Serbi Serbi

In December, 2004, Khaled came to Los Angeles to put the final touches on the U.S. release of his album Ya Rayi. He sat down with Banning Eyre and Sean Barlow for a lengthy interview, over three hours of thoughts and recollections. As a mid-summer feature, hot on the heels of the Khaled and Friends tour, here follows a part of the interview:

BE: This is interesting. In the beginning, you are songs were very much identified with freedom, including the freedom to drink.

Khaled: No. No, truthfully, and Arabic, my language, it’s not like a European or American language. No. When one says drinking in Arabic, what is beautiful is that this means to drink life. I am drunk with life. And in French we say intoxicated with love. When I’m in love, I am drunk, intoxicated. You see what I’m saying?

BE: You mean you are using language in a poetic way, like in Arabic poetry.

Khaled: Yes. We always talk about that. But when a European or an American sings about drinking, they are singing about alcohol. For us it is a metaphor. Even in my songs. Like in the song “Serbi Serbi.” We were just talking about that song. In “Serbi Serbi,” I’m talking with a server. I’m in love. The woman I love has left. What can I do? I take medicine. But there are some who have been poisoned. It’s the same thing: medicine, alcohol—it’s poison. So I say, what can I find to relieve the pain? I am at a bar, and I’m talking to the server, and I’m saying, “Serve me. Give me what I crave. Just to the point where I die.” Because I am sick. But the same time, I sing, “Serve me, because today I must get drunk,” but happily, there is something that pulls on all of us Muslims, and that is respect for our mothers. So, at the same time, I sing, “Happily, my mother is waiting for me.” That’s a revelation. It wakes me up. I sing, “Drink, drink,” but after a moment I say, “Ah, no. There is a limit.”

BE: And all that is in the song?

Khaled: Yes, I sing that. In all my songs I sing that. Whenever I sing about alcohol, in all my songs, I also talk about my mother, and as I am married, my two daughters. I say, “There are my girls. They must eat.” They mustn’t see me like this, because they will copy me. Children are what? They are influenced by their parents. If they see Papa drinking at home, they will drink. When they see someone who smokes at home, they will be influenced. In order to become big, like an adult, you have to smoke.

BE: Khaled, listening to talk about this, I have the impression that maybe you are a bit misunderstood by people.

Khaled: No. I would not accept that word. Not misunderstood. It’s just that we haven’t often had the opportunity to ask these questions. And more than that, for me, I haven’t always wanted to answer these questions. You know why? Because for me, in the eyes of Europeans, or Americans, above all they think, “He is happy.” And that gives me the image that I want to give to Europeans. And it is true. For Europeans and Americans, when you say, “Khaled is a Muslim, and he sings about alcohol. That’s beautiful. For a Muslim to sing about alcohol. Maybe I should see his country.” They won’t find my country to be like Iran or Saudi Arabia. Because I didn’t grow up like that. No. And that’s why I never wanted to talk about this, because of people see me is happy, I think that’s good. Because I want people to feel welcome to come and see where I come from. Come. Come, see what it’s like with me, what is happening. When you come to my home, one European comes to visit, he’s going to drink more than he drank at home. He drinks more than he drank at home!

BE: But I understand that you yourself stopped drinking.

Khaled: Because that was my choice. I don’t want to influence people. I don’t want to be a fundamentalist. That’s it. It’s the same thing. When you talk about alcohol and religion altogether, that’s fundamentalism. That’s for fanatics. I am not a fanatic. I made my choice for myself, for me. I said, “No alcohol. Stop. Stop.” Why? Because when I was young, my father drank, my father smoked, and all of my entourage, I started taking up cigarettes because I was influenced. I tried alcohol because I wanted to taste what my father had tasted. You see? So why did I stop alcohol now? Because I have my daughters, and I don’t want my daughters to be influenced by me. I don’t want that. Because they will copy me. And about my songs. I don’t sing hate. I don’t sing politics. I don’t sing songs I tell people to go attack those terrorists or perhaps these other ones are not good. I don’t say, “Wake up and start a civil war.” I could say that. I could. Like Bob Marley and others who sang about politics, pure and tough. Those are artists and they can do it they want. That’s their right. I respect that. Everyone has their manner of singing. Everyone has their way of passing the message. I respect that, even if I don’t like it. Respected anyway. Because there are people who say they don’t like what I say. But I wanted to respect me. That’s why I respect them. For example, there is a group in France who sing in their shows about the police. “They are evil. Let’s go get them.” Between you and me, who likes the police? Nobody. I agree completely. But if we didn’t have police in our cities, we would not be protected. Even if we don’t like them, we need them. We need police. You see what I’m saying? Even if you are attacked, and you call out, “Help me!” and they come, but they come late, it’s OK. You need police in the city to keep order. When I was young and I went to the movie theater, I saw, for example, Bruce Lee. At the time, was 12, 14 years old. I went to the cinema, and that marked me. That marked me. I went to the cinema, and I saw Bruce Lee: Waaaaaaah!! At the end of the movie, I went out of the theater, and started hitting all my friends. Yaaaaaaa! I was hitting everybody. Because I saw that and I wanted to do like him. People will do what they see and hear artists doing. That is why I don’t want to pass a message that is not good. I don’t want to influence people.