CHEB MAMI

Born: Mohamed Khelifati; Saida, southwest Algeria, 11 July 1966

Genre: World

Best-selling album since 1990: Saida (1994)

Hit songs since 1990: "Desert Rose"

Cheb Mami, also known as "the kid" or "the mourner" (nicknames earned during his early professional experience), hid in his mother's robes during village rituals to hear the percussion music and secret songs of the Bedouin "medda-hates" (traditional women's orchestras). Twice stymied in his attempt to break Algerian "rai" in the West, Mami has tried to popularize rai by bridging cultures, as in his collaboration with the singer Sting on the hit song "Desert Rose."

Mami was one of nine children, and from the age of twelve he earned money by adding his falsetto to the chorus of praise singers common at male banquets. In his teens, Mami would travel each weekend to Oran, the capital, to sing lewd and officially discouraged "rai" (truth), a partly improvised cabaret music.

Impressed by earlier modernizing Oran rai singers, Mami determined to rejuvenate the genre by applying Western instrumental arrangements to traditional Algerian scales and rhythms. He also wanted to create a "family rai" that would transcend the confines of its association with male decadence to find a broader respectability and acceptance.

In 1982, the sixteen-year-old Mami finished second in a singing competition organized by Radio Television Algerienne. That accolade brought him to the attention of Boualem, the producer of the Oran label Disco Maghreb. From 1982 to 1985, Mami recorded ten album-length cassettes for the label. Each release typically sold 100,000 to 200,000 units, with the singer earning only a very small cut.

In 1985, having severed ties with Maghreb, Mami made his first official public appearance at the First Oran Rai Festival. On a trip to France later that year, Mami found his music had preceded him and won him a significant audience. Invitations to the Bobigny and La Villette festivals and meetings with the manager Michel Levy convinced him to remain in Paris, where he recorded "Douni El Bladi" ("Take Me Back Home") and "Ouach Tsalini" ("I Don't Owe You a Thing").

Mami suspended his career from 1987 to 1989 to serve in the Algerian army, but upon his discharge he was welcomed back to Paris as the "Prince of Rai." He performed at the New Morning club and toured France, New York, Canada, Italy, Holland, West Germany, and England, making a notable stop at Peter Gabriel's WOMAD festival, which introduced rai's keening vocals and North African disco rhythms to British tastemakers.

Mami recorded Prince of Rai (1989) in the United States, but the first Gulf War foiled his attempt to establish an Arab music in America, and his album was banned on all French radio stations. Caught between Western anti-Islamic sentiments and fanatical elements in his homeland, Mami reached out to second-generation French Arabs with his trancelike songs "Haoulou" and "Douha Allia."

Virgin Records provided international distribution of Mami's third album, Saida (Happy) (1994), a tribute to his hometown. Saida attempted to give rai a high-tech sound appealing to Western audiences. It was produced in Los Angeles by Neneh Cherry and Paula Abdul, sold 100,000 copies in France, and won Double Golden Disc and Golden Disc Awards in Algeria and Morocco, respectively.

Mami raised his profile with a concert at the Zenith Auditorium coinciding with Ramadan in February 1996. He toured Japan, Brazil, and Scandinavia during the months he was onscreen with his rival Cheb Khaled in the musical comedy 100% Arabica, directed by Mahmoud Zemmouri. Sponsored by the French government, he sang at Bastille Day celebrations that year in both New York and Los Angeles. He appeared at the Zenith again during Ramadan two years later to introduce his rai-rap-techno-ska-funk-reggae-gypsy fusion sound from Meli Meli (1998) with guest artists Idir of Kabyle, Imhotep, and the rapper K.mel.

Rai singers in Algeria have faced death threats and assassination. Mami has declined to perform at home, but returned on July 5, 1999, for a concert of symbolic and political importance at the foot of the "Sanctuaire des Martyrs", drawing some 100,000 listeners. Soon after Mami was invited by Sting to record a song for his new album and perform at New York City concerts in December; Mami was also co-billed with the disco star Gloria Gaynor at a New Year's Eve concert at an oasis in the Tunisian desert and performed with Sting and Burundi diva Khadja Nin in January 2000 at Bercy Stadium in Paris.

Following a Middle East concert tour with Sting, Mami released Dellali (2001), produced by Nile Rodgers of the band Chic and featuring the French singer Charles Aznavour, reggae's Ziggy Marley, and the American guitarist Chet Atkins, among other crossover artists. Mami's pure, bright voice and injection of Mediterranean and modern influences into rai remain to be discovered by broader audiences.

SELECTIVE DISCOGRAPHY:

Prince of Rai (Shanachie, 1989); Saida (Blue Silver, 1994); Cheb Mami MeliMmeli (Mondo Melodia, 1999); Dellali (Mondo Melodia, 2001). With Sting: Brand New Day (Universal/A&M, 1999); Desert Roses & Arabian Rhythms (Mondo Melodia, 2001).

howard mandel