:: Rachid Taha - Tekitoi

Rachid Taha

If an artist can turn the classic Clash hit, ‘Rock The Casbah’ into a wild mishmash of exotic Eastern culture and get away with it, then they‘re alright in my book. And that's exactly what Rachid has done. The only difference here being, the song title changes slightly (now 'Rock El Casbah’) and so does the line “Cherie don‘t like it,” now Sha-riff! Of Arabic origin, based in France, fluent in Spanish and with a genuine love of Western rock'n'roll, Rachid Taha has an incredibly diverse and totally unique sound. 'Tekitoi’ is both energetic and defiant and on it, Rachid surges forward with his brand of World music clashing head on with Western influences. It‘s raw, it's visceral and at times confronting but that's what music should be about. The only downside for us one-language speaking hicks, we've got no idea what he is singing about but thankfully some o f the lyrics have been reprinted in English. Tracks to watch out for range from the vibrant, self-titled opener 'Tekitoi’ where he duets with Christian Olivier, the aggressive nature and grandiose scale of ‘Safi (Pure)’ and of course ‘Rock El Casbah’, his homage to the late great Joe Strummer.