Khaled

The path of his musical career is paved with diamond, platinum and gold albums, and “1, 2, 3 Soleils“ was the highest-selling Arab music album of all time: though only 51, Khaled can already look back on a musical career spanning nearly forty years.

He became famous at an early age, as Cheb Khaled, "the boy". Now he is "Roi du Raï", the king of this electrified salon orchestra music from North Algeria. It was there that Khaled was born, and it was there that he became the voice of a young and discontented generation in the 1970s. But it wasn’t always easy: first, Raï was banned, then Islamist extremists carried out a murderous campaign against star singers. Khaled left for Paris, but when he performs in Algeria, his concerts are like demonstrations. Nearly everybody knows his most famous song, “Aïcha“, with its haunting melody, but not everybody is familiar with the contents of the lyrics, in which a woman demands respect at last. “Aïcha“ was released in 1996 on an album dedicated to the Sahara desert, “Sahra“. At WASSERMUSIK this album will be in focus.