Search - Rachid Taha :: Diwan 2

Poetry and music.

Jimmy.M | New York City,USA | 03/10/2007

(4 out of 5 stars)

"In contrast to the more in your face "Tekitoi", he has gone for traditional instruments like the gasba (flute) and guellal (percussion) to get the sound he was after.

The stand out track though is not one of the rediscovered classics, as good as they are, it is the anti-racist anthem "Agatha". With its catchy-as-hell chanted lyrics, a rolling bass and distinctively Arabic strings, this tune is one guaranteed to have you singing along irrespective of your level of French.

Assuming your French is as rusty as mine, you'll be pleased to see that the lyrics have been translated and recount a tale of doubted parentage told with a dark and drunken humour.

The album opens with "Ecoute-moi camarade", which Rachid Taha (and this sounds like a Freudian metaphor) apparently discovered while rifling his parents attic. As with "Agatha", there is more feminine treachery afoot as the poor lover tries to talk himself out of being in love with a woman he suspects is cheating on him.

Again we have a crashing chorus to carry the song along and no doubt both these tracks will do the business in France (why oh why can't we ever hear music like this on our most popular radio stations? Do they think we are all fools?)

Before you assume, Rachid Taha is exercising a misogynist tendency, the rest of the tracks deal with epic loves and the experiences of the many caught between cultures and on some tracks he covers off both as in "Gana el Hawa".

The album was recorded in London, Paris and Cairo and sees him back with studio whiz and legend in his own right Steve Hillage.

Rachid Taha is an artist at the top of his game with the people around him to get the job done.

Whether you are a lover of Khaled and fancy something a bit rougher or were blown away by this African soul rebel's last album and want to hear him explore the sounds of his native Algeria further, this is an essential album."

Spiral upward more than return

John | Philadelphia | 02/21/2008

(5 out of 5 stars)

"This is another thoroughly excellent album from one of the most interesting artists currently working anywhere in the world. Despite the title hearkening back to 1998's excellent Diwan, this album represents more of a spiral upward than a return. Only about half of the tracks represent the sort of rocked-up versions of classic Arab pop found on Diwan, although they -- especially Rani, Gana el Hawa, and an Oum Kalthoum song -- are excellent. The centerpieces of the album are really on opposite wings of that: First, the relatively straightforward versions of the 50s chanson Ecoute-moi Camarade and Senegalese pop song Agatha, both in French, dealing with political issues on a personal level. Then, the only two tracks written by Taha and Hillage, Josephine and Ah Mon Amour, both of which are trance-influenced tracks full of distorted loops and percussion that sit well next to similar tracks on his previous two studio albums. The result is a sort of wide-ranging retrospective of Taha's styles and interests, updated to now.



Interestingly, in contrast to Tekitoi, which leaned towards arena rock at times, there is an almost total absence of electric guitar on this record. Lots of acoustic guitar, though -- apart from the two original songs, the production is very warm and rootsy, much more so than the first Diwan.



If I were trying to introduce Taha to neophytes -- which I do all the time -- I would probably send them to Tekitoi or Made In Medina first. But someone starting with this album could fall in love with Taha's music as much as I did starting with Diwan and Medina."