 The Afropop Team caught up with Rai rocker Rachid Taha before his performance at the first annual Coca Cola Ebony Festival in Dakar, Senegal, to discuss his opinions on the serious issues affecting Africa today. Banning: Can you give us a brief introduction about yourself and where you play around the world? Rachid: I play a little bit all over the world--Australia, New Zealand, the United States, Canada, and so forth. I don't do a lot of Arab or African countries. It's hard to organize these kinds of events in Africa. This is my first time in Senegal. But I tour a lot in Europe and I've played in Mexico, Turkey, and other non-Western countries. Banning: What do you think of your audience around the world? Rachid: For me, it's not a question of this public or that one. I play my music naturally and people can respond to it or not. When I play in Prague, or Budapest or Turkey, the reaction is the same…people from all over have very similar responses. All over the world, the body has the same desire to move.
Banning: Last time we talked about pieces from "Made in Medina". You talked a lot about slavery and it's history. What was it like for you to play on Goree island yesterday?
Rachid: We always build monuments to remember a certain historical place or event. But in my opinion, we could make slavery or submission monuments everywhere. It annoys me a little to see Goree as a tourist attraction. The people that live there are like Europeans. I find it strange that people that are obviously against slavery make Goree a touristic. It should be a place of memories and reflection.
Banning: Let's talk about the festival in general. What do you think of the festival in its first year? Rachid: I don't know. It's the first festival. I wonder if it's to attract tourist or to provide an occasion for reflection. There's not a lot of white people associated with the festival. Is it a return to Pan-Africanism? I'd like to know who this festival is serving. Is Coca Cola serving this festival or is it the other way around? We'll see in the future. What do you think of Coca Cola?: Rachid: They're looking for a market. Africa is where, for example, smoking cigarettes, getting fatter or getting uglier aren't the primary problems. Coca Cola is very interested in Africans and African-Americans to help stimulate its American (black) market. They won't have Nicole Kidman selling Coca Cola. They'll have Michael Jordan or an American boxer. Banning: Let's talk briefly about the music. What piece did you play last night? Rachid: It was a song written in the 1970's by an Algerian singer named Dahmel Haraji who was a contemporary singer who died in the 1980's. He traveled towards France. He was kind of the Algerian Jack Kerouac. Banning: What was the name of the song? Rachid: Yariya. The departed. Banning: Can you give us a preview of your new album? Rachid: I worked with an Arab linguist. There's a lot of radical songs about democracy in Arab nations, about integration, and about what's going on in the world in general. People tell me they can't understand me because of my Algerian accent. I don't think so. It's an accent that everyone should be able to understand. Banning: Can you give us an example of a few verses? Rachid: There's a song that talks about corruption and people who don't share "the cake" but should be sharing it with the public. And there's a type of Manifesto which says to judge and condemn those that steal from the people. That's the big picture. Banning: One subject we haven't touched upon yet is Coca Cola's involvement in creating AIDS awareness. We've heard a lot of opinions from African artists, but maybe you have a different perspective. Rachid: There's another thing that kills a lot in Africa: Malaria. Mosquitoes are the weapons of mass destruction that are killing many African children. Malaria kills a lot more than AIDS. We focus on AIDS because it touches the West and we have to find a cure for it. Certain people understand that if we don't heal Africa, we are neglecting to heal the whole world. Certain, well intentioned people, understood that if we don't take care of Africa, the little boy in New Jersey or Manchester or Paris couldn't live either. Africa is the mirror to ourselves. Banning: Do you think Coca Cola's effort with a festival like this can make a difference? Rachid: It can inform and if it does, all the better. But it can't stop. It has to be everywhere all the time. We forget that there are millions of people living with AIDS, that we live in lies. We don't tell the truth. Rachid Taha, Senegal, 2004Interview by Banning Eyre
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