftime? Born in Algeria at the end of the Second World War, the raï wave spread from the cabarets of western Algeria to the cassette shops of Barbès in Paris, before sweeping the world at the end of the 1980s. its hybridization, the intoxicating music traveled from Algerian and French weddings to the biggest international stages, before suddenly disappearing from the radar at the dawn of the new millennium. Icons that have disappeared, including Cheikha Remitti and Prince Hasni, to young heirs, passing by the star Khaled, the collector Hadj Sameer trace the tumultuous course of this musical genre, between clandestinity, planetary glory and resistance.
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Title: 70 Years of Youth Revolt
Character: Self (archive footage)
Released: November 21, 2020
Type: TV
A look back at the social movements, revolts and youth subcultures from the post-war period to the present day: after the World War II, the left-bank of Paris became a mecca for jazz and alternative living, youth culture was born with trailblazing American movies, and rock became the soundtrack to a generation that wanted to change everything.
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Terrain Vague
Title: Terrain Vague
Character: The singer
Released: June 7, 2017
Type: Movie
A worker in a big city who feels uncomfortable around women meets a sex worker, and in an attempt to overcome his hesitations, he discovers his sexuality.
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Cheba Louisa
Title: Cheba Louisa
Character: Self
Released: May 8, 2013
Type: Movie
30-year-old Djemila, a single jurist, at last has her own apartment... a few steps away from her parents' place. A French woman of North African extraction, she does everything she can to hide her origins. Emma, her nutty and broke neighbor, struggles to raise her two children alone. Although these two women have nothing in common, a deep friendship forms between them because of their mutual love of music.
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1, 2, 3 Soleils
Title: 1, 2, 3 Soleils
Character: Self
Released: January 1, 1999
Type: Movie
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Title: Taratata
Character: Self
Released: January 10, 1993
Type: TV
Taratata was a French TV show showcasing live and pre-recorded footage of current rock acts. Presented by Nagui since its début in 1993, the show was initially shown on France 2. The show often involved surprise and unlikely duets, as well as brief interviews with the artists. Taratata was cancelled in 2000, but returned in April 2005 on the public French network France 4 once a week on prime time, France 3, and late night once a month France 2 and Virgin Radio. Artists including Devendra Banhart, Katie Melua, and Ayo made their French TV debut on the show. The show's chief lighting technician, Jean-Philippe Bourdon, was awarded two Sept d'or in 1994 and 1995. The show featured unique duets and highlights new artists and uses different presenters for each episode. These aspects, and the general emphasis on original music, led the Conseil supérieur de l'audiovisuel to identify Taratata as a uniquely creative show on French TV in April 2009. The show aired throughout Europe on TV5MONDE Europe on Saturday nights. The show is also franchised to Dubai Television in Arabic with an almost identical format to its French counterpart. On 31 May 2013, France Télévisions announced that the show was cancelled. Despite the announcement, the show will continue in a web only format and that a concert will be oragnized at Zénith de Paris on 10 October 2013. The last show was recorded on 13 June 2013 and was broadcast on 12 July 2013.
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Title: Victoires de la musique
Character: Self (Traditional Music/World Music Album of the Year)
Released: November 23, 1985
Type: TV
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Title: Victoires de la musique
Character: Self (Honorary Award)
Released: November 23, 1985
Type: TV
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Title: Victoires de la musique
Character: Self
Released: November 23, 1985
Type: TV
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Droit de Réponse
Title: Droit de Réponse
Character: Self
Released: December 12, 1981
Type: Movie
"Droit de Réponse" (Right of Reply) is a French debate program broadcast between December 12, 1981 and September 19, 1987 on the TF1 channel, presented by Michel Polac and produced by Maurice Dugowson. Broadcast live on a weekly basis, on Saturdays from 8.30 p.m., the right of reply has been the source of many controversies, due to the various speakers who have come to present their point of view on the show (which leads to famous scandals , remained in the memory of viewers), but also for the variety and relevance of the topics covered, which ensured the success of the program on the air for several years. On French television, this program is considered by some observers as a “pioneer program in terms of controversy-show or clash, in modern language”.
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Mosaïque
Title: Mosaïque
Character: Self
Released: December 26, 1976
Type: Movie
Broadcast from 1977 to 1987 on FR3, every Sunday morning, for 1h30, Mosaïque is a variety show with a set where music groups from the countries of origin of immigration perform, and which broadcasts reports on these countries and on immigrants who live in France. When it was created, it aimed to promote the cultures of origin of immigrants, but also to make them better known to the rest of the population. However, the program was never financed by public television which considers that it was aimed at a specific audience and was therefore not part of a public service mission. It received financial support from the Ministry of Labor, through its subsidy to the National Office for the Cultural Promotion of Immigrants, ONPCI (later becoming Information Culture and Immigration, ICEI, in 1977, then Agency for the Development of Intercultural Relations , ADRI). , in 1982).