After his knockout performance at Algeria\'s first rai festival in 1985, Khaled moved to France, where he recorded Kutche with keyboardist Safi Boutella and Paris producer Martin Messonier. The record charted a course for the tasteful, punchy international sound Khaled has went on to develop with Los Angeles producer Don Was on subsequent albums, Khaled (1992) and N\'Ssi N\'Ssi (1993). Working around short, repeating vocal phrases, Khaled blasts out clear, sustained, vibratoless salvos that glide over his beefy dance mixes. The formula advanced rai music far beyond the rather formulaic productions emanating from Algeria, but Khaled remained on top with that audience, while building an ever greater international following.

With the album Sahra in 1996, Khaled broke into the European mainstream, which went mad for his romantic ballad, \"Aïcha.\" At the same time, the album extended Khaled\'s adventurism and wanderlust, including three tracks recorded in Jamaica with veteran reggae session players and backing vocals by Rita Marley. In 1998, Khaled joined fellow rai stars Faudel and Rachid Taha on stage at Bercy Arena in Paris for the much ballyhooed 1,2,3, Soleil concert and album, another landmark in rai\'s rising international popularity. Khaled took some time to regroup before releasing his next studio album, Kenza in 1999, but it too expanded his musical vocabulary, including a Latin number, and an infectious duet with Indian film singer Amar.

Khaled\'s adventurism paved the way for other international rai artists. Cheb Mami recorded successful crossover albums in L.A., and Rachid Taha broke all the molds with his rock-infused 2000 release, Made in Medina. Crossover rai appeals especially to second and third generation north Africans, living in France and no longer impressed by cheaply produced Algerian cassettes. This audience forms a link between the more isolated Algerian audience and the international world music public. Khaled, having spanned all three, has changed the landscape of possibilities for all rai singers.

Long a potential target for Algerian Islamic militants, Khaled lives permanently in France. But he has been venturing back to Algeria more and more of late. In Januarey, 2002, he embarked on a major United States tour, along side Egyptian shaabi singer, Hakim. This tour was the first major North African music presentation in the U.S. following the events of September 11, 2001, which have obviously complicated the international careers of many musicians from North Africa and the Arabic-speaking world. ">

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Khaled
North Africa
Algeria
Khaled
The reigning king of rai music made his name as a social rebel, but in fact, he's a voice of hope from a land of sad history. Read more on Khaled...
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