Men and Popular Music in Algeria...One of the most significant works on the RAI genre ever written

One of the books that I bought before I travelled to Oran was this one. It talks about Oran, the social life there, the history of RAI and actually gives you an English translation of lyrics of rai songs so you can better understand them and understand the social and emotional conotations behind them.

Here is a link to AMAZON to be able to get the book. This will be a brand new copy. This will be your essential guide to understanding Hasni's world.



I found a link to a used copy that is a lot less expensive than Amazon.



This book is actually used as a text book for several music classes taught at major universities across the US.

This is an actual excerpt from the bookWahrani (Oran music) is associated with the music developed in the city centers of Orania, mainly Oran, from the mid-1930s through the flourishing period of the 1950s. Broadly speaking, the wahrani is an adaptation of the malhun to city instruments (such as the 'uud, the accordion, the banjo, the piano, etc.), to the melody and rhythm of the Oran area, and to a tone universe relating to the mass-produced music of the Arab world and to Spanish, French, and even Latin American songs. It has provided present-day raï with a repertoire of instrumental sounds, melodic patterns, and combinations of rhythm. However, raï must not be confused with wahrani. Raï musicians do not possess the same finesse of musical approach as is found in the wahrani, and the poetical ideas are not nearly as elaborate. On the other hand, electric raï has adopted and recorded wahrani songs and given new texts to wahrani tunes, while composers of wahrani have created songs for raï singers.

This brief overview of the main elements in raï shows that this musical genre does not have clearly demarcated lines. When I was in Oran, however, people frequently referred to the first records after independence­ on which the "spontaneous" form of raï was adapted to the instrumentation of the city­as the beginning of raï. The best known was a 1965 recording by a twelve-year-old, Bouteldja Belkacem, of two songs by Cheikha Ouashma: "Ziziya" (Ziziya told me to have a party at her place tonight, Ziziya told me to spend the night with her) and "Sidi l-hakim" (Mister judge, where are they taking me?). So there are considered to be definite origins.

One important early raï musician was Bellemou, a trumpet player who before independence played in the local marching band of Ain Temouchent. After 1962, he expanded his repertoire by combining trumpet and saxophone with local percussion instruments, thus replacing reed flutes with brass; he performed at events such as football matches and wedding processions. A third notable development took place in the raï groups of Sidi Bel Abbes, who replaced reed flutes with the electric guitar and the wah-wah pedal. The earliest name associated with this genre is Mohammed Zargui, who died in 1981.

At the end of the 1970s, the key instrument of raï in Oran was the accordion. Western music, Hindi film music, and Moroccan music (such as Nass el Ghiwane and Jil Jillala) were popular. A great number of musicians were also versed in the popular songs of the area. They would meet with musicians like the Nawi brothers, the Qada brothers, Mokhtar the drummer, and later Hocine the keyboard player, who were all playing Western pop and rock, and they became among the first to introduce electric instruments to raï. Violinists like Kouider Berkane and Abdallah Rerbal and the drabki player Hocine, on the other hand, contributed to maintaining continuity with wahrani music.

Another important musician was Mohammed Maghni, one of the few in raï to have formal musical traïning and practical experience as a keyboard player in the pop group the Students. He created new arrangements in raï -- with feel-ins and riffs from rock, disco, and sometimes jazz -- within the Oranian style of phrasing. The best known "electric" musicians, however, were Rachid and Fethi, the Baba brothers, lovers of Western pop and music technology (with some ability to invest), who were the first to introduce the complete synthesizer and drum-machine sound into raï in 1982. Later, they invested money in the best multi-track studio and recording facilities in North Africa and were clever enough to employ traïned musicians like Ben Ali and Samir.

After I travelled to Oran, I saw the very things he talked about in his book. Its really a wonderful read and it will give insight even to North Africans because it really reveals the hidden life of Oranis.