|
|
Khaled Christmas-2004
Text by Banning Eyre. Photos by Sean Barlow and Banning Eyre
December, 19, 2004
It's dinner time at the Beverly Hilton in
Los Angeles, very near the end of Khaled's eventful, two-week stay in the city. Khaled is getting ready to go into the studio with his old friend and producer Don Was to redo the vocal track on the title track for his new album, Ya Rai. The two created this song months earlier with Khaled in
France and Was in LA, communicating and recording through the magic of Macintosh internet technology. Khaled's new vocal will be one of a few important changes to the
U.S. release of Ya Rai, due out from MI5/Caroline in 2005. The chance to record the vocal in Was's physical presence is just one reason the King of Rai has come to LA. He's also been in the studio with 11-time Grammy Award winning producer KC Porter, who has written an additional song for the
US version of Ya Rai, featuring some surprise guest artists. Khaled has been planning an ambitious spring and summer 2005 tour, shooting new photos for the album, and conducting interviews, including a nearly four-hour career retrospective with myself and Sean Barlow.
As we make our way to the Beverly Hilton Grill, Khaled is seized with one of his notorious whims. He dashes over to an enormous Christmas wreath attached to the wall, carefully lifts it and inserts his head into the ring, inviting all with cameras to take advantage of the moment. Then he spots his friend, Cheb I Sabbah, a fellow Algerian composer and DJ who has joined us for the evening. "It's perfect," says Khaled, "a Muslim and a Jew posing inside a Christmas wreath!" The cameras go wild.
The moment captures both the delight and the profundity of time spent with Khaled. It is impossible to overstate the man's theatricality. The sheer number and variety of faces, voices, and personas he inhabits over the course of a one-hour conversation are simply breathtaking. Khaled is devoted to schtick, and he says that has everything to do with the fun-loving city where he was raised,
Oran. "All I read in the French press about
Algeria is bombings and shootings," he says over dinner. "But when I call up my friends in
Oran, all they want to do is tell me their latest jokes. I try to stop them but it's impossible. 'Just one more. You can afford it.'" He holds the imaginary cell phone away from his head, rolling his eyes and wearing a weary frown.
At the same time, the sight gag of a Muslim and a Jew posing inside a Christmas wreath cuts to the heart of Khaled's deepest artistic instincts. Throughout his career, he has reached out to Jewish collaborators in particular--Jean-Jacques Goldman (who co-wrote his mega hit "Aicha"), Maurice El Mediouni (a veteran Algerian musician who collaborates on Ya Rai), Don Was (who has worked with Khaled on four albums), among others. Back in the old days, Khaled took heat for this in some circles, but by now, he's pursued his ecumenical vision of life and music with such passion and gusto that no one can possibly doubt its sincerity. Muslim hardliners in
Algeria who see the photo of Khaled and Cheb I posing in a Christmas wreath can do little more than roll their eyes and wear weary frowns of their own. By now, the world has agreed to simply let Khaled be Khaled.
During our interview, Khaled had a lot to say about religions, history, the character of life in
Oran, the city that gave birth to rai, his new album and much more. The interview, as well as interviews with KC Porter and Don Was, will be presented on Afropop Worldwide and Afropop.org in 2005. So will the
U.S. release of Ya Rai. The European version has already received many honors, and as far as we can tell, the changes Khaled and his U.S. team--headed up by his tireless manager and the Executive Producer for Ya Rai, Dawn Elder--are all for the good. So we have much to look forward to from Khaled in the coming months.
It was a treat to spend a few days with one of the most effusive, luminous, and talented Afropop artists alive today, and we look forward to sharing the experience more fully in the future. For now, we wish you Happy Holidays in the Khaled spirit of unity and love! Onwards to 2005…
Contributed by: Banning Eyre and Sean Barlow
|
