Ya Rayah

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
"Ya Rayah /يا رايح"
Single by Rachid Taha
from the album Carte Blanche
B-side "Jungle Fiction"
Released 26 August 1997 (1997-08-26)
Format CD single
Genre Chaâbi
Length 6:13
Label Barclay, PolyGram
Writer(s) Amrani Abderrahmane
Producer(s) Steve Hillage
Certification Silver (France)[1]
Rachid Taha singles chronology

"Kelma"
(1996)
"Ya Rayah"
(1997)
"Ida"
(1998)

"Ya Rayah" (Arabic: يا رايح Yâ râyiḥ) is an Algerian "chaabi" song composed and performed in the 1970s by Dahmane El Harrachi (Amrani Abderrahmane). Up until the past 15 years this song was known to be Dahman El Harrachi's original song and in the Chaabi/Andalous tradition of Algiers. This song is a ballad of the traveler, the exiled, the longing to come back, the immigrant, the "wanderin' star", etc. hence its universal appeal. In 1993, it was also performed by French-Algerian pop singer Rachid Taha on his second self titled album. Also in 2003 by Enrico Macias at the Olympia in Paris. Later on Rachid Taha included the song on Carte Blanche (1997) and Diwân (1998). In September 1998, Taha performed the song live with fellow Algerian singers Khaled and Faudel at the Palais omnisports de Paris-Bercy in Paris, France. Their version was induced on the live album 1,2,3 Soleils the following year.

Taha released the song as a single in August 1997 and reached number eleven on the French singles chart. There have been also multiple renditions of El Rayah by different artists in different languages including Hebrew, Indu, Turkish, Greek ("Ki an se thelo" by George Dalaras) and some Balkan languages from the former Yugoslavia.[2] In February 1998, the song was certified silver in France.[1]

In January 2012, it was covered again by the Algerian singer Amel Bouchoucha (Fady Bitar & The AB Brothers), using African dance beats and Berber sounds, bringing the song closer to its roots.

Track listing

CD single: 573-890-2; Released 26 August 1997
No. Title Length
1. "Ya Rayah"   6:13
2. "Jungle Fiction"   4:01

Charts

Charts (1997) Peak
position
French Albums Chart 11[2]

References

  1. 1.0 1.1 "Syndicat National de l'Edition Phonographique silver certified singles for the year 1998". DisqueenFrance.com. Retrieved 24 December 2008.
  2. 2.0 2.1 "Discographie Rachid Taha". LesCharts.com. Retrieved 24 December 2008.

External links


This article is issued from Wikipedia. The text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution/Share Alike; additional terms may apply for the media files.