Rachid Taha - Made in Medina

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Music reviews of Made in Medina

Music Review: listen without prejudice
Rating: 4 Stars

Rachid has truly mastered the art of extensive music-making. In its entirety, Made in Medina spreads the music across a variety of fertile music grounds and styles. He summoned the recording smarts in Paris and London while finding spiritual sustenance and mystical presence in Morocco and New Orleans. In bridging the rituals of the Morocco gnawas and the Louisiana voodoo with the roots of North Africa, Rachid has shortened diverse creative distances and unravelled an infectious yet frenzied brew of music set to boost his culture-bending socio-political cause.

An awesome sound awaits to be soaked in from Rachid's fresh vision as he drives the album through climatic chords and emotive jolts. It's mind-boggling to find sneering punk aggression, traditional lute sounds, New Orleans "gris gris" grooves and simple Franco-Arabic songs blending into the mixture with little difficulty. It's the sort of faraway rock music that Robert Plant and Jimmy Page would love to emulate.

The album goes for the one, two punch in commanding, uncompromising fashion. The stomping Barra Barra (Outside) carpets any Western rock competition as it tears away with a bilious swipe against the generalising of chaos in society while deception is the core subject on Foqt Foqt (I'm Not Taken In), a pulsing Algerian rock number with all-female Moroccan group B'Net Marrakesh singing the chorus in Berber language. Rock as a medium is a lethal force in any language, and with the innovative Rachid, no sound is untouchable in his rebel-rousing world.

The album does work the average listener into a sweat with its ball of energy. From distant ambulance siren effects in immigrant Lyon neighbourhoods to a stirring tribute to Kahlil Gibran and a generous spread of North African folklore, there's little reason to put this evocative Rachid album off the daily home rotation. There are poignant moments to sustain a different level of intensity, too. The vocals of Femi Kuti, a high-profile guest on Ala Jalkoum (Because of You), complement this blues-based track on the quest for freedom and fulfilment. Amid the volatile stuff, there are breaks to invite the wide-eyed wonder of revelry as well.

For a spell, the man's unrest is eased with the celebration of bliss and solitude on Aie Aie Aie (Carefree), tied up neatly with a Led Zeppelin-ish rhythm. Rachid also proves he remembers the days of old with a nod to the sheiks of rai from the 1930s with the tender nuances on Ho Cherie Cherie (Oh Dearest Dearest), a beautiful tune coiled around the gorgeous strains of violins.

Rachid might be Algerian by birth, he's got a French passport but the universal context of his music brings a startling new dimension to the appeal of rock music outside the usual. From Algeria to Malaysia, this is provocative, edgy and passionate stuff more than capable of touching a nerve no matter what the language of choice. Listen without prejudice

Description of Made in Medina

Dance & DJ CDs

• Music > Styles
• World Music
• Pop