Search - Khaled :: Liberte

The King is Dead, Long Live the King

Wasim AlSayegh | Montreal, Canada | 07/21/2009

(4 out of 5 stars)

"Khaled, the king of Rai, released his latest album Liberté after five years of silence. The album should have come with the warning label "The King is Dead Long Live the King". Ever since Khaled's self titled album he successfully fused traditional Rai beats with pop, hip-hop, reggae and other world beats. This fusion brought Khaled to the international stage with hits such as Didi, Aïcha and Chebba. With every new album Khaled tweaked and tuned his music till it reached its epitome with his 1996 album Sahra. Ever since then while other Arabic musicians were able to keep their music relevant and up to date, Khaled failed to keep his music fresh. It seems that Khaled in his heart of hearts yearned for the more traditional Rai sounds of the early 80s, which meshed traditional Arabic instruments with electrical synthesizers. Liberté is Khaled's biggest gamble. Liberté ditches the world fusion music that Khaled was known for and goes back to the traditional roots of not only Rai music but Arabic music too. I personally thought eight minutes long songs with a mawal intro are long dead, but apparently they live on in Liberté.

The bottom line is if you like Khaled for his world music fusion, then "the king is dead". On the other hand, if you like Khaled for his early 80s music then "long live the king"."

The Roots Become A Forest

Janet Kerr | france | 08/23/2009

(5 out of 5 stars)

"After years of collaborations that push the limits of what rai music is, Khaled makes a recording that comes back to the echoes of the music if the all night cafes. This record is an adventure though, we are treated to a mix of the influences of both sides of the Mediterrenean and North Africa. Lush Egyptian strings, accordion, the traditional instrumentation of Northern African music mixed with jazz and Spanich influences, all heald together with the production and savvy bass playing of hios collaborator, Mark Messionier.

Tarab is word that is hard to translate, but it describes the feeling of ectasy a listener experiences with great vocal music. Khaled, with his raspy, soulful controlled microtonal singing proves that he is a master at inducing Tarab, again and again.

By returning to his roots, Khaled has given us a lush forest."

FABULOUS

Lane R. Hatcher | San Antonio, TX | 09/01/2009

(5 out of 5 stars)

"WOW -- totally love this CD. If you want to dance to it, then dance. If you want to do other stuff and just groove to it, by all means, do so. Good production quality, great tunes (they're not in English, but who cares?). Will get you moving and lift your mood. Highly recommended."