The recent death of French Algerian superstar Rachid Taha brought to mind the musical genre called raï, so I decided to feature it this week by highlighting a few raï artists.… It’s not hard to ...

What happens when you combine Spanish, French, African and Arabic music? Bedouin shepherds frequenting the Algerian port of Oran first dived into this mixing bowl in the early twentieth century. What ...

Raï Story is a musical journey in search of the Raï legend, Cheikha Remitti, in Oran, Algeria, where the Raï musical tradition began. In 1923, the first Raï singers performed behind screens during ...

Raï—often described as “voice of rebellion” in the heart of Algiers—was born amid the humid, salt‑laden air of Oran in the early twentieth century. Its name, derived from the Arabic word for “opinion, ...

What musical genre can claim to have gone, in the space of fifty years, from a hidden cabaret in Oran to Super Bowl halftime? Born in Algeria at the end of the Second World War, the raï wave spread ...

Rhythm Planet host Tom Schnabel joins MBE guest host Aaron Byrd at 10am to talk about a musical genre called raï, which incorporates Arabic, flamenco, French chanson, jazz, and other styles into its ...

Born in southern Tunisia in 1977, MC Rai proved so adept in the native chaabi folk music tradition that he was performing on local radio stations before his eighth birthday. Like most teenagers, his ...