Rachid Taha: Diwan 2

I really don't know enough about rai. But I got really turned on by [i]1,2,3 soleils . . .[/i], which is a live record from a 1999 joint concert by Khaled, Faudel, and Rachid Taha, and functions as something of a greatest hits for each of them at the time. Taha put it together, his band was the core of the backing band, and Steve Hillage served as music director, so the arrangements are not cheesy at all -- live strings, very few synths.

If you can, get the real, French 2-disk version, not the 1-disk abridgement that gets sold here as [i]Khaled Taha Faudel[/i]. That's not bad, but it drops some of the old rai songs, and it doesn't have enough Faudel on it (his voice is amazing).

But I also agree that [i]Diwan 2[/i] is definitely worth a purchase. It is really well-recorded -- great textures, great instrumentation (although not especially rai instrumentation -- no accordion), great feel. Taha's last record was very rock and very explicitly political. This one is much lighter, and more subtle -- a long celebration of hybrid francarabe culture, which presents embracing your confusion and syncretism as an implied alternative to Islamism and Salafist rigor.

In the pop rai vein, I liked Cheb Mami's [i]Delalli[/i] and any of the recent Khaled records.

So is Diwan2 quite in the same general vein as was the first Diwan?
('Ve got the first one and loved it too:)

Of course, Diwan 2 is in the same general vein as the first Diwan. There are some important differences, though. I like the production better -- warmer, less glossy, lots of acoustic guitar, actually, very little electric guitar and a lot less oud/mandolute than usual. Brass on some songs. Also, the overall cast of the songs is more French -- lots of singing in French or French-Arabic hybrid, including the two Taha-Hillage originals. About half the songs would have fit fine on the first Diwan, but the other half -- which are front-loaded -- are much more about including the European roots than the songs on Diwan. By the same token, the new record is probably a little less dance-y than the first Diwan, although there are some great dance cuts on it.

If you like Taha in general, I can't imagine your not liking this. It's very much of a piece with his work, though it has a radically different emphasis than Tekitoi? or any of the last few records.

Thanx!