Khaled
A Visit to le Maison de Khaled
by Dan Rosenberg

In most countries, his records are filed under "K," and throughout much of Europe, Africa and the Middle East, they regularly top the pop charts. He is from Algeria and sings primarily in Arabic. His success has changed how the business world considers "world music." His name is Khaled, the King of Rai, and leader of a musical movement that has incorporated touches of reggae, funk, and salsa with catchy North African beats. How did this man from Oran become an international superstar?

Khaled's unusual musical journey began three decades ago in the western Algerian coastal town of Oran. It was a decade after Algeria's independence from France, and well before the onset of the Algerian civil war. "I began playing the accordion when I was just six or seven," he explained. "Oran is very close to the Moroccan border, and as a result, my music was based heavily on Moroccan folk music." Khaled's first band was called Les Cinq Etoiles (The Five Stars). "What we were playing was rai, a music that has existed since the 1930s. It was folk music at heart, but we updated it with 'non-traditional' instruments like the violin, accordion, piano, and later electric guitar, drum kit, and bass." Khaled then explained that, at the time, there were no rai clubs, no proper venues to perform this sort of music. "Our real chance to play was during the summer, at weddings. Most of these were peasant weddings in the countryside. There was no electricity, so we used acoustic instruments like derbouka (an Arabic percussion instrument), guitar, and my accordion." Khaled then burst into laughter when he added, "We discovered amplification when we learned that we could plug our mics into the car battery..."