Aisha
here
Detni Essekra
here
weely Elly
here
Lillah
here
Ouelli El Darek
here
Sahra
here
Walou Walou
here
Haya Haya
here
Hey Quedi
here
Trigue Lycee
here
Elharba Win
here
Aalach Tloumouni
here
Caest La Nuit
here
Derwiche Tourneur
here
Edir Easseba
here
El Aadyen
here
El Bab
here
Gouloulha Dji
here
Mel Habibti
here
Melha
here
Ya Aachkou
here
Khaled - Ya Rayi
here
Khaled & Cameron Cartio - Henna
here
Khaled [خالد] is an
Algerian raï musician from
Oran. He was born Khaled Hadj Brahim in
29 February 1960 in Sidi-El-Houri, Algeria. He began recording in his early teens under the name Cheb Khaled (Arabic for "Young Khaled") and has become probably the most internationally famous Algerian singer. His popularity has earned him the unofficial title "King of Raï". The type of music he is most closely associated with is
raï (pronounced similarly to "rye"), a supremely danceable style that began in the Algerian city of
Oran during the early 20th century and crossed over to wide acclaim in Europe during the 1980s.
At the age of fourteen Khaled formed his first band, "Les Cinq Etoiles" (French for "The Five Stars"), and began playing at wedding parties and local cabarets. He recorded his first solo single, "Trigue Lycee" (Arabic for "The Road to School"), at age fourteen and soon became involved with the early-
1980s changes in the raï sound, incorporating western instruments and studio techniques. Algerian Islamic fundamentalists were violently opposed to raï because of its sometimes irreverent tone and the fact that raï singers freely addressed taboo issues like romantic love, drugs, and alcohol. Fundamentalists were infuriated when the Algerian government, in the wake of a hugely popular 1985 raï festival in Oran, officially declared it to be one of the country's native music styles. In response, fundamentalists sent death threats to some raï artists and murdered at least one,
Cheb Hasni. The danger forced Khaled to move to
Paris in
1986 (see
1986 in music). In
1992 (see
1992 in music), after dropping "Cheb" from his name, he released his self titled album
Khaled, which established his reputation as a superstar in
France and among Algerian emigrants around the world.
His audience has continued to expand throughout the
1990s, and has collaborated with
hip hop artists. In spite of his superstar status in France, Algeria and
India, his popularity in the
US,
UK and other countries has been limited to a small but devoted cult following. But his greatest hit song
Aicha seems to be known all over the world