This week we're in the largest Mediterranean country, the largest African country, and
the home of Rai, the music, not the bread, it's the music of Algeria.
Algeria is a Mediterranean country in North Africa, a region historically known as the
Maghreb.
It is bordered by Tunisia, Libya, Morocco, the Western Saharan territory, Mauritania,
Mali, and Niger.
Algeria has been home to the Berber people since Neolithic times.
The Berbers are native to northern Africa and have their own distinct languages and
cultural heritage.
Today, 99% of Algeria's population identifies as Arab-Berber, a result of Arabs mixing with
the native Berber population during the Arab conquest in the 7th century.
But despite its ethnic homogeneity, Algeria has a long history of multi-culturalism.
In addition to the original native Berber people, Algeria has historically felt the
influence of the Phoenician, Carthaginian, Roman, Byzantine, Vandal, Arab, Spanish, Ottoman,
and French cultures.
There has been heavy influence of the Iberian Al-Andalus tradition in Algeria.
In 1955, Algerian poet Moufdi Zakaria was imprisoned for his anti-colonial politics
in French-governed Algeria.
There, he used his own blood to write the poem "Qassaman" on the wall of his cell.
Just after Algerian independence, the poem, set to music by Egyptian musician Mohamed
Fawzi, was adopted as the national anthem in 1963.
The title Qassaman in Arabic or Tagallit in Berber, means "The Oath" or "The Pledge"
and refers to the pledge to revolt against colonial power.
It is one of the few anthems to mention another country, referring to overthrowing French
rule in the 3rd stanza.
The song is 66 bars long and is through composed, meaning that it has several different melodies
that are not repeated to create form.
Algerian Art music kicked off between the 12th and 15th centuries with the introduction
of Andalusian music.
Andalusian music originated in the Emirate of Cordoba, during the Al-Andalus period of
European history in which much of the Iberian Peninsula was under the control of the Moors.
During the Christian Reconquista of Spain between the 12th and 15th centuries, Muslim
and Sephardic Jewish refugees fled to Algeria and the rest of the Maghreb region and brought
their music along with them.
The music was a distinctive Arab-Andalusian musical tradition dating back to 9th century
Iberia.
Ziryab, was an outstanding musician at the court of Baghdad, and when his talent began
to overshadow his teacher, he was kicked out, eventually finding refuge in Cordoba.
There, he became an icon in fashion, cuisine, hygiene, and music.
Even establishing a music school and developing his own principles of composition and performance.
In Algeria, Andalusian music became the music of the elites.
Musicians were highly trained to perform the music precisely and sing the structures of
classical Arabic.
As Algeria gained independence, the music came to be a source of national pride, and
was actively supported by the government as an element of cultural heritage.
Today, most cities throughout Algeria feature an Andalusian orchestra.
Algerian Andalouse music will often be performed in a style called Andalusi nubah, a suite
form where one song leads directly into the next and usually last about an hour without
pause.
It is believed there were originally 24 nubah, one for each hour of the day, but only 16
are still known in Algeria.
Each nubah is divided in 5 sections called mîzân, that are based on rhythm, and all
5 mizan appear in a specific order to complete
the nubah.
Instruments used in Andalusian music include oud, rabab, darbouka, taarija, qanún, and
kamancheh.
Modern variants also include piano, bass, and cello, and rarely even banjos, saxophones,
and clarinets.
Some of the most well known and most important styles of Algerian music straddle the line
between pop and folk.
A lot of times, they started out as folk music and then transitioned into the pop world.
Or they might be a pop genre that draws on elements of several different folk traditions.
Let's take a look:
One of the earliest of these cross-genre styles was chaabi.
Chaabi means folk in Arabic, and its mix of Arab, Berber, and Andalusian elements.
When first appeared in the late 1800's, it was relegated to Mahchachat, cannabis dens.
It was seen as too low class, a contrast to the elite Andalusian music, and covered themes
like love and money, loss and friendship.
But, by the 1950's, helped by popular performers like El Hajj Muhammad El Anka, chaabi became
the people's music throughout the Maghreb and was performed at weddings and religious
ceremonies.
In its more traditional form, a single song can last upwards of 30 minutes, and consists
of verses of poetry interspersed with instrumental passages performed on stringed instruments
such as
the mandol.
But as it grew in popularity, it also became common place to see the vocal line set against
orchestral arrangements of a dozen or more musicians.
As Chaabi grew in popularity, it mixed with and inspired new styles of music, and one
of the most important has to be Kabyle.
Kabyle is a Berber folk/pop tradition that takes its name from the Kabylia region of
Algeria, which has historically been a very important place for Berber identity in the
country.
When France invaded and began establishing its presence in Algeria in 1830, the mountainous
Kabyle Berbers were treated with special regard, and after French colonialism, Kabylia became
a stronghold against marginalization by an Algerian government seeking to unify Algerian
culture into a single pan-Arab identity.
Modern Kabyle is often referred to as Kabyle New Song, a style that was born among the
Kabyle diaspora in France.
Seeking work in Europe or displaced as a result of post-colonial policies, these Kabyle musicians
were reestablishing the Berber roots of their music.
Many of the popular Kabyle songs of the 1970's were Kabyle lullabies and women's songs,
restyled into the rock influenced New Song style.
Lyrics were also often very provocative and openly chastised the government for what the
Kabyle people saw as a suppression of their culture.
And finally, we get to Rai.
For many people throughout the Arab and French speaking world, Algerian music is synonymous
with Rai music.
It has become a dance music that is hugely popular in dance clubs throughout Europe and
the middle east, but its origins are steeped in Algerian history.
Rai was born in 1920's Oran, a port city that was a mix of Jewish, French, Spanish,
and Arab culture.
The earliest form of Rai was actually a genre sung by Maghrebi women in Algeria's urban
centers, in a tradition known as Meddahas, women that sing only for women, and Cheikha
that sing for men.
These singers were not trained in classical poetry, and so instead would sing about everyday
life, starting each performance with the phrase "this is my opinion", which is where Rai,
which means opinion in Arabic, gets its name.
Singing for men and dressing the way they did was not considered acceptable in society,
so most women changed their names, would not allow their faces to be shown
That is until performers like Cheikha Remitti, born in 1923, began performing extensively.
Her lyrics were considered quite risqué for the time focusing on poverty, alienation,
sexuality, drinking, love, and death.
And this began a tradition of controversial lyrics that has always been intertwined with
Rai music.
The 1980's was the height of international success for Rai music, led especially by Cheb
Khaled.
His music became popular throughout the Arab world and reached top charts in France, Belgium,
Spain, India and Pakistan.
His music has been used in Bollywood productions and was featured in the 1997 movie the 5th
element.
Modern rai continues to change musically, being influenced by pop music, hip hop style
backing tracks and heavy use of auto-tune.
So that's it for Algeria.
Who can recommend some Rai songs, I'd really like to get into it a bit more.
And if you like this series, don't' forget to give the video a thumbs-up and subscribe
to TE for more music and culture.
Next week, Yemen!
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